The North Tyneside Health and Wellbeing Board is scheduled to meet on 25 September 2025 to discuss a range of public health issues, including a partnership with the Institute of Health Equity, the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment, and health protection measures. The board will also receive an update from the Health, Care and Wellbeing Executive Board.

Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment

The board will be asked to approve the final draft of the refreshed Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) for North Tyneside. The PNA is a statutory requirement under the Health and Social Care Act 2012, and must be reviewed every three years. Rachel Nicholson, Head of Public Health Strategy and Policy at North Tyneside Council, and Rachel Mitcheson, Director of Delivery Northumberland and North Tyneside North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, are the authors of the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment report.

The PNA aims to:

understand if pharmacy services are currently being offered in the right locations to meet the pharmaceutical needs of the local communities they serve and if they will continue to do so through the period of this PNA.

The PNA considered feedback from a public consultation, which ran from 6 June 2025 to 8 August 2025. According to the report pack, 22 out of 23 respondents agreed that the PNA was accurate and agreed with its conclusions. One member of the public disagreed with the conclusions because they are unable to walk to a local pharmacy within 20 minutes of their house. The report pack notes that 99% of the population can access a pharmacy within a 20-minute walk, and that many community pharmacies offer a prescription collection and delivery service.

The PNA concludes that:

• There is no current gap in the current provision of necessary services during normal working hours across North Tyneside to meet the needs of the population.
• There is no current gap in the current provision of necessary services outside normal working hours across North Tyneside to meet the needs of the population.
• No gaps have been identified in the need for pharmaceutical services in future circumstances across North Tyneside.
• There are no gaps in the provision of advanced services at present or in the future (lifetime of this PNA) that would secure improvements or better access to pharmaceutical services in North Tyneside.
• There are no gaps in the provision of enhanced services at present or in the future (lifetime of this PNA) that would secure improvements or better access to pharmaceutical services in North Tyneside.
• Based on current information no current gaps have been identified in respect of securing improvements or better access to Locally Commissioned services, either now or in specific future (lifetime of this PNA) circumstances across North Tyneside to meet the needs of the population.

The final PNA document, North Tyneside PNA 2025-2028, is included as an appendix to the report.

Health Protection Assurance Report 2025

The board will be asked to agree that the Health Protection Assurance Report 2025 provides assurance that the local health protection arrangements are robust, and that local stakeholders should continue to collaborate on a range of prevention and control measures. The report is a joint report of Wendy Burke, Director of Public Health, and Chris Woodcock, Consultant in Public Health.

The report pack states that North Tyneside has robust systems in place for the management of existing and emerging health protection issues, and that these systems are shared across a range of organisations and services.

The report identifies areas that may require further consideration and action to support the delivery of the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy, including:

• Cancer screening inequalities: The report pack notes that while uptake overall is generally very good, there is evidence of significant variation at a local level in uptake for all cancer screening programmes.
• Vaccination inequalities: The report pack states that the uptake of most of the vaccination programmes is above regional and national averages, but that for some programmes there is a downward trend in uptake, and analysis highlights inequalities across the vaccination schedule.
• Local co-ordination and stakeholder engagement: The report pack recommends a continued focus on local co-ordination and stakeholder engagement to help ensure appropriate prevention, assurance, and outbreak control.

Working with Sir Michael Marmot and the Institute of Health Equity

The board will receive a presentation from Wendy Burke, Director of Public Health, regarding a proposal to enter into a two-year partnership with Sir Michael Marmot and the Institute of Health Equity (IHE) to support the refresh of the Joint Health and Wellbeing Board Strategy.

Sir Michael Marmot is an internationally renowned public health academic who led the 2010 independent review into health inequalities, which led to the publication of his report 'Fair Society, Healthy Lives'. According to the report pack, over 50 towns, cities, boroughs, and regions have since become 'Marmot Places' and worked with Sir Michael and his team to tackle inequalities in a way that is bespoke to the needs of the local population.

The report pack states that this work will build on the current Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy, Equally Well, which was based on the six Marmot principles. It will help to embed inequalities and the Marmot policy objectives in all that the council does, support the review of the approach to poverty prevention and intervention, and align several other work programmes.

The report pack emphasises that this will be a whole system approach, not just a North Tyneside Council programme, as inequalities, poverty and their consequences cannot be tackled by one organisation alone. It will be led by the new Director of Public Health and championed by the Elected Mayor. The North Tyneside Strategic Partnership (NTSP) Executive will provide strategic leadership, and the Health and Wellbeing Board and other themed boards of the NTSP will lead on the delivery of the programme.