Agenda item

This report presents the Health and Wellbeing Board with the final version of Medway’s Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy (JHWS) for 2018–2023. The JHWS contains a proposed vision and a set of priorities structured around five key themes. The priorities have been chosen after reviewing feedback from community engagement events, evidence from the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) and input from health and social care professionals and wider stakeholders including the voluntary sector.

Discussion

The first draft of the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy (JHWS) had been presented to the Board in July. It had subsequently been considered by Medway NHS Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG) Governing Body and by the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee and had been updated based upon the feedback received. The Strategy was due to be presented to Cabinet on 20 November for final approval. The revised JHWS was a refresh of the previous Strategy and was based on the same five themes.

A number of questions were raised by the Board as follows:

Flash glucose monitoring – It was questioned whether consideration had been given to the provision in Medway of flash glucose monitoring for people with diabetes on the basis that it could be safer and more cost effective than the current system. The Director of Public Health advised that such services were commissioned by the CCG. There was not currently clear guidance from the National Institute of Care Excellence (NICE) about the efficacy of such devices. The Chief Operating Officer of Medway CCG said that there was insufficient evidence available to demonstrate that the provision of flash glucose monitoring would be cost effective but that the decision not to provide it in Medway would be reviewed when new evidence became available. Nationally, 70% of CCGs had agreed to provide funding with 30% having not done so.

Establishment of Hyper Acute Stroke Units - A Member said that while he supported the principle of establishing Hyper Acute Stroke Units (HASUs) he was strongly opposed to the preferred three site option identified as it would not include the provision of a HASU in Medway, which he considered would make stroke treatment worse for the local population. Concerns were raised in relation to the wording of paragraph 4.1 of the draft Strategy. After discussion, it was agreed that “A proposal to establish hyper-acute stroke units…” should be changed to “Aim to establish hyper-acute stroke units”.

The role of older people - A Member felt that older people were not encouraged to play an active role in society and that work was needed to address this. The Director of Public Health said that consideration could be given to providing training and engagement for older people who wished to volunteer, through the Medway Champions programme.

Other suggested additions to draft Strategy – It was suggested that the Strategy should reference the Council’s Cumulative Impact licensing policy and also that Medway was seeking to be reaccredited for the White Ribbon programme. 

Children’s health and sport – A Member asked how well integrated work was between Public Health and the Medway sport team in view of the fact that 23.4% of reception year pupils in Medway were classed as overweight and obese. The Director of Public Health advised that work was fully integrated. Examples of joint working included the recent hosting of a multi-agency weight management summit, promotion of the “Daily Mile” and other initiatives. It was noted that the Year 6 overweight and obese figure for Medway was lower than the England average. It was agreed that information would be included in the Strategy about the work undertaken by the sport team in relation to child health.

Mental Health Considerations – A Board Member expressed concern regarding there being no acute mental health provision in Medway, while another Member said that there was a need for services to be available to help people improve their mental health, in addition to the range of services already available to help people stay physically fit. 

Decision

The Board approved the final Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy for presentation to Cabinet, subject to the amendments agreed above.