This meeting was about adopting a new strategy for improving mental health in Hampshire and considering the council's work on public health more generally.

The Board was scheduled to receive reports on the following:

The Hampshire Mental Wellbeing Strategy (2023-2028) and the Hampshire Suicide Prevention Plan (2023-2028) (Item 6 Thursday 12-Dec-2024 09.30 Health and Wellbeing Board)

The Board was scheduled to receive a report providing an update on the Hampshire Mental Wellbeing Strategy (2023-2028) and the Hampshire Suicide Prevention Plan (2023-2028).

The report explains that the strategy was co-produced with system partners, and takes a “public health approach”, aiming to address the causes of poor mental health, with a focus on:

• “enabling people to maintain positive wellbeing and prevent mental ill health through early intervention”
• “tackling inequalities in mental wellbeing”
• “supporting people to improve mental wellbeing through other areas of their lives, such as housing, income, employment, transport, access to green space and physical activity, and social connection”.

The report identifies the following as key areas of progress made on the delivery of the strategy over the past year:

• improved data, intelligence and insight on the mental health and wellbeing of people and communities in Hampshire.
• promoting and improving the local offer of green, blue space and nature, encouraging people to be active to improve their mental wellbeing
• tackling stigma around mental health and wellbeing
• working to increase the capacity and capability of frontline staff to be able to have supportive conversations around mental wellbeing

Alongside the strategy update, the Board was scheduled to receive an update on the Hampshire Suicide Prevention Plan, which:

outlines how we will work with system partners to support earlier intervention and prevention of suicides.

The plan lists 6 areas for suicide prevention, drawn from the national suicide prevention strategy:

1. “Increase awareness and understanding of the economic and social risk factors for suicidality”
2. Tailor approaches to suicide prevention for particular groups
3. Reduce access of means to suicide by promoting suicide safer communities
4. Ensure appropriate and sensitive communications of suicide and suicidality across all sectors in Hampshire
5. Provide the ‘right support’ at the ‘right time’ for those individuals and communities affected by a suspected suicide death
6. Equip people with the knowledge and skills necessary to support children and young people who self-harm

The report describes the following as key achievements of the plan over the past year:

• The commissioning of a Suicide Bereavement support service from Amparo.
• Providing targeted suicide prevention and postvention support to workplaces through a service commissioned from Havant & East Hants Mind.
• Improved monitoring of suspected suicides through Real Time Surveillance (RTS)
• Jointly commissioning Solent MIND Self Harm Support Hub with the Isle of Wight Council.

The report describes the role of Hampshire Voices: A collective of people with living experience of suicide in the co-production of both the strategy and the plan, and highlights their work this year in developing Speak Their Name Memorial Quilts as part of the council's suicide prevention work.

The Hampshire Health Protection Annual Report (2023-2024) (2024-12 12 Health Protection Annual Report 2023-24)

The Board was scheduled to receive a report with details of the Health Protection Annual Report for 2023-2024.

The report describes the role of the Director of Public Health, Simon Bryant, in chairing the Health Protection Board, and sets out the work done to deliver the 5 health protection ambitions in the council's public health strategy, including:

• preparing for future pandemics and other health emergencies.
• “develop[ing] engaging health protection social marketing campaigns”
• working with the NHS to reduce Tuberculosis infections
• contributing to programmes to reduce Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).
• ensuring that “public health perspectives are considered where hazards may be an issue”

The report describes how the council responded to several national public health incidents and outbreaks, including:

• The national measles outbreak.
• The rise in whooping cough cases.
• The emergence of new variants of COVID-19

The report describes how the council worked with partners, including UKHSA, the NHS and District and Borough Councils to prepare for and respond to these national incidents. For example, in response to the national measles outbreak the council:

• delivered a multi-agency tabletop exercise to test system preparedness for a local measles outbreak
• provided advice to early years settings and schools on managing outbreaks
• wrote to GPs to ask them to promote the MMR vaccine.
• ran a social media campaign promoting the MMR vaccine

The report concludes by proposing a plan for the coming year that includes:

• “continuous learning and improving emergency response and infection prevention”
• ensuring that “health protection social marketing campaigns are shared by all partners”.
• continuing to reduce Tuberculosis infections, by working with the NHS and developing and sharing communications to raise awareness among high-risk groups.
• supporting “Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) programmes and achievement of the objectives of the 5-year UK Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Action Plan 2024 to 2029”
• ensuring that “public health perspectives are considered where hazards may be an issue (e.g., extraction/ industrial / waste)”.

Health Inequalities (2024 12 12 Health Inequalities)

The Board was scheduled to receive a report providing a strategic overview of health inequalities in Hampshire, to inform the development of the new Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy (JLHWS).

The report explains that:

Health inequalities are systematic, unfair, and avoidable differences in health across the population and between different groups within society.

It uses data from the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA), the council's assessment of the health and social care needs of its population, to illustrate some of the inequalities that are faced by different groups in Hampshire, including:

• People living in different parts of the county.
• People of different ages.
• People of different ethnicities.
• Disabled people
• Unpaid carers.
• People with learning disabilities.

It highlights the impact of these inequalities on:

• Life expectancy.
• Rates of multiple long term conditions.
• Rates of mental health problems.
• The impact of long covid.

The report identifies several challenges for the council in addressing these inequalities, including:

• Deprivation in urban areas like Rushmoor, Havant, Gosport, and Eastleigh.
• High rates of child poverty in Gosport and Havant.
• High rates of multimorbidity, particularly in deprived areas and among older people.
• The prevalence of mental health issues, especially among younger adults, women, and residents of deprived areas.
• The disproportionate impact of long COVID on working-age women, particularly those in deprived areas and high-exposure professions.

The report identifies a number of assets that the council can use to address inequalities including:

• Urban green spaces.
• The quality of housing.
• The transport infrastructure, especially in supporting active travel.
• Access to digital services
• Air quality

The report identifies a number of inclusion health groups that are particularly vulnerable to poor health outcomes, including:

• People living in coastal communities and left behind neighbourhoods.
• Homeless people.
• Gypsies, Roma and Traveller communities.
• People with drug and alcohol dependencies.
• Vulnerable migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers.
• Victims of modern slavery.
• People in contact with the justice system.
• Sex workers.

Finally the report calls on the Health and Wellbeing Board to adopt a systems-wide approach to tackling health inequalities, including:

• Working with local authorities, the NHS, community groups, the police and fire service.
• Supporting targeted health interventions.
• Monitoring health outcomes and the effectiveness of interventions.
• “enabling Hampshire residents to be at the centre of decision making about their health and wellbeing"
• “understanding what our communities’ strengths are, what they may need some help with, and what we need to focus our expertise on"
• “adopting a positive approach to improving access to services, experience of care, and health outcomes for all"
• “improving the experience of care for our diverse communities"
• Maximising the impact of existing resources such as the Hampshire Community Researchers and the Personalisation Expert Panel
• Expanding coproduction and community participatory research

Forward Plan (2023-2024) (2024 12 12 HWB Forward Plan March 2023 to December 2024)

The Board was scheduled to review the Forward Plan of the Health and Wellbeing Board.