Agenda item

To consider a report by the Deputy Director of Public Health and Prevention.

The Director of Public Health and Prevention introduced the report on the disaggregation of Public Health Dorset. There were several key issues throughout the disaggregation, which included the need to ensure the disaggregation was safe whilst still maintaining an effective service in both councils. There would be a need for the committee to consider which areas of public health they would like to scrutinise in the future. Public Health Dorset was able to do significant work in the local health system, however the Public Health and Prevention Directorate would need to focus on delivering effectively with a smaller team and BCP Council’s public health team.

Members discussed the report and asked questions of the Director and Deputy Director of Public Health. During discussion, the following points were raised:

·         The re-procurement of public health contracts was to ensure they were right for the future and due to wider influences such as clustering of Integrated Care Boards and more place-based working.

·         Commissioning services separately from BCP Council could be better for integration of public health in Dorset Council, however joint commissioning could be more efficient and better value.

·         5-year projections and inflation were considered for the regional assurance process, due to the potential for 3-year Public Health Grant settlements. Additional grants received by public health would be included in the Public Health Grant.

·         Committee members were concerned that public health may receive less money if additional funding was merged into the Public Health Grant.

·         The Regional Director led a robust assurance visit and feedback from the visit was incorporated into an action plan.

·         Smoking cessation and NHS Health Checks were both examples of public health outcomes with performance measures. The Committee would monitor these metrics in quarterly performance reviews. An all-member webinar would be held on the Public Health and Prevention directorate, with information about smoking cessation and health checks included.

·         Members queried the numbers of people quitting smoking. It was the number of validated quitters after 4 weeks. High numbers were achieved through working with digital and marketing teams. Most of the 5-year smoking cessation programme was achieved in year 1, so it was unknown how successful it would be in the coming years. Following a question from the Chairman, it was confirmed that the majority have transferred to vaping and had not given up entirely.

·         A member asked if there had been a lower take up of childhood MMR vaccinations. It was confirmed that Dorset was not achieving the national standards, however the county was outperforming the wider South-West and England averages. Public health worked with the NHS on vaccinations but did not commission the vaccinations.

·         A member referenced a scheme in Minehead, where GP appointments were made for young people missing school, which had positive results for helping young people stay at school. The Deputy Director of Modernisation and Place offered to explore this with the NHS. Cllrs Jones, Todd and Kippax would collaborate on this piece of work.

·         Members emphasised that outcomes were the key to all the council does. The Director of Public Health and Prevention explained there was not much flexibility for spending the Public Health grant, however through integrating public health into the council and through Integrated Neighbourhood Teams, public health would be able to reach people better, creating outcomes for them.

Committee members commended the seamless disaggregation of public health and aligning it with council directorates and priorities, without a change to service delivery. The Chairman summed up the discussion and emphasised the Regional Director of Public Health’s comment about the ‘brilliant’ public health work in the council.