Agenda item

Mr Sunny Doshi, the Council’s Public Health Officer, advised that the report provided a progress review of the first year’s delivery of the Hillingdon Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2022-2025.  He and Ms Becky Manvell, Public Health Manager - NHS Health Checks at the Council, had reviewed the first year and developed a framework.  The report set out the evaluation process, aiming to showcase achievements in alignment with the Strategy's key priorities. It meticulously outlined areas where significant progress had been made, those where data limitations hindered a comprehensive assessment, and priorities that required further clarification to establish measurable progress indicators.

At the core of the Strategy were six thematic priorities, each bolstered by specific workstreams targeting diverse aspects of health and social care delivery.  The Strategy envisioned each priority being realised through distinct Hillingdon Health and Care Partnership (HHCP) Transformation Boards.

The review had highlighted several challenges encountered during the evaluation.  These included difficulties in assigning clear responsibilities and identifying lead officers responsible for providing comprehensive progress updates.  Despite these challenges, the review identified ten specific areas where notable progress had been made in 2022-23.  These successes had included initiatives such as falls prevention programs for older residents, hypertension awareness campaigns and enhanced support services for individuals dealing with dementia.

Conversely, certain areas demonstrated limited or no progress, particularly in combating child obesity and engaging children in healthy activities.  Notably, the My Choice healthy weight intervention programme had faced constraints due to capacity limitations and low participation rates, posing a challenge in addressing child obesity effectively.  Councillor Sue O’Brien, Vice Chair, noted her disappointment that there had been little progress with regard to childhood obesity and that partners hadn’t done more.  Capacity on the obesity course had been limited, take up had been low and many participants had not made it to the end of the course. 

Mr Doshi noted that consideration was being given to having a revised evaluation process in place to report progress back to the Health and Wellbeing Board.  Further work was also needed in relation to more effective and efficient data gathering.  While acknowledging the strength of ongoing operational work, it was recognised that there was a need to align strategic priorities more closely with the tangible progress being made on the ground.  Ms Kelly O’Neill, Director of Public Health, advised that there had been some crossover between Hillingdon’s Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy and the Better Care Fund (BCF) Transformation Boards but that there had been no baseline for some of the metrics.  Year 2 of the Strategy required significant link up but this needed to be embedded in the Transformation Boards and milestone measures needed to be put in place. 

Mr Keith Spencer, Co-Chair and Managing Director of Hillingdon Health and Care Partners, advised that Mr Doshi had not been able to access the right people to get the right information for inclusion in sections of this report.  There were clear workloads and Senior Responsible Officers had been identified for the Transformation Boards.  It would be important to report the right information to reinforce existing milestones, reporting and governance.  In addition, baselines needed to be established and progress needed to be benchmarked and monitored through the Health and Wellbeing Board to ensure that progress was made.  Clarity was needed in relation to what was being measured and the expected outcomes.  An update on this would be provided at the Board’s next meeting on 5 March 2024. 

Mr Tony Zaman, the Council’s Chief Executive, noted that operational work was being undertaken day in / day out.  Operational delivery was mature in some areas but this needed to be evidenced.  Ms Vanessa Odlin, Managing Director at Goodall Division Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, advised that there had been a disappointingly low take up of the School Nurse Programme / My Choice.  Investigations were underway to establish why there had been limited engagement with young people as well as how progress could be made to reduce instances of obesity in young people.  Ms Odlin advised that she was the SRO for mental health, learning disabilities and autism. 

The Chair commended successful initiatives such as the Falls Directory (which had been replicated across London) and the attainment of a dementia-friendly community status. Nevertheless, the necessity for clearer measures and milestones for effective strategy evaluation and progress tracking was underscored as a priority moving forward.  Overall, the Board collectively agreed to these recommendations, highlighting the importance of enhancing existing governance mechanisms to improve the Strategy's execution.

RESOLVED:  That:

1)    the content of this review of year 1 (2022/23) of the Hillingdon Health and Wellbeing Strategy be noted.

2)    a revised evaluation process anticipating the need to evaluate year 2 (2023/24) of the H&WBS, led by the LBH PH team which enables periodic oversight and assurance of progress made, outcomes achieved, and escalation routes for improvement milestones not being achieved be noted.

3)    an update on progress on the baselines be brought to the Health and Wellbeing Board meeting on 5 March 2024.