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Health and Wellbeing Board - Tuesday, 12th November, 2024 1.00 pm

November 12, 2024 View on council website Watch video of meeting
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Summary

The meeting began by agreeing the minutes of the previous meeting, held on the 9th of July 2024. There were three main topics for discussion: an update on the Evidence Islington research programme; an update on the North Central London Integrated Care Board’s delivery plan; and the draft of a new joint health and wellbeing strategy. There was also a brief discussion of the NHS’s 10-year plan consultation.

Evidence Islington Update

Dr Charlotte Ashton, consultant in public health and programme director for Evidence Islington, presented an update on Evidence Islington, which was just over 12 months into a 5-year programme to embed the use of evidence and research across the council and health system. The three core workstreams of the programme are strengthening collaboration and research culture; data and infrastructure; and capacity building. Dr Ashton reported that the programme has established a strategic delivery board; recruited embedded researchers into the housing and environment departments; created toolkits for evaluation and supporting bids; started a community researcher programme; and begun work with democratic services to make council processes more accessible to residents.

Evidence Islington was highly praised by the funders, the National Institute for Health Research, who particularly noted the programme’s engagement with residents and commitment to measuring culture change. Future priorities include completing an evaluation baseline, launching a new data hub, developing training, and working across departments and with academic partners to apply for research grants.

NCL Delivery Plan and NCL Population Health and Care Strategy

Clare Henderson, Director of Place for the North Central London Integrated Care Board, gave a brief introduction to the NCL Delivery Plan, a 5-year plan to improve the physical and mental health of the population of the five boroughs of North Central London. Sarah D’Souza, the Integrated Care Board’s Director of Strategy, Communities and Inequalities, then took over the presentation. The plan was organised around a life course, “start well, live well, age well”, and incorporated a focus on the communities experiencing the poorest outcomes, the wider determinants of poor health, and five key health risk areas. D’Souza discussed plans to implement the plan, noting that the ICB was particularly focussed on improving childhood immunisations, SEND provision, family help in early years, mental health and heart health. The ICB was taking a “benefits realisation” approach, meaning that they would critically evaluate whether they are maximising impact in the areas in which they want to see improvement and would learn from research and best practice.

Rianne Warner, the ICB’s Assistant Director of Place for Islington, then presented on the local impact of the plan. She discussed the success of the Individual Placement and Support service in getting people with mental health conditions back into work, the joint work being done between the council and the NHS to improve vaccination uptake, and the success of local teams in helping the borough’s older population age well.

There was discussion of a number of issues raised by the delivery plan, including the waiting list for children’s therapies, the need to consider the impact of digital literacy on the mental health of young people, and the need to address housing instability. There was also agreement that the ICB would bring a revised delivery plan back to the board.

Health and Wellbeing Board Strategy

Jonathan O’Sullivan, Islington’s Director of Public Health, presented the draft of a new joint health and wellbeing strategy, which would run until 2030. The strategy aimed to improve life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in the borough and to reduce the inequalities in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy between groups and communities. It was organised around the life course, with an additional focus on “healthy environments”.

The draft identified a number of key areas or outcomes of importance under each phase of the life course. For example, under “start well”, the key areas were that every child is healthy and has good development through the early years; early identification and support for children with special educational needs; improving the health of vulnerable groups of children, including children looked after and young carers; and working with partners to address the wider determinants of health for children.

The draft also identified key strategic priority areas for focus, which would form the basis of a delivery plan. These areas were: early years, trends in SEND needs, heart health, a smoke-free generation, age-friendly communities, healthy weight, climate action, and psychological health and wellbeing.

The board members discussed a number of issues relating to the draft, including the need to highlight the impact of housing on health, the need for universal services to be responsive to SEND needs, and how to get messages about the strategy to the public. They also agreed that, following the meeting, the draft would be opened for public consultation.

NHS 10-year plan

Jonathan O’Sullivan opened a discussion of the NHS’s 10-year plan consultation. He highlighted the key aspects of the plan, including the focus on providing more care in the community and the emphasis on technological shifts. He asked the board members to consider how they are engaging residents and patients on the plan and what approaches they are taking to consultation responses.

Clare Henderson spoke about how the Integrated Care Board is welcoming the direction of the plan and trying to influence it, and Clare Dollery, the Acting Chief Executive at Whittington Health, discussed how Whittington Health is starting to engage its staff, patients, and other stakeholders on the plan.