To consider the main theme of the meeting:

·         Introduction: Kevin McDaniel

·         Children’s Services: Lin Ferguson

·         Healthier Together: Alex Streeter De Diego

·         Adult Services: Helen Sargeant Dar

Kevin McDaniel, Executive Director of People at RBWM, introduced the item and explained that each Board meeting was focused on a priority focus from the health and wellbeing strategy. In the build up to Christmas, there had been a significant amount of pressure on the health system and it was important to consider how residents could help themselves to relieve this pressure.

Alex Streeter de Diego, Clinical Lead for the Healthier Together programme, set out how the programme helped to address pressure on the healthcare system and provided a reliable resource for parents and carers to access self-help. The platform was used by multiple providers, healthcare professionals, parents and carers. The main goal of the programme was to empower parents and carers to feel confident providing self-care for their child. An example was the scarlet fever and strep A outbreak, pages were updated quickly to inform parents and carers and provided information on symptoms, when it should be a concern and help should be sought. Alex Streeter de Diego shared analytics data from the healthier together programme with the Board. From this data, it was clear that a significant number of parents and carers had used the programme in December. The programme could be adapted so that content changed depending on common seasonal issues. Links were also made between the programme and social media, when the strep A outbreak occurred Frimley were able to post a video and other helpful information which was clear and easily accessible to those that needed it. There was also an app for the programme which provided further ease of access for parents and carers to use the service.

The Chairman asked how the mental health element of the healthier together programme worked.

Alex Streeter de Diego explained that the mental health pages contained information on conditions along with a crisis area, which provided crisis line contact details and what parents and carers could do at that point for their child. Signposting was also part of the programme and could be used to gain further help from other organisations and schemes.

Anna Richards, Head of Public Health at RBWM, said it was good to hear that the pages could be changed and adapted quickly depending on changing circumstances. She said it would be good to understand the process behind this and how changes could be made.

Alex Streeter de Diego said that the healthier together team could change the webpages, which was done using clinical evidence.

Huw Thomas, Placed based Clinical Lead at RBWM, congratulated the team for their responsiveness to the strep A outbreak towards the end of last year. The programme had been a vital resource to ensure that consistent information was being shared, it was a well respected platform. Huw Thomas encouraged the promotion of the programme as widely as possible.

Lin Ferguson, Director of Children’s Services at Achieving for Children, said that most of the staff in the children’s services directorate worked with vulnerable children and their families. Most of the work took place in family hubs and early help hubs. There were a range of services in place to support families, a lot of the work involved signposting to vital services and promoting key messages from public health, for example. 148 children in RBWM had received a Christmas gift via a charity in 2022 and there had been a lot of positive feedback received from families. 241 children had attended holiday activities and food programmes over the Christmas break. There had also been an increase in the number of referrals to the school family employment advisor. These examples highlighted the volume of children and young people that the council had been able to reach over the past couple of months.

Helen Sargeant, Director of Adult Services at Optalis, outlined the home first scheme. This supported individuals to go from hospital back to their usual place of residence, to maximise their potential to live the best life that they could. The scheme was utilised by a community and hospital team who provided comprehensive support for the first couple of weeks after a resident left hospital, which ensured that they received the right level of support going forward. The result was that residents would have better outcomes, tailored towards the residents individual needs. As part of the scheme, there was 370 hours of dedicated carer support, additional resource from physiotherapists, live in care packages, an Age Concern supporting pathway, handyman access and an equipment service. The scheme allowed organisations and teams to work together whilst still retaining their separate identities. Decisions were made at the right time for the individual and it ensured that the correct care was implemented which was tailored to the individual. Outcomes of the scheme were to reduce hospital delays and reduce the time that individuals remained in hospital. This would lead to an improved patient experience and also a reduction in readmission to hospital. The scheme had just started and was being trialled for the next ten weeks to test the model.

Councillor Coppinger felt that this scheme showed what could be achieved when the NHS and RBWM worked closely together.

Steve Dunn, RBWM Place Convenor at NHS Frimley, said that it was a fantastic piece of work, it had been challenging for Frimley over the Christmas period. The council had supported Wexham Park hospital on discharges, the home first initiative was right for residents and allowed patients to get back to their community as soon as possible. He echoed the comments made by Councillor Coppinger.

Councillor Stimson asked if there was anything put in place to stop patients from deteriorating again, once they had re-entered the community.

Kevin McDaniel said it was important to highlight that services were there when residents needed help with statutory care. All residents could undertake the preventive measures which were provided by health colleagues to help prevent deterioration.