Agenda item

To consider the attached report of the Head of Scrutiny and Member Development attaching the report of the Director of Adult Social Services to the Corporate Governance and Audit Committee on 29^th July 2009.

The Head of Scrutiny and Member Development submitted a report presenting Members with the KPMG report on Health Inequalities (June 2009) which provided an assessment of how the Council and NHS Leeds were addressing health inequalities across the city.  Also attached was the report of the Director of Adult Social Services to the Corporate Governance and Audit Committee (29^th July 2009) which included the response to the recommendations contained within the KPMG report.

The Chair welcomed the following officers to address any questions identified by the Board:

·  John England (Deputy Director – Partnerships and Organisational Effectiveness) – Leeds City Council, Adult Social Services, and

·  Brenda Fullard (Head of Healthy Living and Inequalities) – NHS Leeds.

Members were advised that Leeds City Council and NHS Leeds were working together on a detailed action plan to address the recommendations made in the KPMG report and this would be presented to the Executive Board in December 2009.

Officers advised the Board of the key issues brought out in the annual Public Health Report and the challenges that faced the Council and NHS Leeds to reduce health inequalities.  These were in brief:

·  Reducing smoking levels.

·  Locality commissioning.

·  A programme management approach relating to:

o  Increasing the number of people coming through GP surgeries for health checks,

o  Infant mortality,

o  Excessive winter deaths,

o  Healthy living services.

·  Joint working and a partnership approach to reducing cardiovascular deaths and levels of obesity.

·  Reducing alcohol related hospital admissions.

·  Maintaining investments with the voluntary sector as an interface between services and disadvantaged groups.

·  Strengthening the need for staff to be accountable for delivering targets.

·  Encouraging hard to reach groups to access services.

·  Considering the impact of the recession on health and well being across the City.

Officers also advised that it was a relatively short period of time that health inequalities had been included on the Council agenda but inroads were being made in terms of Council services recognising the contribution that they could make to address these issues.

In brief summary, the main issues raised by Members were:

·  That health inequalities were a manifestation of other inequalities in society.

·  Alcohol excess and promotions - the restrictions that local authorities had in terms of licensing laws and the need to press the Government for change. 

Members were advised that it was an infringement of a bar’s license if their staff served alcohol to people that were already drunk.

·  High levels of obesity.

·  Air pollutants eg high pollen and sulphur dioxide levels created under certain weather conditions which resulted in hospital admissions due to respiratory problems.

·  Recreation provision in the inner city - the importance of protecting playing fields and ensuring that planning regulations and legislation were robust.

·  Addressing the life expectancy gap between the highest area of the city (Adel and Wharfedale) and the lowest (City and Hunslet):

–  the affects of pollution from the many major roads and motorways in the south of the city on people suffering from respiratory problems,

–  the proposed closure by the Council of facilities in the south of the city such as the sports centre and a day centre, which would seem at conflict with the health needs of people in that area.

·  Drugs.

Members were advised that officers had recently agreed to revitalise and update the drug misuse strategy and that consultation had started on the content.

·  Greater investment required in the third sector and hard to reach people – that good practice should be rolled out across the city and not just limited to the south of the city.

·  Weight loss summer camp run by Carnegie Weight Management in Leeds – Concern that Leeds did not send children to this camp but other authorities did. 

The Chair referred Members of the Board to the proposed Inquiry into the role of the Council and its partners in promoting good public health, the draft terms of reference of which were attached as Appendix 1 to the Report on the Updated Work Programme later on in the agenda and where the above issues would be scrutinised if Members agreed to hold this revised Inquiry.

RESOLVED –

(a)  That the contents of the reports be noted.

(b)  That the issues be further scrutinised in the Board’s proposed Inquiry into the role of the Council and its partners in promoting good public health, subject to Members agreeing to hold this Inquiry and agreeing the terms of reference (see Minute No. 32).