Meeting documents

To elect a Chairman for the meeting.  As the Chairmanship rotates amongst the three authorities depending on venue, the Vice-Chairman identified at our previous meeting becomes the Chairman at this.

Resolved

That Councillor Jane Kelly be elected as Chairman for the meeting.

To appoint a Vice–Chairman for the meeting.

Resolved

That Councillor John Challinor be appointed as Vice-Chairman for the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Steve Butler (Dorset County

Council).

Members are required to comply with the requirements of the Localism Act 2011 regarding discosable pecuniary interests and you should therefore:

·         Check if there is an item of business on this agenda in which you or a relevant person has a disclosable pecuniary interest.

·         Inform the Secretary of the Group in advance about your disclosable pecuniary interest and if necessary take advice.

·         Check that you have notified your interest to your own Council’s Monitoring Officer (in writing) and that it has been entered in your Council’s Register (if not this must be done within 28 days.

·         Disclose the interest at the meeting and in the absence of a dispensation to speak and/or vote, withdraw from any consideration of the item.

Each Council’s Register of Interests is available on their individual websites.

There were no declarations by members of disclosable pecuniary interest under the

Code of Conduct.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 19 November 2018.

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 November 2018 were confirmed and signed.

(a)  Public speaking

(b)  Petitions

There were no public questions or public statements received at the meeting under

Standing Orders 21(1) and (2) respectively.

To receive the Joint Public Health Board’s Forward Plan.

The Board considered its draft Forward Plan which identified key decisions

to be taken by the Joint Board, and items planned to be considered during the rest of 2019. This had been published on 3 January 2019. The Acting Director of Public Health requested the Forward Plan to be refreshed after Local Government Reorganisation in April 2019  and would bring a revised Forward Plan to members in the spring.

Noted

To consider a joint report by the Chief Financial Officer and the Acting Director of Public Health.

The Joint Board considered a joint report by the Chief Financial Officer and the Acting Director of Public Health on the revised revenue budget for Public Health Dorset in 2018/19, this being £28.292M, based on an indicative Grant Allocation of £33.407M.

The report included an updated forecast for 2018/19. Public Health Grant allocations for 2019/20 had now been published, including new revenue estimates for the new unitary authorities. The Board recognised what the budget was designed to provide for, how it was to be allocated and what it entailed. Members had a clear understanding of the part the new unitary authority arrangements would play in the process and also noted the position of non-recurrent spend on the Prevention at Scale Programme.

The Board noted, and agreed, as necessary,:-

·        the updated 2018/19 forecast and supported the transfer of any underspend (projected to be £110k) to reserves,

·        the transfer of £228k for Prevention at Scale from reserve,

·        the final allocations for the two new authorities for 2019/20,

·        Revenue estimates and the opening budget for Public Health Dorset for 2019/20.

The Board recognised that both they and the two Health and Wellbeing Boards would have some part to play in determining where monies were best spent so that the greatest benefits could be achieved. Members recognised that they had a crucial part to play in ensuring that there was close monitoring of the budget position - it being an essential requirement to ensure that money and resources are used efficiently and effectively.

Noted

To consider a report by the Acting Director of Public Health.

The Board considered a report by the Acting Director for Public Health which provided a detailed summary of performance for drugs and alcohol and sexual health services in how these were being delivered and what results were being achieved.

The Board noted that there was a variation in outcome data for substance misuse services by Local authority area particularly in relation to opiate misuse and that performance appeared to have fallen recently. The relatively small number of people in treatment, particularly in Poole, mean that there was a variation in outcomes when looking at quarterly data. By comparison England data was stable, reflecting the large number of people in treatment across the country. Officers agreed to explore performance data with services through contact reviews and offered to update on performance regarding opiates at their next meeting. The Board noted that presenting data at the level of the two new Unitary authorities would reduce the impact of small numbers on overall performance.

The Board acknowledged the significant progress that has been made particularly with Sexual Health services and that the provider was now working collaboratively through the Lead Provider model.

Noted

To consider a report by the Acting Director of Public Health.

Having considered the future of Public Health Dorset at their meeting in November 2018, the Board considered a report by the Acting Director of Public Health on proposals for how the Board should be rationalised to better support the creation of two new unitary Councils from April 2019. This was so that the Board had a clearer  focus on oversight, assurance and monitoring of the public health services delivered via the ring-fenced Public Health Grant. This would include the mandated public health programmes and any service commissioned or directly provided through the shared service using the grant. This would ensure a clearer distinction from the wider health and well being policy and strategy work undertaken by the two sovereign Councils and their respective Health and Wellbeing Boards.

The Board agreed that the Joint Public Health Board should focus more on

governance and accountability for the delivery of public health services, and the use of the Grant, which would make the Health and Wellbeing Board’s strategic role in improving health and wellbeing clearer.

The Board also agreed revised Terms of Reference which set out what its membership, role, responsibilities and remit would be, how these would be governed and what its core purpose and focus was. The Board considered that it would be an advantage for there to be representation on the Board from by a General Practice/Practitioner, in a non-voting capacity. Clarification was provided that substantive members would be drawn from the respective authority’s Executive.

The Board accepted and endorsed the proposals for how the Board should operate, in being able to effectively and efficiently deliver continued success in meeting those needs and outcomes identified.

To consider a report by the Acting Director of Public Health.

The Board considered a report by the Acting Director of Public Health on what initiative was were being provided by way of "The Whole School Approach" project as part of Prevention at Scale. This aimed to address rising concerns about children and young people’s emotional health and wellbeing, through harnessing the positive impact of a wide range of physical activities when integrated in "a whole school approach".

The aims of the initiative were:-

• Improve mental health of children and young people, with reduced referrals to wellbeing support

• Children and young people who have improved awareness of ways to manage stress and achieve calm

• To transform the wellbeing of children and young people through increased engagement of physical activity, including sport and PE, to become keen active adults.

Schools had been invited to bid for funding against these three aims and to demonstrate how their project would deliver by engaging children and young people - and if possible families and communities - in physical activity. Applications were evaluated by a Panel comprising both public health and education representatives and an assessment made to determine if the necessary criteria was met and, on that basis, funding had been allocated as necessary.

Whilst a number of schools had been successful in their bids, others had not, with feedback being given as why this was not the case and how they might be successful in the event of this initiative being staged in future. Successful applications had to clearly demonstrate how schools would meet one or more of the project aims; had robust and credible action plans; could identify milestones; and had clear budgets addressing sustainability. For those successful schools, it was determined that a total of 16,251 pupils would potentially receive direct or indirect benefit from the activities or programmes available.

Schools would use the ‘Health and Wellbeing Wheel’ to monitor the impact on outcomes along with feedback from the Headteacher’s Alliance.

The Board were pleased to learn of this initiative and what it was designed to achieve However they were disappointed that more schools had not taken the opportunity to engage in this and hoped that given greater publicity, particularly in the conurbation, there would be the encouragement for increased interest to be shown. They also considered that efforts should be made to engage with those children who were either home schooled or had been excluded from school to ensure they received the same opportunities and their peers in mainstream schooling.

Officers confirmed that part of the Board’s remit was to identify where inequalities might be found and target these, as had been the case. As part of this initiative, participation on the part of the school was a critical part of how successful it was. Allowing for flexibility in how schools wanted to best address their participation and what they wanted from it was integral to how successful it was and what it could achieve.

The Board were encouraged by what progress was being made; how this was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 67.

To consider a report by the Acting Director of Public Health.

The Board noted that the Monitoring Plan showed that most deliverables were on track to achieve their milestones in 2018/19. The approach to RAG rating had been to consider progress in delivery, not effectiveness or outcomes. The Board took the opportunity to assess the monitoring of how successful the delivery of services was, the way in which this was being done and what it entailed.  

In observing how services were being delivered, particular mention was made of

the way in which progress was being seen to be made in the delivery of Health Checks.  Although what was currently being achieved was not as productive as might be the case, engagement had taken place with GPs, the LMC and LPC and the current feedback from locality meetings with GPs was that the new approach to procurement should see an increase in activity.

How the soon to be newly awarded contract arrangements governing how services would be delivered would take effect was also integral to improvements being made and what success this brought. The basis of the report was complemented by a presentation - appended to these minutes - covering commissioning, use of the Public Health Grant how the two new unitary Councils would play their part and governance arrangements; Prevention at Scale; and business plan deliverables.

The Board were appreciative of being briefed on what monitoring was taking place; how it was being done; and what this was designed to achieve and considered that in doing this, improvement would undoubtedly result.

Resolved

That the Performance update of the 2018/19 Business Plan be noted and the means

by which the Public Health agenda was being delivered acknowledged.

Reason for Decision

Close monitoring of the commissioned programmes was an essential requirement to

ensure that services and resources were compliant and used efficiently and

effectively.

To answer any questions received in writing by the Chief Executive by not later than 10.00am on Wednesday 30 January 2019.

No questions were asked by Members under Standing Order 20(2).