Agenda item

Ben Brannan, Senior Public Health Officer provided a presentation which gave feedback from the development session held on 10^th December, 2020.

Identified were clear strengths, which included being good at communicating key messages, having a clear vision, having committed frontline staff and a strong understanding of data.  It was noted that whilst Covid had presented significant problem, partnership working to address this had improved.  There was civic pride in Barnsley, with a will to improve things.  This had been seen in the recent forming of the Mental Health Partnership.  Members acknowledged that the forthcoming refresh of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy offered an opportunity to drive improvements and tackle inequalities in health.

Members noted a number of actions emanating from the workshop which included a ‘left shift’ towards prevention, and strengthening partnership working.

It was suggested that the ultimate aim was to increase healthy life expectancy and narrow gaps in life expectancy across the borough.  As this was a longer-term aspiration, a number of measures were suggested in order to consider the impact in the more immediate term, including employment levels, housing conditions and school readiness.

Questions were raised about the length of term the refreshed Health and Wellbeing Strategy would cover and it was noted that this would be defined by Members.  It was acknowledged that that many of the issues highlighted by the pandemic were relevant prior and would be subsequently.

The need to ensure the refreshed strategy dovetailed with the Barnsley 2030 work and vice versa was also acknowledged.

With regards to the revised terms of reference it was suggested that discussions take place in order to engage young people in the work of the Board, perhaps inviting Members of the Youth Council.

RESOLVED:-

(i)           That the revised Terms of Reference for the Health and Wellbeing Board be endorsed and be recommended to Full Council for approval, subject to the inclusion of further youth participation;

(ii)          That a cross-system (including the Integrated Care System) workshop is held at an appropriate time, which focusses on how we can achieve greater value for money in Barnsley;

(iii)        That Board members actively contribute to the development and delivery of the updated Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy; that they take ownership for delivering on the strategy and advocate the work of the Board within their own organisation and at partnership meetings (as per the updated Terms of Reference);

(iv)        That the Strategy is translated into clear and measurable outcomes and the Board hold the system to account in achieving these outcomes;

(v)          That a template for the Board is updated and agreed for all reports to the Board which includes questions for the Board, recommendations and SMART actions for the Board, and identifies which outcomes of the refreshed Health and Wellbeing Strategy the reports aligns with.