Agenda and minutes

Venue: Microsoft Teams - Virtual Meeting. View directions

Contact: Jonathan Goodrum, Senior Governance Officer  Email: jonathan.goodrum@doncaster.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Welcome, introductions and apologies for absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Richard Parker, Jackie Pedersen, Peter Dale, Phil Holmes and Riana Nelson.

2.

Chair's Announcements.

Minutes:

The Chair reported that whilst there were no official announcements, she would like to take the moment to pay tribute to the hard work of key workers throughout this time, and commented that she was proud to be a part of the amazing effort in Doncaster that had been undertaken to combat the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

3.

Public questions.

(A period not exceeding 15 minutes for questions from members of the public.)

 

Minutes:

There were no public questions at the meeting.

4.

Declarations of Interest, if any.

Minutes:

There were no declarations made at the meeting.

5.

Minutes of the Meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board held on 12th March,2020. (Attached) pdf icon PDF 72 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Health and Well Being Board held on 12th March, 2020, be approved as a true record.

6.

Direct Impacts of Covid-19 pdf icon PDF 98 KB

Minutes:

Members received a presentation from the Director of Public Health, Dr Rupert Suckling, which gave an overview regarding the current situation in terms of Covid-19, and the impact it has had on the communities in Doncaster and the actions being taken to address it.

 

The past twelve months in Doncaster had been without doubt tumultuous, starting with the floods in November, followed then by the emergence of the Covid1-19 Pandemic in the New Year. Following the World Health Organisation’s announcement of the virus at the end of 2019 when it first emerged in Wuhan, China, it was not until February 2020, that it became a much greater concern in the UK, with cases quickly escalating in number, leading to the National Lockdown of the country on 23 March 2020.  A Pandemic Plan had been quickly activated to react to the virus, and following the lockdown, people across Doncaster began new ways of working, with all services being offered and accessed very differently to enable people to stay home and stay safe.

 

The Fight Back Fund was introduced, which looked to provide grants to these struggling across the Borough and new structures were quickly put into place across the Authority with the Civil Contingency Plan activated in order to allow the majority of all decision making to be made by the Chief Executive.

 

In September 2020, the Covid-19 Engagement Board as established that looked to engage with different partners working to support all communities across the Borough as well as engaging with the public to ensure they were kept abreast of activity.

 

The Board noted that the lockdown had appeared to have had an effect with numbers falling since the peak in April, when at its height, there were 100 people in Acute Care and 7 people in ICU. There had been careful monitoring of activity in care homes and prisons and whilst in April there had been 20 care homes all with cases in, now this was considerably calmer. In fact, Dr suckling reported, that even since lockdown restrictions had eased numbers of cases across the borough had continued to fall and as of the meetings date, there had been a month with no deaths in Doncaster, of which so far there had been 278.

 

The outlook in Doncaster was at the current point was positive, and whilst it as anticipated it would get worse throughout the winter when various respiratory illnesses traditionally struck, it was hopeful that it would remain under control.

Many additional concerns had arisen because of Covid-19 and the associated lockdown with the following highlighted as concerns: -

 

·         Concerns surrounding mental health as a result of stress and isolation

·         The cancellation of a large amount of hospital appointments, screenings and appointments

·         Direct impacts of the virus on various groups as a result of issues such as gender, race and deprivation

However, despite concerns there had also been positive points to draw from the last 6 months and which would be pushed further moving forward: -

 

·         GPs  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Partner Responses and Plans to COVID-19 pdf icon PDF 98 KB

Minutes:

The Chair reported prior to the meeting, Members of the Board had been asked to consider items of importance for discussion and information that they would bring to the meeting in terms of where they were currently with their key priorities and action points. This would raise of awareness of all the work being done by all the different partner agencies and highlight any areas for further discussion.

 

Members were invited one by one, to outline to the rest of the Board, what issues were pertinent in their areas at the current time and what challenges had arisen as a result of Covid-19. The following points were raised:-

 

·         Backlog of services in medical settings as well as Council services with many procedures delayed or cancelled and services suspended which were now moving towards a greater sense of normality;

·         All services within the hospital as of now, were now back up and running although some had been modified greatly with fewer patients seen as a result of reduced capacities, extra cleaning and the need for PPE.

·         The changes to ways of working had been very positive with so much more processes being done digitally

·         All services commented that they were preparing for what could be a very tough winter ahead and it was important that the workforce was resilient ad well rested and prepared;

·         It was important that staff were well supported throughout the pandemic, in terms of mental, emotional and physical well-being and it was more important than ever that they were supported moving forward;

·         Questions and discussions were ongoing as to how to support more vulnerable staff;

·         Flexible working would be a much bigger part of the working world moving forward and it was good to see people had adapted and embraced new ways of working;

·         Mental Health issues, continued across all agencies, to be a huge area of concern and supporting that moving forward would be a huge challenge;

·         In terms of the third sector, concern was voiced for BAME community and the support needed there, and it was very difficult at times to provide the support that many of the community and voluntary groups needed in terms of staffing and rising costs in a very uncertain time when more support was needed than ever;

·         All partners across the emergency services were working well and providing support across the board where needed to ensure the processes and procedures were as seamless as possible;

·         In terms of children and families, it was noted that this had increased demand, with a lot of referrals received throughout, but the Trust was working closely with schools and were reacting well to all situations that were presented in terms of different ways of working;

·         With regard to ST Leger Homes, Members heard that to a large degree it had continued to be ‘Business as Usual’ with maintenance and repairs continuing, and additionally had provided a lot of support to the community hub in the early days of the pandemic.

·         One key point that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Indirect Impacts of COVID-19 and Wider Recovery Planning/Borough Strategy pdf icon PDF 191 KB

Minutes:

Allan Wiltshire, Head of Policy and Performance gave a presentation to the Board with regard to the impacts of Covid-19 and how any emerging themes or points would affect the Borough Strategy that was currently being drafted.

                                                                                                                   

The first point touched on during the presentation, referred to the indirect impacts of covid-19, and how this would effect the communities in the Borough long term. One of these for example was poverty with many inequalities widening further than previously. There were some positives however, with the environmental benefit of less traffic on the road as a result of so many people working digitally. Some of these impacts may seem small but when looked at alongside others would start to have effect.

 

Moving forward, Officers reported it was now important to look towards the future and the wider recovery for the Borough. This looked at how the Council wold respond to the crisis and what could they build on that had already started. Looking at the Mayor’s 10 Point Plan as a starting point, there was a lot of work already established that would be utilised moving forward. Taking plans from the wider region and sub region, there would be different areas of focus to ensure that resources were in place where needed and the vulnerable were well supported. It was a huge project moving forward and many streams of work that needed building.

 

In terms of the Delivery, it was important to address all the impacts of Covid-19, ensure that the Council was responding to any issues, and bring all aspects into one place. It was important that the focus was agile and able to react quickly in order to deliver the results needed in order to deliver the plan.

 

Officers also touched on the Emerging Borough Strategy which would also look to tie in aspects of the impact of Covid-19 and how it was shaping the Doncaster Growing Together Plan. Members noted that it was important to produce a sustainable plan that created achievable goals. A lot of good work was being done to create the foundation for long term work, and a number of themes for the plan were starting to emerge with the following points highlighted as key priorities:-

 

·         Cleaner and Greener communities

·         Connected places

·         Safe communities

·         Healthy and caring

·         Inclusive lifelong learning

 

The Board felt the plans for the Strategy were very comprehensive, and felt it was important that the financial impact of Covid-19 was strongly emphasised, as it would take a long time to recover from this.  Members added that the economic strain would affect all organisations and partnerships and it was important that they were realistic moving forward as to what could be achieved.

 

A discussion continued with a number of points raised that officers noted for moving forward, with the following noted:-

 

·         The input of third sector groups and their representation and the importance of widening this on the Board moving forward. With regard to this, it was felt that further benefit would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

9.

Items for Future Meetings

Minutes:

Further to the presentations received, and the issues that had presented themselves the Committee had a brief discussion with regard to items for consideration at future meetings.

 

RESOLVED that the following items be considered at future meetings of the Health and Well Being Board:-

 

·         Digital Inclusion

·         The Voluntary Sector

·         Dance On

10.

Date of Next Meeting

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the next meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board be held on Thursday, 12 November, via Microsoft Teams at 9.00 am.