Agenda and minutes

Representatives of Clinical Commissioning Group

Dr Jason Broch – Chair of NHS Leeds Clinical Commissioning Group

Directors of Leeds City Council

Victoria Eaton – Director of Public Health

Representative of NHS England

Anthony Kealy

Third Sector Representative

Pat McGeever – Health For All

Francesca Wood – Forum Central

Representatives of Local Health Watch Organisation

Hannah Davies – Chief Executive

Dr John Beal - Chair

Representatives of Local NHS Providers

Alison Kenyon – Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Rob Newton – Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Representatives of Leeds GP Confederation

Jim Barwick

The Chair welcomed all to the meeting and brief introductions were made.

Workers Memorial Day – Councillor Venner reflected on the Workers Memorial Day event she had attended prior to the meeting in the light of the number of health and care sector workers who lost their lives during the Coronavirus pandemic as they protected and cared for service users. As this was the last Board meeting of the 2021/22 Municipal Year she expressed thanks to Board members and their organisations for their work during the pandemic. Noting the virus was still circulating, Councillor Venner acknowledged that the NHS and all care settings remained under huge pressure to provide the best care possible and noted the importance of continued partnership working as Team Leeds to discuss the impact of Coronavirus and to tackle health inequalities.

James Rogers, Director of Communities, Housing and Environment – Councillor Venner reported that following the Boards discussions at the last meeting, James Rogers had accepted the invitation to join the Board as an additional member.

To consider any appeals in accordance with Procedure Rule 15.2 of the Access to Information Rules (in the event of an Appeal the press and public will be excluded)

(*In accordance with Procedure Rule 15.2, written notice of an appeal must be received by the Head of Governance Services at least 24 hours before the meeting)

There were no appeals against the refusal of inspection of documents.

1  To highlight reports or appendices which officers have identified as containing exempt information, and where officers consider that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons outlined in the report.

2   To consider whether or not to accept the officers recommendation in respect of the above information.

3   If so, to formally pass the following resolution:-

RESOLVED – That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following parts of the agenda designated as containing exempt information on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information, as follows:-

There was no exempt information.

To identify items which have been admitted to the agenda by the Chair for consideration

(The special circumstances shall be specified in the minutes)

No late items of business were added to the agenda.

To disclose or draw attention to any interests in accordance with Leeds City Council’s ‘Councillor Code of Conduct’. 

No declarations of interest were made.

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillor Golton, James Rogers, Tim Ryley, Thea Stein, Paul Money, Supt. Dan Wood, Sal Tariq, Julian Hartley, Sara Munro and Pip Goff. Chris Dickinson, Rob Newton, Alison Kenyon and Francesca Wood were in attendance as substitutes.

At the discretion of the Chair, a period of up to 10 minutes may be allocated at each ordinary meeting for members of the public to make representations or to ask questions on matters within the terms of reference of the Health and Wellbeing Board.  No member of the public shall speak for more than three minutes in the Open Forum, except by permission of the Chair.

No matters were raised under the Open Forum.

To approve the minutes of the previous Health and Wellbeing Board meeting held 22^nd February 2022 as a correct record.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 22^nd February 2022 be confirmed as a correct record.

To consider the report of the Chief Executive Officer, Leeds Healthwatch, and the Chief Officer Health Partnerships which introduces the final report of the 2021 Big Leeds Chat (BLC) and to agree and support the proposed recommendations for future governance alignment of the Ten Statements for action.

The joint report of the Chief Executive Officer, Leeds Healthwatch, and the Chief Officer, Health Partnerships introduced the final report of the 2021 Big Leeds Chat (BLC) which identified ten themes from the conversations held with members of the public in community settings and now proposed as ten Big Leeds Chat Statements for action. The report also sought consideration of how future governance arrangements align with the BLC Statements for Action, noting that the proposed accountability and reporting approach had been agreed in principle at the previous Health and Wellbeing Board meeting.

Hannah Davies, Healthwatch Chief Executive, provided the Board with the background to and development of the BLC which had launched in 2018 supported by the Peoples Voice Partnership. As the Coronavirus pandemic waned, the Partnership Executive Group had identified the need to revisit the BLC to gather information on people’s experiences. The 2021 BLC gathered health and social care decision makers together to visit a diversity of venues and groups across 40 events including Leeds’ Local Care Partnership areas and events with groups representing “communities of interest”.

Chris Bridle, NHS Leeds Engagement Team Manager, highlighted the importance of the connections made between the senior decision makers and residents during the events. The Board was provided with the high-level themes identified during discussions which were of key importance to participants and which decision makers highlighted for direct action by health and care services.

Abiola Ajijola, Project Officer, Local Care Partnerships (LCP) Development Team, provided the Board with an overview of some of the work undertaken building on existing services in response to the recurring theme of ‘access to healthcare’. In the Middleton LCP area, work with Leeds “100% Digital” team had provided digital access to healthcare support, prescriptions and advice and this approach would be rolled out across Leeds. In the West Leeds LCP area the Third Sector and Primary Care Network worked together to promote healthy living and eating choices to improve long term health. Access to greenspaces had been a recurring theme across all BLCs, and in Morley the LCP Development Team was working with the Morley Town Deal Board to invest in greenspaces to tackle health and air quality.

Paul Bollom, Head of Health and Care Development, gave the Board a presentation highlighting the governance arrangements to support each of the ten Big Leeds Chat Statements for Action:

1.  Make Leeds a city where children and young people’s lives are filled with positive things to do.

2.  Make Leeds a city where there are plentiful activities in every local area to support everyone’s wellbeing.

3.  Make Leeds a city where people can connect with services face-to-face when they need to.

4.  Make Leeds a city where people feel confident they will get help from their GP without barriers getting in the way.

5.  Make Leeds a city where each individual community has the local facilities, services and amenities they need.

6.  Make Leeds a city where fears about crime and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

To consider the report of the Communications Lead, NHS Leeds CCG on the process of developing the NHS Leeds CCG Annual Report 2021-22.

The report of the Communications Lead, NHS Leeds CCG, provided the Board with an update on the process of developing the NHS Leeds CCG Annual Report 2021-22. NHS England requires all NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to produce annual reports in a prescribed format to a specific timescale and, as the national timescale does not align with the Leeds Health and Wellbeing Board meetings, the report outlined the process followed in line with what was agreed for the previous years, to ensure that HWB members are appropriately consulted.

In introducing the item, Councillor Venner acknowledged the key contribution of the Leeds NHS CCG (and the former structure of Leeds 3 CCG’s) to the work of the Health and Wellbeing Board in tackling health inequalities and noted the CCG had consistently been rated outstanding, an achievement to be proud of in a complex city like Leeds.

Dr Jason Broch Clinical Chair, NHS Leeds CCG, provided a presentation on the development of the report which focussed on:

-  Leeds’ place-based partnership approach and how the CCG worked together with health and care sector partners

-  Performance highlights, including the response to the pandemic, work to address health inequalities, work in the mental health care sector and also primary care.

-  The progress made on delivering the Healthy Leeds Plan.

-  The impact of the pandemic on peoples experience of health care; on meeting service targets and developing recovery plans alongside winter pressures with every service setting being at or above capacity.

-  The challenges faced by the workforce in terms of their personal finances, virtual working, impact of Covid-19 on their health and workload and the difficult circumstances of incidents of patient abuse.

-  The legacy of the CCG structure which brought the voices of patients’ and clinical leads into decision making and supported the evolution of partnership working in both statutory and non-statutory settings.

Discussions covered the following matters:

·  CCG performance targets and comparable data with other cities – The Board heard that Leeds was in a good position in relation to meeting performance targets but noted that it was difficult to compare like for like with other cities. Consideration of what the city requires to successfully deliver health and care services was of equal importance and work on the issues raised by participants in the Big Leeds Chat will support the successful delivery of care.

·  Patient flow and access to Mental Health support services were identified as areas of focus for the future.

·  The Leeds Pound approach; the need to focus collective NHS and Public Health spending to ensure that partnership provides the biggest benefit for the most people.

·  The role of Public Health and the Third Sector within the Integrated Care Board decision making process

RESOLVED -

a)  To note the process to develop the NHS Leeds CCG draft annual report.

b)  To note the extent to which NHS Leeds CCG has contributed to the delivery of the Leeds Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2016-2021.

c)  To note the recording  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

To consider the report of the Health Protection Board which provides an update on key Health Protection Board priorities, achievements and areas of focus for 2022/23. This item will also look back at what the health protection system helped to achieve in the Covid-19 response and other significant infectious disease incidents experienced in the city.

The report of the Health Protection Board provided the Board with an update on key Health Protection Board priorities, achievements and areas of focus for 2022/23.

Victoria Eaton, Director of Public Health, introduced the report which reviewed health protection system achievements during the Covid-19 response and other significant infectious disease incidents experienced in the city. Victoria noted the duty to retain an oversight on all activity to protect the public’s health, to identify collective risks and to take action and respond to these as a city. The city’s Covid response had been built on the strength of the Board and she expressed her thanks to the report authors who had produced the report at the same time as their work responding to the pandemic.

Dawn Bailey, Chief Officer Public Health, provided an overview of the remit of the Health Protection Board (HPB) and its focus on reducing heath inequalities through clear priorities and working together as one system to accelerate action:

•  Reducing the incidents of TB

•  Childhood immunisations

•  Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and protecting the efficacy of anti-  biotics

•  Addressing air quality

•  Keeping people well and warm in the winter

Together with Martin Bewley, UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Dawn provided an overview of national and local threats to public health and the Leeds HPB response. Reference was made to the recent outbreak of avian influenza – large urban centres like Leeds are vulnerable to infection in wild birds in public spaces, and an isolated number of cases had occurred in Golden Acre Park. The HPB had responded swiftly, ensuring an information campaign ran to inform the public of the danger, with Health Protection Teams working with commissioners and pharmacies to monitor affected individuals and ensure the availability of anti-viral medication.

The Board discussed the following matters:

·  Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and protecting the efficacy of anti-biotics - resistance will impact on the availability of surgical procedures and recovery times. Monitoring of prescribing in General Practice was undertaken and work was ongoing with pharmacists to better understand the health needs and demographics of local communities. Work to include Dental practices in the HPB discussions on AMR was also being done.

·  Addressing air quality – Public awareness had increased of the impact of poor air quality on health, although there was less understanding of the long-term impacts and how Nitrogen Oxide and particulate matter can contribute to premature deaths. Air quality has a greater impact on residents in urban areas or on low incomes as it can exacerbate existing conditions linked to housing and general health

·  Keeping people well and warm in the winter – This was an important part of system resilience can reduce the number of hospital admissions as cold has a particular impact on overall health and the ability to stay well. Small grants and additional support are available to people identified through primary care pathways and the Board heard there was work planned to strengthen the pathway to include a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

To note for information the report of the Leeds Anchors Healthy Workplaces (Working Carers) Sub-Group which provides an update on progress to improve support for working carers following an earlier report to Health and Wellbeing Board in September 2020. 

The Board received the report of the Leeds Anchors Healthy Workplaces (Working Carers) Sub-Group for information. The report provided an update on progress to improve support for working carers following an earlier report to Health and Wellbeing Board in September 2020.

RESOLVED -

a)  That the contents of the report and the progress of the work led by The Anchors Healthy Workplace (Working Carers) sub-group be noted.

b)  That the approach outlined in the report including the actions set out in paragraph 3.10 be supported.

Working Carers - Francesca Wood, Forum Central, fed back a comment from Claire Turner, Chief Executive of Carers Leeds, welcoming the commitment from employers to provide support for carers and offering the use of the Care Confidence benchmark and support of the Carers Working Group to frame future conversations with employers to emphasise that flexibility in the workplace will ensure they can recruit and retain carers from a very valuable talent pool.