The Health & Wellbeing Board and ICB Sub-Committee (Committees in Common) met on Tuesday 04 November 2025 to discuss the Director of Public Health's Annual Report, the Neighbourhood Working Update, and the draft NHS System Strategy and Outline Commissioning Intentions. Key decisions included the approval of the Director of Public Health's Annual Report, the Neighbourhood Working Update, and the draft NHS System Strategy and Outline Commissioning Intentions. The meeting also saw the approval of the Foundations for Change: Tackling Poverty Strategy and the Building a Fairer Future Together Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Strategy.

Director of Public Health Annual Report 2024/25

Matthew Cole, Director of Public Health for Barking and Dagenham, presented his annual report, Getting Serious about Prevention Together. The report highlights the borough's public health challenges and proposes two priority outcomes: preventing and managing long-term conditions, and improving early childhood development. The report emphasises a shift towards prevention, addressing the wider social determinants of health, and utilising Integrated Neighbourhood Teams to deliver services. Key discussions revolved around the Marmot framework¹ for tackling health inequalities, the importance of early intervention, and the strategic use of the £20 million Public Health Grant. Councillor Maureen Worby, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Health and Housing, noted the report's usefulness for GPs in planning neighbourhood-level services and highlighted the partnership with Queen Mary University of London. Questions were raised about ensuring interventions are culturally competent, transparent allocation of the public health grant, integrating council data into the Optum PHM tool², and the performance framework for agreed outcomes. Mr Cole explained that improving data collection, particularly on ethnicity, and triangulating data with resident experience are crucial. He also detailed the governance process for the public health grant, which sits with the Health and Wellbeing Board. Elspeth Paisley, Health Lead for BD Collective, welcomed the emphasis on power-sharing with communities and stressed the importance of co-production.

Neighbourhood Working Update

Fiona Taylor, Chief Executive (Place Partnership Lead) for LBBD, and Sharon Morrow, Director of Partnership Impact and Delivery for NHS North East London, provided an update on the Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NHIP). Barking and Dagenham has been selected as a Wave 1 site for this national programme, which aims to shift care from hospitals to communities. Key activities include the recruitment of a Local Place Coach, Panos Samartizes, and the development of neighbourhood teams. The programme will utilise the Optum data tool to identify eligible residents, defined as adults aged 18-64 with two chronic conditions and poor mental health. Discussions focused on the importance of resident involvement in co-producing neighbourhood health plans, ensuring continuity of care for residents with complex needs, and developing indicators to assess the impact of multidisciplinary teams. Sharon Morrow emphasised that the NHIP is one element of a broader neighbourhood programme and that existing local initiatives are being escalated. Councillor Michel Pongo, Chair of the Health Scrutiny Committee, questioned how neighbourhood teams would ensure continuity of care and what indicators would be used to assess impact. Fiona Taylor stressed the importance of resident involvement in designing the neighbourhood team model and the test and learn approach being adopted.

Draft NHS System Strategy and Outline Commissioning Intentions

Lee Walker, Head of Strategic Planning at NEL ICB, and Charlotte Pomery, Executive Director at NHS North East London, presented the draft NHS System Strategy and Outline Commissioning Intentions. This forms part of the NHS annual planning process, aiming to align with the government's 10-year Health Plan³ and the three key shifts: hospital to community, analogue to digital, and treatment to prevention. The strategy outlines priorities for long-term conditions, mental health, diagnostics, and community services, introducing the Outcomes and Equity Framework. Discussions highlighted concerns about the low proportion of the commissioning budget allocated to prevention (1%), the potential loss of equitable funding between inner and outer London areas, and the need for a greater emphasis on adult commissioning. Councillor Maureen Worby raised concerns about the lack of equitable funding and the potential for fragmentation. Councillor Syed Ghani questioned the definition of success and the realistic expectations for neighbourhood teams, particularly regarding investment. Lee Walker explained that the strategy is a work in progress and that the ICB is committed to addressing geographic inequity and moving resources towards prevention. Charlotte Pomery acknowledged the stress placed on staff due to ongoing restructuring and emphasised the importance of maintaining partnerships, including the Integrated Care Partnership.

Foundations for Change: Tackling Poverty Strategy 2025/26

This strategy, approved by Cabinet, outlines a new approach to tackling poverty in Barking and Dagenham, focusing on five vulnerable resident groups: lone parents, large families, individuals with disabilities or long-term ill health, care leavers, and young people with mental ill-health and NEET⁴. Initial interventions include increasing child maintenance take-up, improving access to affordable food, and addressing material barriers to employment. A longer-term Anti-Poverty Board will be established.

Building a Fairer Future Together - Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Strategy 2025-2029

This strategy, also approved by Cabinet, sets out four objectives: Closing Equality Gaps, Providing Fair and Accessible Public Services, Promoting Cohesion and Integration, and Being an Inclusive Employer. It addresses six key priorities under Closing Equality Gaps, including safe housing, access to care, fair access to jobs and training, education for children and young people, tackling poverty, and creating a safer borough. Progress will be monitored through an annual report to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.