Agenda item

Ms Kelly O’Neill, the Council’s Director of Public Health, advised that the report provided a mid-three year update on progress against the priorities in the Health and Wellbeing Strategy.  It was noted that the last evaluation had needed some improvements and, as such, consideration had since been given to which metrics would be used to evaluate progress and what these should be measured against, e.g., previous performance, North West London (NWL), London, England, etc. 

The report detailed clear improvements to the current service provision and provided quite a lot of detail in some areas.  Ms O’Neill stated that partners had all submitted data as requested and on time which had aided in the formation of the report.  The metrics had been RAG rated based on local and national data and consideration would need to be given to how this should be reported in future.  There were 17 priorities: 5 Red, 8 Amber, 4 Green.

It was anticipated that the year two review of the strategy would be considered by the Board at its next meeting on 10 September 2024 and would be more concise.  Consideration would need to be given to planning the development of the new strategy.  The next report would be able to demonstrate what had been achieved to date. 

Ms O’Neill advised that children’s oral health was one of the best in NWL but that it was still lower than the London and England average despite a significant amount of work being undertaken between the ICB and Directors of Public Health in NWL.  Additional funding had been secured from the NWL ICB to support work in Hillingdon around the dental health strategy.  There was also NHS England funding for the children’s oral health contract which would be doubled next year.  School based health mechanisms would continue to be used to drive the children’s oral health work and this would need to be drawn together with work around things like child obesity and the school water only policy.  It would be important to ensure that partners were also role models by, for example, only having sugar free options in paediatrics at the hospital. 

Hypertension was still the most significant contributor towards deaths.  Although work undertaken around hypertension had improved the statistics in Hillingdon, it was important to recognise that the results of this work would not be instant.  Over time, the Borough would see a reduction in the number of strokes and heart attacks. 

With regard to the implementation of the Autism Strategy, it was noted that a number of key actions had been identified to be taken forward.  The Board noted that homelessness had become a real issue across the whole of London.  A public health review of the associated disparities was being undertaken with support from the Population Health Management (PHM) team.  The PHM infrastructure was also being linked to support the development of the Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (INT).  Three out of four posts had been appointed and would be in place for two years to help tackle inequalities through a place based approach. 

Things had been coming together around the neighbourhoods which was thought to be an exciting development - services were being aligned to contribute towards people’s health going forward.  This work was thought to be a long term investment in getting upstream of the demand. 

RESOLVED:  That:

1)    the progress of strategy implementation within year 2 be noted, with the year 2 full progress report planned for the next Health and Wellbeing Board meeting;

2)    new funded workstreams contributing to the strategy’s achievements be noted; and

3)    the recommended process for periodic oversight and assurance, monitoring outcomes achieved, and escalation where improvement milestones are not being achieved be noted.