The Health Scrutiny Committee of North Northamptonshire Council was scheduled to discuss the proposed Health and Wellbeing Strategy for 2024-2029, alongside an update on public health commissioning and the committee's work plan. The meeting's agenda focused on strategic health priorities and the processes for shaping public health services.

North Northamptonshire Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2024-2029

The committee was scheduled to consider the North Northamptonshire Health and Wellbeing Strategy for 2024-2029. This strategy, developed in accordance with the Health and Care Act 2022, aims to improve the health and wellbeing of local populations in collaboration with Integrated Care Partnerships (ICPs). The strategy outlines five key priorities: Smoking and Vaping, Keeping Active, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Children and Young People, and Financial Resilience. It aligns with the Northamptonshire system-wide strategy, Live Your Best Life. The report recommended that the committee support and recommend this strategy for approval by the Executive.

The strategy itself details a shift towards an asset-based approach, focusing on the wider determinants of ill health. It outlines a governance structure overseen by the Health and Wellbeing Board and its Strategy Oversight Group. The document provides demographic information for North Northamptonshire, highlighting health inequalities, with particular attention paid to life expectancy, smoking prevalence, obesity rates, and physical activity levels.

The five strategic priorities are elaborated upon with specific objectives and planned activities:

• Smoking and Vaping: Aims to reduce smoking prevalence and associated inequalities. Objectives include increasing support for cessation, targeting high-prevalence groups, preventing initiation in young people, and disrupting illegal sales.
• Keeping Active: Focuses on creating communities where everyone can lead active, healthy lives. Objectives include developing active wellbeing opportunities, connecting communities through physical activity, fostering thriving communities with training and development, and promoting green communities through active travel and sustainable leisure facilities.
• Mental Health and Wellbeing: Seeks to reduce inequalities in access, outcomes, and experience. Objectives include refining work on self-harm and suicide prevention, increasing focus on reducing smoking in people with Severe Mental Illness (SMI), and reducing mental health-related inequities.
• Children and Young People: Aims to reduce childhood obesity and associated inequalities. Objectives include implementing primary prevention activities, exploring family weight management approaches, ensuring consistent messages on healthy diets and oral health, and increasing participation in physical activity.
• Financial Resilience: Aims to improve the financial resilience of residents. Objectives include addressing the causes of deprivation, promoting a holistic approach to wider determinants, focusing on financial literacy, supporting access to skills and benefits, and targeting multi-exclusion communities.

The report also included detailed delivery plans for the Smoking and Vaping and Children and Young People priority programmes, outlining current challenges, desired achievements, stakeholders, and planned activities.

Public Health Recommissioning Update

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the recommissioning of public health services for children, young people, and families, as well as sexual health services in North Northamptonshire. This update highlighted the significant role of community engagement in shaping these services. Over 5,500 voices, including those of children, young people, families, and stakeholders, informed the design of new service models.

Key themes emerging from engagement included the need for greater accessibility, early intervention, prevention, and service integration. For children, young people, and families, feedback emphasised timely support, streamlined access, emotional well-being support, and a dedicated service model for 11–19-year-olds. For sexual health services, stakeholders stressed the importance of localised access, confidential support, digital options for STI testing, and expanded contraception availability.

The response to this feedback includes adopting a No Wrong Door approach for families, integrating services with Family Hubs, and establishing dedicated service models for different age groups. A Digital Front Door is planned to provide online access to information and guidance. The new sexual health service model will strengthen the hub-and-spoke approach, increasing access through GP surgeries, pharmacies, and schools, with options for home-testing kits for STIs and stigma-free support.

The services have been commissioned through formal tenders, with Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust (NHFT) awarded contracts for all three services. The report recommended that the committee note the engagement undertaken, endorse the new service delivery models, and recognise the commitment to continuous engagement.

Health Scrutiny Work Plan

The committee was scheduled to review the Health Scrutiny Work Plan for the upcoming period. This plan outlines the topics scheduled for scrutiny, including performance monitoring and review of various health-related services and strategies. The work plan details dates, types of scrutiny, issues for scrutiny, purpose, desired outcomes, relevant corporate priorities, and the lead officers or cabinet members for each item. Topics included young people's mental health, performance of Kettering General Hospital, the Director of Public Health's Annual Report, and the Health and Wellbeing Strategy itself.