Agenda item

The Director of Adults & Communities introduced a report that updated the Panel on the progress of Outcome 2, particularly key actions 1, 3 and 5, of the Council’s Five Year Plan: ‘Our people will become healthier and will manage their own health, care and support needs.’

The key actions scrutinised were:

·  Key action 1: Target those individuals most a risk of poor health and wellbeing outcomes to take up health checks.

·  Key action 3: Build capacity within the community to enable a focus on supporting more people to manage their own health, care and support needs.

·  Key action 5: Ensure people are at the centre of the adult safeguarding process and are supported to manage any risks.

The Panel discussed a number of issues including:

·  What was the impact of the 1,600 behaviour change referrals?  It was responded that it was too early to assess the impact but the Council was working closely with Solutions 4 Health to deliver effective programmes.  Tracking of outcomes was undertaken but was a long term process.

·  Prevention and awareness raising was a key area of activity and the Wellbeing Board #berealistic campaign was cited as an example of proactive work being undertaken to help promote healthier lifestyles.

·  The impact of demographic change on service pressures and available resources to meet demand was considered.  It was recognised that in the future more people would need help for longer and the approach was to seek to intervene early to delay or prevent the need for more intensive support.  Programmes were designed after taking demographics into account, although additional resources were always welcome to invest in services.

·  The timescale for capacity building measures was not set as it was an ongoing process.  Slough benefitted from a strong voluntary and community sector and the Council was seeking to work with them to deliver services, such as through the SPACE programme.

·  The issue of loneliness and isolation was raised and the role of extended families and strong communities was discussed.  There wasn’t a significant amount of information and data on isolation, however, it had been a strong theme of the last Slough Wellbeing Board conference and was a campaign priority for the next year.

·  The progress of the use of information technology and shift to direct payments as previously discussed by the Panel was raised.  It was noted that there were now 404 direct payments compared to 188 in March 2014.

·  The engagement of service users was recognised as being important and work was underway to move towards a new model of co-production.  It was agreed to receive an update on engagement including community conferences and the new Co-Production Board at the next meeting and that the Co-Chair be invited.

The take up of health checks was relatively low and the Cabinet and Slough Wellbeing Board members had agreed to play a leadership role by having checks.  Panel Members were also offered the opportunity to have checks and it was agreed to help promote the programme in this way.

The Panel discussed the role of the Sustainability and Transformation Partnership in the work and it was agreed to invite the chair, Sir Andrew Morris, to the next meeting of the Panel to present on the STP, including the priority on prevention.

At the conclusion of the discussion, the Panel noted the report.

Resolved –

(a)  That the update be noted.

(b)  That the next update to the Panel include further information on the impact of interventions delivered by Solutions 4 Health in changing behaviour.

(c)  That the Panel receive a report at the next meeting on the resident and service user engagement.

(d)  That Sir Andrew Morris be invited to the next meeting provide an update on the STP.