Agenda and minutes

In relation to agenda item 8, Colin Pill declared that he was the representative of Healthwatch Slough.

Resolved –

(a)  That the minutes of the meeting held on 26^th January 2017 be approved as a correct record.

(b)  That an Action Progress Report be added as a standing item to future agendas, initially comprising the two most recent meetings of the Board.

The Board received a presentation on Protecting Vulnerable Children from Nicola Clemo, Chief Executive of Slough Children’s Services Trust; Nick Georgiou, Chair of Local Safeguarding Children’s Board; and Rodney D’Costa, the Council’s Head of Children’s Partnerships.  It had been planned to involve some young people in the presentation, however, it was decided that it would be more appropriate for the Board to hear their voice in a more informal, workshop type session outside of the usual meeting schedule.

Members were provided with an overview of the wide range of work underway to improve services for vulnerable children.  Protecting vulnerable children was the number one priority in the new Slough Joint Wellbeing Strategy and featured prominently in the Council’s Five Year Plan.  It was highlighted that the working relationship between the Trust, Council and other partners was much stronger than in the past and it was expected that the forthcoming report on the 2^nd Ofsted Monitoring Visit would provide evidence that Slough was moving in the right direction.  It was recognised that there was much more work to do and the discussion provided an opportunity for both the Board and individual partners to identify further areas for cooperation.  The Board discussed a number of these issues in detail.  The presentation included details the pilots of Local Area Collaboratives which would provide a forum for services such as schools, health, police and housing to come together to identify and address local needs.

It was recognised that the voice of children in Slough needed to come through much more strongly and action had been taken to address this.  The Board received detailed feedback on the priorities of young people including access to health facilities, mental health, sexual health, education and employment opportunities and crime.  The issue of engagement with young people was raised by the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and members agreed it was important to try to increase involvement and representation on appropriate groups and via surveys and other feedback mechanisms.  It was suggested schools and/or the Slough Youth Parliament could assist with championing such engagement.  The Interim Chief Executive outlined the work the Council was doing with partners the improve engagement in relation to skills and training and community hubs.  It was felt that more could be done with employers to promote training and apprenticeship opportunities and this could be something the Board’s business representatives could be involved in.

The Slough’s Care Leavers Strategy 2017, titled ‘Are you mindful?’, which had been approved recently by the Joint Parenting Panel, was tabled and the Chair invited the Board to endorse the strategy given its wider links to wellbeing.  The Board considered the document and agreed to endorse the strategy.

The following is a summary of the key actions that were agreed during the course of the discussion:

·  A closed workshop should be held at a future date with young people to provide them with an opportunity to feedback on their experience of services.

·  Slough Youth Parliament to be approached to work with the CCG to champion the engagement of young people including a potential pilot to involve in PPGs.

·  Consider how Slough CCG could engage with schools/headteachers on wellbeing agenda, via the forum recently established by the Council.

·  Partners were encouraged get involved with and help resource the GP Open Day in May.

·  SCST and CCG to discuss the potential for a package for care leavers to include a one-to-one advice based session with an appropriate health professional.

·  Future partnership arrangements and strategy on the Children and Young People’s agenda to be progressed by the Director of Children’s Services in discussion with the Commissioner.

At the conclusion of the discussion, the report and presentation was noted.

Resolved –

(a)  That the report and presentation be noted and that the actions agreed be progressed.

(b)  That Slough’s Care Leavers Strategy ‘Are you mindful?’ be endorsed.

The Strategic Director of Public Health had been unable to attend the meeting to present the report and it was therefore agreed to defer any detailed consideration until the next meeting on 10^th May 2017 as part of the themed discussion which would be led by public health.

If members of the Board had any questions on the report more immediately, they could be forwarded to Amanda Renn who would pass them on to the public health team accordingly.

Resolved – 

(a)  That the Strategic Director of Public Health’s Annual Report 2016/17 be received.

(b)  That consideration of the issues raised in the report be deferred until the next meeting on 10^th May 2017 as part of the themed discussion on ‘Increasing life expectancy by focussing on inequalities’.

(c)  That members of the Board forward any questions or queries on the Annual Report to the Strategic Director of Public Health, via the SBC Policy Team.

The Head of Policy, Partnerships & Programmes introduced a report which sought the Board’s views on how to develop the partnerships approach to community engagement.  The notes of the workshop that the Board had held on 11^th January were noted.

Community engagement had been identified as a priority area for improvement as partners were often working with the same people and groups of people and working in a more coordinated and collaborate way provided an opportunity to improve the resident experience, efficiency and outcomes of the engagement.  It was felt that the objectives needed to be defined to clarify the scope of any joint working that could range from the coordination of consultations through to driving behaviour change.

Board members discussed a variety of issues and made numerous specific suggestions including partners joining in with existing events and consultations; sessions for the Wellbeing Board members to go out and talk to residents; regular meetings between communications officers from partner organisations; and the promotion of specific initiatives in partner organisations relating to strategic priorities such as mental health.  Different views were expressed about the specific role of Board i.e. whether it should be a body which championed engagement and facilitated improved coordination of engagement between partners, or whether the Slough Wellbeing Board itself should be more visible in communicating its role and being a body directly engaging with people.  The ways of working of the Board and the level of central resource and leadership of the issue was also discussed.

(Superintendent Wong left the meeting)

It was proposed and agreed that the Board hold a workshop on ways of working in June at which a number of specific ideas regarding communications and engagement could be further considered as part of a wider discussion.  The Chair indicated that key issues and questions would be circulated to members for consideration prior to the meeting.  Relevant partners were also invited to share resources and contribute to the annual Keeping Well in Slough Open Days at GP surgeries.  Further details were available from the CCG.

Resolved –  That the Board hold a workshop session in June to include further consideration of the practical steps to improve community engagement as discussed at the meeting.

The Board considered a report on the progress of the Better Care Fund (BCF) programme for 2016/17 as at the end of the third quarter of year and informed members of the process for BCF planning for 2017-19 for which the Board was asked to give delegated authority to the Director of Adult Social Care to sign off the final plan.

The BCF progress report had been submitted to NHS England on 3^rd March 2017.  There was an overall forecast underspend of £411k in Slough and the Joint Commissioning Board agreed to invest the underspend into commissioning of adult social care to maintain services this year (£322k) and funds to support additional activity arising from winter pressures (£150k).  The delivery against Key Performance Indicators was reviewed and it was noted that on non-elective admissions to hospital, Slough continued to be above plan despite evidence of a positive impact from individual schemes such as falls prevention and complex case management.  Delayed Transfers of Care were also above planned targets and the BCF Delivery Group scrutinised performance monthly to ensure the schemes were improving outcomes for residents.  Despite the pressures, it was considered that the system in Slough was working well in comparison to other areas.

Planning for 2017-19 had begun although national guidance hadn’t yet been issued.  More funding would be available through the BCF over the next three years.  It was likely that the final submission of Slough’s plan would be needed before the next meeting of the Board.  The Board was therefore asked to delegate authority to the Director of Adult Social Care to sign off the plan.  The Health Priority Delivery Group would be involved in the planning process.  The delegation was approved and it was also agreed that the Council’s Interim Chief Executive be provided with a draft of the submission prior to sign off and the final version would be circulated to members.

Resolved –

(a)  That the report be noted.

(b)  That delegated authority be given to the Director of Adult Social Care to sign off the final BCF Plan for 2017-19.

(c)  That the draft plan be provided to the Council’s Interim Chief Executive prior to sign off and circulated to the Board following submission.

The Slough Wellbeing Board Forward Work Programme for the period between May to November was 2017 was reviewed.  The Head of Policy, Partnerships & Programmes invited partners to comment on the plan and suggest items at any time to ensure it reflected relevant key issues from across the partnership.  The Board noted the additional workshop planned for June and that the annual partnership conference would be held in September.

There was a brief discussion on the themed discussion planned for the meeting on 19^th July 2017 on the Slough Youth Parliament Manifesto.  It was proposed that this item include consideration of how the SYP could help deliver youth participation to people in Slough more widely.

At the conclusion of the discussion the work programme was agreed.

Resolved –  That the work programme be agreed.

An information report was received about the recommissioning process of the local Healthwatch service.  The service would be recommissioned from 1^st July 2017 and a further update would be provided to the Board at its meeting on 19^th July 2017.

Resolved –  That the information report be noted.

An information report was received that updated the Board on the progress being made to deliver the Sustainability and Transformation Plan for the Frimley footprint.

Resolved –  That the information report be noted.

Resolved –  That the attendance report be noted.

The Board reviewed key outcomes from the meeting and learning points for future meetings.

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 10^th May 2017.