Agenda item

This short report summarises the work that has been on-going since January 2023 to create a new Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy (JLHWS). The JLHWS is the strategy of the Health and Wellbeing Board. Appendix 1 shows the themes that have emerged from engagement exercises and a review of the data and will be used to structure the writing of the full strategy.

Discussion:

The Deputy Director of Public Health introduced the report which summarised the work that had been undertaken to date, and the emerging themes that would form the basis of the final Strategy that would be presented to the Board at its meeting on 23 November 2023.

Members then made the following comments and suggestions:

• There was still a long way to go in terms of equality and it was vital to explore the whole journey in terms of intended outcomes which was why it was valuable to have a local health and wellbeing strategy.

• The extent to which the community was consulted and engaged with must be made evident in the report when the full Strategy was presented to the next meeting of the Board.

• Members recognised that the themes evidenced how broad and complex the areas of work were, and the success of initiatives depended on engagement of partners.It was vital that organisations worked together, and any identified barriers be brought forward to be addressed.

• Officers from Medway NHS Foundation Trust and the Integrated Care Board agreed that the Strategy complemented the work of the NHS Trusts Clinical Strategy and the Integrated Care System Strategy where clear links had been identified. The Public Health Team was thanked for their efforts in maintaining governance.

• It was important to consider the more vulnerable population of Medway and the need for more support at place based level. The focus group work done as part of the Core 20 plus 5 NHS framework, on identification of the plus population, as well as the effort to address the needs of that population was commended.

• In response to comments that the strategy was aspirational, and a clear model of delivery was needed to highlight the direction of travel over a time period, the Deputy Director of Public Health informed the Board that a logical framework matrix was being developed to evidence delivery. The framework would provide the mechanism to demonstrate connections between the aspirations of the Strategy, how it proposed to achieve outcomes, how achievements were measured, and the framework used to measure outcomes. This would ensure that there was clear evidence in place on delivery and outcomes.

• The work being done needed to align with the Councils Climate Change agenda. Whilst the climate crisis was declared in 2019, issues had been in place for a number of years prior to the declaration and current issues greatly adversely affected the health and wellbeing of Medway residents. It was suggested that the Climate Change Team attend a future meeting of the Board to present some of the work that had taken place across Medway to date, to tackle climate issues.

·       A view was expressed that going forward it was important to acknowledge the strong community of Medway, focus and build on the inherent strengths of residents through promotion of a strength based approach instead of a service led approach to improving health and wellbeing.

Officers reminded Board Members that as part of their role, they would be asked to champion the aspirations of the Strategy and may be called upon to work alongside public health and other teams on behalf of the Board.

Decision

The Health and Wellbeing Board noted the report.