Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting - Online access

Contact: Mark Beeley  01628 796345 / Email: mark.beeley@rbwm.gov.uk

Video Stream: Click here to watch this meeting on YouTube

Items
No. Item

304/15

Apologies for Absence

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Hunt and Caroline Farrar.

305/15

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 108 KB

To receive any declarations of interest.

Minutes:

The Chairman declared a personal interest as he had worked for the Vaccines Taskforce and Antiviral and Therapeutics Taskforce. He now worked for the vaccine company Moderna, Councillor Carroll declared this in the interests of full transparency.

306/15

Minutes/Matters Arising pdf icon PDF 557 KB

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 29th March 2022 and to consider any matters arising from the meeting.

Minutes:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting held on 29th March 2022 were approved as a true and accurate record.

307/15

Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment pdf icon PDF 5 MB

To consider and sign off the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment.

Minutes:

Rebecca Willans, Consultant in Public Health – Public Health Hub Berkshire East, explained that the last Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) had expired in April, there was a requirement for the latest PNA to be approved by 1st October 2022. The statutory role of the Health & Wellbeing Board was to assess the need for pharmaceutical services in the area and to publish a statement of its assessment. The requirements regarding the process and contents were set out in legislation. The PNA considered the geographical location of pharmacies and the provisions of services. If an individual wanted to provide pharmaceutical services, it needed to apply to NHS England. This was regarded as a ‘market entry’ system.

 

There was a need to establish a governance process, with a steering group which contained appropriate representation. The contractor survey went out to all pharmacies, while the public survey looked to gauge what public opinion was about services provided in the area. The PNA was agreed and signed off pre-consultation, the PNA had then gone out for a 60 day consultation. There was a final review before the final report was drafted. The final report was what the Board was considering today, for approval and sign off. It was agreed by the Director of Public Health for Berkshire East that the PNA would be commissioned to a third-party provider. This provider was called Health Dialogues.

 

Ashlee Mulimba, Healthy Dialogues, explained that all localities across the borough needed to be considered, this was based on ward level. The different needs of each ward were assessed, along with the different needs of those who shared a protected characteristic. The PNA needed to consider whether there was sufficient choice with regard to obtaining pharmaceutical services and to identify any gaps in the provision of services. These gaps could include geographical gaps in the location of premises, geographical gaps in the provision of services, and gaps in the times or days at which services were provided.

 

In total, there were 29 pharmacies in RBWM. Analysis had been done to consider the number of residents who were within 1 mile of these pharmacies and also how much of the borough was covered by a 20 minutes travel time in a car. Deprivation and population density were also considered. Healthy Dialogues considered that there was good access to essential, advanced and other NHS pharmaceutical services for residents in RBWM, therefore there were no gaps identified in the provision of services.

 

Rebecca Willans concluded by saying that the Board was being asked to agree with these conclusions and sign off the PNA, so that it could be published on the website.

 

Councillor Coppinger noted that there had been an increase in the number of online pharmacies. He asked what impact this could have on local pharmacies.

 

Ashlee Mulimba said there should not be an impact, pharmacies also provided advice and signposting, so they were therefore an important resource for local communities.

 

Huw Thomas felt that it was a comprehensive report. Pharmacies were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 307/15

308/15

Older Peoples Working Group pdf icon PDF 388 KB

To hear from the Vice Chairman of the Group.

Minutes:

Edward Piekut said that the Older Persons’ Advisory Forum (OPAF) had a proposal to create an older person working group in RBWM. A similar group had been present in Reading Borough Council since 2011. The working group would help to:

 

·         Meet the demographic challenge of an ageing population.

·         Make the borough ‘age friendly’.

·         Build on the success of the Reading Borough Council working group.

·         Create a channel for a wide range of stakeholders.

·         Provide information and idea to improve life in RBWM.

·         Refresh the Older Persons’ Advisory Forum

 

The framework for this proposal could be initiated by a resolution of RBWM Cabinet Members and officers. This would be supported by the Older Persons’ Advisory Forum and would form part of the RBWM Together initiative. The working group at Reading had a defined terms of reference, these had been attached as part of the agenda pack. Edward Piekut said that the working group in RBWM would initially be Zoom meetings of a wide range of stakeholders, with controlled agendas and meeting frequencies which were similar to the working group in Reading. Issues would be directed by older people, the stakeholder invitations would start with the 139 people currently on the Older Persons’ Advisory Forum distribution list. It was planned that the group would be a community led partnership and would be co-chaired by an OPAF member and a Councillor. An appointed RBWM officer would also be part of the group. If the proposal was to go ahead, the first meeting was planned to take place in September 2022.

 

The Chairman thanked Edward Piekut for being invited to a number of OPAF meetings recently where the proposals had been discussed.

 

Councillor G Jones said that he had been involved with OPAF for a couple of years, it had been set up to improve the lives of older people. There was a danger that older people were ‘forgotten’, he had attended meetings of the working group in Reading and it was an impressive set up. The OPAF wanted to copy what Reading had been doing, Councillor G Jones encouraged the Health & Wellbeing Board to get on board with the idea and support it.

 

Kevin McDaniel, Executive Director of People, said that there were a number of other groups across the borough that already did a similar role to what had been proposed by OPAF, with the working group acting as an ‘umbrella’, which brought all of these groups together. He asked how the agenda could be focused so that it was not ominous on those putting it together. Kevin McDaniel was in principle supportive of the proposals.

 

Edward Piekut explained that meetings were kept to two hours and there was a maximum of four items included on each agenda. RBWM Together could be used to ensure that a wide range of people were involved in meetings of the working group.

 

Councillor Coppinger had also been a representative on OPAF in the past. The council needed to reach all residents of all ages, a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 308/15

309/15

Health and Wellbeing Strategy – Priority Focus – Integrated Services

To consider the main theme of the meeting, including:

 

·         Children’s Partnership Conference

·         Integrated Care including a film of patient journey – our Locality Access Point and cluster Multi-disciplinary Team arrangement

·         Population Health Management in Windsor

Minutes:

Anna Richards, Head of Public Health, said that the Board had considered each area of the strategy in detail at every Board meeting. The four areas were:

 

·         Investing in the borough as a place to live to reduce inequalities

·         Targeting prevention and early intervention to improve wellbeing

·         Championing mental wellbeing and reducing social isolation

·         Coordinating integrated services around those residents that needed it most

 

Anna Richards said that this meeting would focus on the final priority area, there were a number of speakers who would speak around this theme.

 

Lin Ferguson, Director of Children’s Social Care and Early Help, said that there had been a few meetings of the new children and young people strategic partnership. The first few meetings had been considering the terms of reference and what the membership of the partnership should look like. The idea was to have a conference bringing together all organisations to consider how they could work in a more integrated way across the partnership. The conference had taken place last week, it was well attended and had provided one of the best opportunities to get together since the pandemic. Plans would be developed to bring forward the key priorities for the partnership, how organisations would work together going forward.

 

The Chairman asked what some of the key themes were from the conference and how would this be developed into an action plan.

 

Lin Ferguson said that the mental health of young people was a key theme throughout the day. Conversations about what was meant by collaboration and integration were important, everyone had a view and the partnership was a good place for these conversations to take place. Educational achievement was also a key priority, the partnership needed to bring all of the information together into an action plan.

 

Kevin McDaniel considered the discussion in the previous agenda item around OPAF, there were plans for an adult’s services conference to be held in September.

 

Jenny Plummer, Community Integration Manager, said that integrated care was part of the Frimley Integrated Care System and was present in the three localities that made up East Berkshire. The structure enabled community health teams, adult social care and community organisations to work together. The Locality Access Point was based in the Town Hall and the team sat together, both virtually and face to face, and it was funded through the Better Care Fund. For the cluster, monthly virtual meetings were held. These were designed to support the more complex residents and was closely aligned with the primary care network. Support was ideally aimed at any adult who had more than one health and social care need. The Locality Access Point was open Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm. Residents were given a two hour contact time for urgent queries, or 48 hours for a non-urgent response. All referrals were welcome and referrals were not declined without action. The integration of services allowed the team to provide holistic support, residents were put at the forefront of the approach and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 309/15

310/15

Covid-19 Update

To receive an update from the Head of Communities.

Minutes:

David Scott, Head of Communities, outlined the latest Covid data in RBWM. The positivity rate was increasing but the borough was not dissimilar to other authorities in the South East. Nationally, the number of people infected was predicted to be 1 in 25. For hospital admissions in East Berkshire, the seven day rolling average showed that there were 22 admissions per day. For high risk settings, the main risk was the reduction in staffing levels as schools approached the summer holidays. There had been eight reported outbreaks at care homes across the borough. Spring booster vaccination rates had been positive; 85% of those 12+ had received a first dose, 82% had received a second dose and 67% had received a third or booster dose. Vaccinations were still open to all that had not yet been vaccinated.

 

Communication was still being put out on social media platforms, mainly based around that fact that Covid had not gone away and was still an issue, despite the reduced impact nationally. It was important that the message of ‘living of Covid’ was portrayed to residents.

 

Huw Thomas said that many patients had symptoms of Covid which varied in nature, there were a lot of cases being seen at the moment. He reiterated the offer of the ‘evergreen’ vaccination programme.

 

Councillor Baldwin said it was good to hear that safety messages were still being advertised, particularly the wearing of face masks now that there was no legal requirement. Councillors were meant to set an example, he suggested that they should be worn during meetings at the Council Chamber. Councillor Baldwin was concerned by the level of positive cases, which was still high even with the successful roll out of the vaccination programme. There was a danger of reinfection which a number of residents were unaware of.

 

Huw Thomas said that the vaccination programme was preventing people from becoming seriously ill. The vaccine did not prevent infection or reinfection but meant that the number of hospital admissions was low. New strains of Covid were constantly appearing which could avoid the vaccine.

 

The Chairman said that it was important that people were aware of the risks, and these were reemphasised. It was a personal choice for people to wear face masks.

311/15

Housing Update

To hear from the Head of Housing and Environmental Health.

Minutes:

Tracy Hendren, Head of Housing, Environmental Health and Trading Standards, said that a written update would be circulated to Members of the Board after the meeting.

 

ACTION – Mark Beeley to circulate written update to Members of the Board.

 

The update contained information on the pathways and strategies, the allocations policy had a draft which would be circulated for consultation as did the disabled facilities grant policy which would also go out for consultation. The allocations policy would consider the issue of three lists in the borough, one with the local authority and two with external providers. The disability facilities grant policy would allow RBWM to have some discretion on how disabled facility grants could be funded. Data on housing was now available through the Citizens Portal, this included social housing, temporary accommodation numbers and the number of successful rough sleeper pathway participants. Tracy Hendren said that there was now a full compliment of housing options officers, along with a housing operations manager. These additions to the team would help to deal with the backlog enforced by the pandemic.

 

The rough sleeper pathway was nearing its third year of progress, the council had recently received its rough sleeper initiative year five settlement. This meant that there had been funding for three consecutive years which was positive. An online system was in place for temporary accommodation along with the housing register. There had been a slight decrease in the number of people in temporary accommodation, currently 227, and many were still struggling with the impact of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis. The ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme was being led by the Housing team and there were currently 234 guests on the scheme. The team ensured that the five checks and balances were adhered to, including hosts being paid and that accommodation was suitable for families.

312/15

Future Meeting Dates

·         Tuesday 18th October 2022 – 3pm – York House, Windsor and Zoom

 

Dates for 2023 will be confirmed shortly.

Minutes:

The next meeting was scheduled to take place on Tuesday 18th October 2022, starting at 3pm.