Agenda and minutes

Members are invited to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and other registrable and non-registrable interests they may have in relation to any items(s) of business on today’s agenda.

There were no disclosures at this meeting.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

There was none.

Public Questions should be submitted before 12 noon on 17 March 2023 to democratic.services@croydon.gov.uk. Any questions should relate to items listed on the agenda. 15 minutes will be allocated at the meeting for all Public Questions that are being considered.

There was one public question received from Councillor Michael Neal:

Constituents that I meet often highlight the fact that it is difficult to obtain Health services for example GP Surgeries, appointments at Hospitals etc, they believe this is due to the many new builds around our District Centres and in particular in our Town Centre / East Croydon area in which there are several hundred new residents.

My question was around data, do you have data determining where new Health Services should be placed? And how do we mitigate that demand to ensure Health Services are spread evenly in the Borough.

In response to the question, Matthew Kerswell addressed that Croydon was a growing borough and in the planning of that growth health did receive dispensation in that the budget was based on population size, and so the bigger the population the bigger the allocation of the budget. There was further investment required for Croydon and progress had been made in some areas for this request. Further, the Board were to continue to identify the needs which helped start conversations to ensure the needs were addressed; this included influencing and persuading, to ensure the borough received the resources required.

The Annual Report summarises the work undertaken by Healthwatch Croydon between 1st April 2021 and 31st March 2022. It also sets out the priorities and plans for work in 2022-2023 as identified at the beginning of that year.

The Health and Wellbeing Board considered the Healthwatch Croydon Annual Report 2021-2022 report, which summarised the work undertaken by Healthwatch Croydon between 1st April 2021 and 31st March 2022. It also set out the priorities and plans for work in 2022-2023 as identified at the beginning of that year.

The Board received an overview from the Healthwatch Croydon Manager, Gordon Kay, who highlighted three of the themes covered in the year:

-        Urgent and Emergency Care: Healthwatch Croydon were to provide patient and resident insight on the choice of pathways and their experience of using urgent and emergency care. This survey was undertaken in July 2021 where 1038 completed responses were received. Recommendations included fully integrating pharmacies and GP Hubs into the pathway and support with positive communication; Define NHS111 as the single reliable point of access to direct care to other services; and Understanding services from a user perspective.

-        Experienced of Non-English speakers in accessing services: a Croydon version of the Healthwatch England’s wider report “Lost for Words” was recently published and was shared with local stakeholders to consider their current services and how they may improve service to those who do not speak English.

-        Dentistry: There was a report of Croydon resident’s experiences of accessing and using NHS dental services in 2021, which followed the survey that took place between January and June 2021, and had received 150 responses. The recommendations and follow ups included that access needed to be less variable; to undertake a local needs assessment as commissioning has not been reviewed since 2006; to understand the perception of the regular dentist; to prioritise urgent need with regular dentist over check-ups; to provide better information to manage expectations; to communicate costs better and engage with patients

The Chair welcomed the report and the recommendations highlighted within the presentation. It was important for work to be supported.

In response to queries raised by the Board, the Healthwatch Croydon Manager, Gordon Kay clarified the following:

-        In relation to the consideration of dentistry and whether the pandemic had an impact, the Board heard that the timing of the survey was not part of the pandemic. The challenges had existed prior, and though not unique Croydon were the most affected due to the commissioning requirements. Rachel Flowers also highlighted the inequalities within the dentistry. Matthew Kershaw highlighted a change within the responsibility of dentistry which currently sat with NHS England would be delegated down to an ICS level focus for dentistry to benefit the services for Croydon.

The Board welcomed the emergency care project which heard the voices of patients of the services provided, to better outcomes which would make a difference to patients.

The Chair thanked the officers for all their work.

The Board RESOLVED:

To note the Annual Report of the work of Healthwatch Croydon in 2021-2022, which was attached as an Appendix to this report.

This Annual Croydon Health and Wellbeing Board Report provides an opportunity to celebrate all the hard work that has been achieved over the past year by everyone in the Croydon Borough right across the health and social care system, as well as looking ahead to some of the opportunities for the coming year.

The Health and Wellbeing Board considered the Health and Wellbeing Board Annual Report 2021-2022 report, which provided an opportunity to celebrate all the hard work that had been achieved over the past year by everyone in the Croydon Borough right across the health and social care system, as well as looking ahead to some of the opportunities for the coming year.

The Chair thanked the officers for their hard work over the municipal year.

The Board RESOLVED: To

1.1.         Report to Full Council the outcome of the Board’s monitoring of the delivery plans in fulfilment of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy as part of its annual report; and

1.2.         Note the contents of the Annual report in the Appendices Report.

This report is an update of content that has been added to the JSNA since the topic last came to the Health & Wellbeing Board in October 2021 and a summary of the challenges faced.

The Health and Wellbeing Board considered the Update of Croydon’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) report, which was a collection of information relating to the health and wellbeing needs of our population. The report was an update of content that had been added to the JSNA since the topic last came to the Health & Wellbeing Board in October 2021 and a summary of the challenges faced.

The Board received a presentation from the Principal Public Health Analyst,Hana Ally, highlighting the challenges and current view.

The Chair thanked officers involved with this work and acknowledged the challenges and communication outlined in the presentation which required further review and accurate information.

The Director of Public Health, Rachel Flowers, added that a lot of work had been undertaken in Public Health and more improvement was to include more partnership work. The narrative within the data was also important to provide and interpret its meaning.

In response to queries raised by the Board, the Director of Public Health, Rachel Flowers, clarified the following:

-        In relation to what further work was required for the joint partnership, and whether the JSNA fit and supported the forward plan and other consistent messages and themes, the Board heard that the challenges included for better multi-agency work in partnership to provide all information in one place. The Head of Commissioning and Procurement CYP&E, Shelley Prince, added that the JSNA was welcomed within their service which was used to utilise information to inform evidence-based commissioning. With a number of strategies refreshed locally the JSNA was the opportunity to feed into the areas, additionally in the way it was engaged, shared and communicated with communities.

The Chair highlighted that there was a lot of initiatives where partners needed to join and support the residents needs and aspirations for better services; this included conversations of taking ownership and resourcing. Additionally, the Chair noted a lot of change was taking place, which hoped for better outcomes and understanding to the residents.

The Board RESOLVED:

1.1.         To approve the update to JSNA content

To note the challenges and, if deemed necessary by the Board, discuss how to overcome these

This report requests a review and refresh of this Strategy and proposes an approach through which this could be achieved in 2023.

The Health and Wellbeing Board considered the Croydon Health and Wellbeing Strategy Refresh report, which was published in 2019 with the vision: “Croydon would be a healthy and caring borough where good health was the default not the exception and those that experience the worst health improved their health the fastest.” The report provided a review and refresh of the Strategy and proposed an approach through which this could be achieved in 2023.

The Board received an overview from the Consultant in Public Health, Jack Bedeman who highlighted shared that the key rationale was that the health and care system were all relevant to the strategy. This followed the Covid 19 pandemic which had highlighted health inequalities and health crisis in cost of living, also the wider health issues including mental health and wellbeing.

The Board welcomed the new joint strategy where services would be able to connect together to add value. There was thought in finding ways to engage with the local community partnership and build into the work and development undertaken to reflect the needs of the community.

The Board RESOLVED:

To agree on the process for the review and refresh of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy to cover the years 2024-2029.

To receive the report of South West London Integrated Care Partnership Strategy and Joint Forward Plan

The Health and Wellbeing Board considered the South West London Integrated Care Partnership Strategy and joint Forward Plan report, which South West London were required to produce two plans, a system-wide plan ‘the Integrated Care Partnership Strategy’ and an NHS plan ‘the Joint Forward Plan (JFP)’.

The Board received an overview from the Joint Director of Transformation and Commissioning, South West London Integrated Care Board (Croydon) and Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, Rachel Flagg, who highlighted that the first part of the plan, the Integrated Care Partnership Strategy, had been discussed at One Croydon Health and Care Board. Some of the discussions included reducing health inequalities. The second part of the plan was the Joint Forward Plan that described how Integrated Care Boards and their partner NHS trusts intended to meet the health needs of their population through arranging or providing NHS services. It would include delivery plans for the integrated care strategy and align with joint local health and wellbeing strategies. The plan was for the priorities of the health and wellbeing to be reflected in the joint forward plan of the NHS.

The Chair noted that there were a lot of strategies which should be based on the public needs, and suggested that all the priorities within the streams would need to align to see where the synergy was.

The Board discussed ideas to the development of the strategies, how it collaborated and delivered with other strategies with other partners.

The Board RESOLVED:

1.1.         To note the development of the Integrated Care Partnership Strategy for South West London and the process for agreeing the Croydon place response to the draft.

1.2.         To provide input to the development of the draft NHS Joint Forward Plan for SWL in terms of the Croydon Health and Wellbeing Strategy priorities that should be reflected.

1.3.         To receive a further update on the development of the NHS Joint Forward Plan when it had been drafted.

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

This was not required.