Agenda item

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

Mr Doug Wright addressed the Board and began by referring to the delivery of the five-year NHS Joint Forward Plan and associated funding challenges.  He felt there was a sense of ‘Groundhog Day’ with plans of this nature, as this current document was just the latest in a long line of Plans produced over the last 10 years.  Mr Wright stated that he had concerns over the financing behind the Plan, noting that the ICB had already been hit with a reduction in its finances from £30m to £20m.  He was also concerned that there were no powers within this Board or any other forums to veto any proposals laid down in the NHS Joint Forward Plan and there was seemingly no choice other than to note the contents.

Mr Wright also highlighted that 41% of the Doncaster population were currently living in relative poverty and he felt that this statistic was only going to worsen in the future.

He concluded by stating that he wished to thank this Board for all its work in trying to improve the outcomes for the people of Doncaster.

The Chair thanked Mr Wright for his statement and for his positive remarks about the work of this Board and then invited members of the Board to comment on the points raised. 

With regard to the NHS Joint Forward Plan, Ailsa Leighton explained that while it was labelled as a South Yorkshire plan, there would be a strong focus on the priorities for Doncaster, with consultation and engagement being carried out on a local basis.  This would include identifying the desired outcomes and improvements that were needed for Doncaster’s population over the life of the Plan, with regular updates being brought to this Board for monitoring purposes.

Richard Parker explained that he was on the ICB as an acute trust representative and he gave an assurance that the ICB was absolutely focussed on deprivation.  In relation to plans and strategies, he explained that the aim was to recognise Doncaster as a place in all the various Plans, learning from partners and making sure that our limited resources and finances were used wisely in the delivery of care.  He stressed the importance of having a collective approach by all partners and not just focussing on the needs of each individual organisation.  The NHS was effectively a partnership, and he felt that the five-year NHS Joint Forward Plan would provide a useful collective vision going forward.

Rachael Leslie outlined some of the actions being taken to help alleviate the impact of poverty on Doncaster’s communities.  She added that the Fairness and Wellbeing Commission would be looking at poverty in some detail.

Councillor Nigel Ball stated that his concern was over how we engage with communities to enable them to be co-authors of plans and strategies.  He felt that if the desired aim was to have communities co-designing services and fully engaging with them, then plans needed to be much clearer and less complicated.

Dr Victor Joseph commented on the ways in which partners could address health inequalities, including helping their workforces to better understand the issues involved and changing mindsets to be more conscious of the health inequalities challenges.

The Chair then thanked everyone for their comments and confirmed that the Fairness and Wellbeing Commission’s recommendations would be reported to this Board later in the year for consideration.