The Wokingham Borough Council Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee met to discuss a range of health-related topics, including the Berkshire Coroner's Service, Optalis, Healthwatch Wokingham Borough, and Public Health Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The committee reviewed the forward programme for the remainder of the municipal year and addressed a public question regarding Learning Disability (LD) leads in GP practices.

Public Health KPIs

The committee reviewed the Public Health KPIs for Quarter 4 of 2024-25. Six KPIs were on track to meet their targets, two were close to target, and one was below target.

Key discussion points:

• Mothers receiving antenatal contact: KPI PH1, regarding mothers who received a first face-to-face antenatal contact with a health visitor at 28 weeks of pregnancy or above, was marked as red. The council is working with the service provider to improve performance, including optimising workforce configuration and improving data collection.
• Babies receiving new birth visits: KPI PH2, concerning the percentage of babies receiving a face-to-face new birth visit within 14 days by a Health Visitor, was marked as amber. Further work is being done to understand the reasons for babies not being seen within the required timeframe.
• Children at expected development level: KPI PH3, measuring children who received a 2-2½ year review using the ASQ-3[^1] who were at or above the expected level in all five areas of development, was marked as green. [^1]: The Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) is a tool used to assess a child's development across five domains: communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem-solving, and personal-social.
• Stop smoking services: KPI PH4, the percentage of stop smoking services clients who have successfully quit 4 weeks after setting a quit date, was marked as green. Continued effort is needed to address higher smoking rates in specific groups.
• Adults dropping out of drug and alcohol treatment: KPI PH5, regarding the proportion of adults in drug and alcohol treatment who drop out of treatment, improved from amber to green.
• Adults completing alcohol treatment: KPI PH6, measuring adults successfully completing alcohol treatment, improved from red to amber. A discharge audit was completed in November 2024, which showed that several clients had been mis-counted as dropouts, and corrections have been made to this process.
• Integrated sexual health service users: KPI PH7, regarding integrated sexual health service users with an urgent need seen within 2 days, was marked as green.
• Service users tested for HIV: KPI PH8, measuring service users offered and tested for HIV, was marked as green.
• Community wellness outreach sessions: KPI PH9, regarding community wellness outreach sessions, was marked as amber.

The committee also reviewed the Quarter 4 and Year End 2024/25 Key Performance Indicators report.

Berkshire Coroner's Service

The committee received an update on the Berkshire Coroner's Service, which is hosted by Reading Borough Council. The service covers Bracknell Forest Council, Slough Borough Council, West Berkshire Council, Wokingham Borough Council, and The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

Key statistics for 2024:

• Total deaths in Berkshire: 6,993
• Total deaths reported to Coroner: 1,948
• Inquests: 514

For Wokingham specifically:

• Total deaths: 1,272
• Total deaths reported to Coroner: 219
• Inquests: 32

The report also highlighted a prevention of future deaths report related to a Wokingham resident, Susan Dear, which raised concerns about ambulance delays and hospital handover delays.

The service is developing in-house coroner removals and exploring team diversification to support direct cremations and public health funerals. The report mentioned regulatory changes due to the Medical Examiner System, which requires all deaths to be subject to independent scrutiny.

Healthwatch Wokingham Borough

The committee received an update on the work of Healthwatch Wokingham Borough, the independent champion for people who use health and social care services. Alice Kunjappy-Clifton, of Healthwatch Wokingham Borough, presented the update.

Key discussion points:

• Primary Care: GP access remains a priority, with concerns raised about Wokingham Medical Centre and South Reading and Shinfield Surgery.
• Dentistry: Awareness of different types of dental services in the community is limited.
• Women's Health Hub: No funding was secured for a Berkshire West Hub.
• Youth Voice: A report titled Empowering Young Women has been published.
• Engagement: Ongoing public feedback collection in Wokingham, focusing on the experience of the public using the NHS app[^2]. [^2]: The NHS App allows patients to access a range of healthcare services, including booking appointments, ordering repeat prescriptions, and viewing their medical records.
• Annual Report: The Healthwatch Wokingham Annual Report 2024-25 is now live.

Alice Kunjappy-Clifton also raised concerns about how the public voice would be heard going forward, and the potential loss of independence, given the government's announcement that it wants to change the law to transfer the work of Healthwatch England to the Department of Health and Social Care and transfer the work of local Healthwatches to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) for health matters and to local authorities for social care matters.

Optalis

The committee received an update on Optalis, a local authority trading company¹ that provides adult social care services in Wokingham.

Public Question Time

Anna Overd asked a question regarding the steps Wokingham Borough Council is taking to encourage GP practices to appoint Learning Disability (LD) leads. She cited the 2023 LeDeR findings², which indicated that adults with learning disabilities die on average around 20 years earlier than the general population, and nearly 39% of these deaths are avoidable.