The Integrated Meeting of Waltham Forest Health & Wellbeing and Health & Care Partnership Boards was scheduled to discuss updates on the Better Care Fund and the Promoting Wellbeing workstream, alongside the development of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment. The meeting's agenda focused on reviewing progress, identifying risks, and planning future strategies for improving health and wellbeing across the borough.

Promoting Wellbeing Update

A significant portion of the meeting was dedicated to an update on the Promoting Wellbeing workstream, which aims to enhance wellbeing, reduce health inequalities, and promote preventative measures through collaboration between the local authority, NHS, and voluntary and community sector organisations. The report outlined progress in several key areas:

• Strengthening Partnerships with the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) and Faith Groups: Efforts were underway to transition the VCS Leadership Group to the Waltham Forest Health & Wellbeing Alliance and to foster greater collaboration with system partners. This included the delivery of a small grants programme for long-term conditions, support for Black and South Asian-led organisations, increased VCS involvement in neighbourhood development, and joint workshops to align priorities. Challenges identified included neighbourhood delivery coordination, consortium development, and long-term funding sustainability.
• Borough of Sanctuary: The report detailed progress in delivering Waltham Forest's Borough of Sanctuary commitments, including a programme of public-facing activities for Refugee Week, led by VCS partners. Engagement with local schools through workshops exploring the concept of sanctuary was also highlighted. Future plans include aligning the work programme with the new political administration's ambitions and preparing for the borough's City of Sanctuary reaccreditation. Challenges noted were national hostility towards migrant populations and local issues around healthcare partner engagement on embedding Safe Surgeries principles.
• Employment and Health: This priority area focuses on assisting residents with health conditions and disabilities in accessing, retaining, and progressing in employment. Key developments included the launch of the Waltham Forest Supported Employment Network. Current priorities involve strengthening referral pathways, increasing awareness of employment and skills programmes, and expanding supported employment approaches. Challenges persist regarding referral quality and employment outcomes, with a significant number of referrals to the Connect to Work programme not being suitable.
• Housing and Health: Progress has been made in homelessness prevention and strengthening links between housing and health services, with a reduction in households in temporary accommodation. Training has been delivered to frontline staff across health, care, and voluntary sectors to improve understanding of housing-related health issues and referral pathways. Work has also begun on integrating housing services into the Joy App. A key challenge remains engagement with acute hospital services, particularly Whipps Cross Hospital, to extend housing-related training to relevant clinical teams.
• Mental Health Promotion: The report noted continued progress on the Mental Health of Black Boys and Young Men programme, with a focus on strengthening Board capacity and ensuring an effective delivery model. The Community Chest Fund, launched to support this priority, had closed, with successful applicants due to be notified. The evaluation of the Spoken Minds (Kooth) pilot provided valuable learning on engaging Black boys and young men.
• Locality Hubs and Primary Care Spaces: Development of the Coronation Square project was experiencing delays due to wider system changes. Work was underway to resume demand and capacity planning for the locality hub model.

Discussion was held regarding the progress, key risks, and issues related to the Promoting Wellbeing workstream, including the need to strengthen engagement with Whipps Cross Hospital and extend housing-related training. A workshop was planned for September 2026 to review progress and agree a refreshed set of priorities for the Promoting Wellbeing workstream.

Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)

The meeting was also scheduled to discuss proposals for the development and governance of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) for 2026/2027. The JSNA is a statutory duty introduced through the Health and Social Care Act 2012, aiming to improve the health and wellbeing of the local community, reduce inequalities, and inform commissioning decisions.

The report outlined a phased approach to the JSNA's development, with Phase 1 (2026-2027) focusing on establishing a new solution for a live and reproducible JSNA, developing a co-production process, and producing core statutory content at a neighbourhood level. Phase 2 (2027-2028) would involve identifying priorities and gaps, engaging across the system, and returning to the board for an annual review.

Key elements of the JSNA's core components include population demographics, wider social, environmental and economic determinants, inequality analysis, prevalence of long-term conditions, current and future health and care needs, and resident voice.

A vision was presented to maintain the JSNA as a live resource on the Waltham Forest Council website, enabling regular updates. The JSNA Working Group was exploring options for a flexible and sustainable design, considering cost and resource requirements. A proof of concept for the JSNA design was being developed, with a focus on automation and reproducibility.

The proposed governance approach positioned the existing Population Health & Data Group to act as the JSNA steering group, working alongside the Neighbourhood Executive Board to provide oversight and reporting to the Health and Wellbeing Board.

The Health & Wellbeing and Health & Care Partnership Board was to reaffirm its stewardship and joint ownership of the JSNA duty, support the phased approach, agree the governance structure, and receive regular progress reports.

Better Care Fund Update

An update on the Better Care Fund was also scheduled to be presented, though the report was to follow. The Better Care Fund is a jointly commissioned fund between NHS England and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, aimed at improving health and social care outcomes for older and vulnerable people.

The minutes from the previous meeting on 20 April 2026 indicated that the Board had previously queried the inclusion of equality impact assessments in the Better Care Fund submission and discussed making inequalities and lived experience more visible. The Board had also asked about the level of investment prompting deeper evaluation of outcomes and how success would look different in the upcoming year. Actions from that meeting included incorporating lived experience measures into the success measures for the Better Care Fund where possible.