Minutes:
The Chair welcomed Members and attendees to the first meeting of the municipal year and provided updates on the following events:
Councillor H Hayden’s Board Appointment
Councillor H Hayden had sent her apologies for this meeting but had been appointed to the Board as an Elected Member, replacing Councillor J Dowson, who was thanked for her work and contributions to the Board. There had been revisions of Leeds City Council’s Executive Portfolios, with the Chair covering Equality, Health and Wellbeing and Councillor H Hayden being the Executive Member for Children and Families, both integral to the discussions of the Board.
Selina Douglas’ Board Appointment
The Chair requested the Board to note the appointment of Selina Douglas, the Chief Executive for Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust, as a co-opted non-voting Member.
RESOLVED – That Selina Douglas be appointed to the Board.
Annette Morris
The Board reflected on and offered their condolences for the sad news of the passing of a dear friend and colleague, Annette Morris, who had made a huge contribution to the health and care system. Annette held a number of key roles, rooted in making a positive difference to the communities across Leeds, from working with Voluntary Action Leeds, supporting the Culturally Diverse Hub and Young Lives Leeds, to playing a key role in the Synergi programme to tackle mental health inequalities and sharing expertise at Leeds and York Partnership Foundation NHS Trust and Leeds Involving People. She had played a valuable part of the Team Shielding initiative to protect vulnerable people during the Covid-19 pandemic and had campaigned for racial and gender equality and for the reality of lived experience to be heard by policy and decision makers. Her legacy will live on through all the people she had influenced and her work within the Third Sector.
Corrina Lawrence, the Third Sector Representative, CEO at Feel Good Factor, provided a video which was played to Members, outlining that Anette had been a valued, trusted and respected colleague, using a compassionate approach to reach out to diverse communities and holding equality and fairness at the heart of her work. Her contributions to the city were vast, bridging the gap between statutory agencies and the Third Sector. She will be greatly missed as both a friend and an advocate for people and her legacy will continue.
Pip Goff, Representative of Communities of Interest and Director for Volition outlined her appreciation to the Board for taking their time to pay respect to Annette. She was remembered as a passionate activist, a talented musician and an advocate for peace and people. Her contributions to the city were numerous within a wide range of organisations and set an example for approaching and understanding the needs of different people, positively impacting mental health transformation and standing up to racism to make a change. Details of events to mark respect for Annette were to be provided to Members.
Partnership Update
The following updates regarding recent events in Leeds that were relevant to the Board’s remit were outlined by the Chair:
· The new Government’s focus on tackling health care inequalities, including greater focus on prevention throughout the entire healthcare system and supporting services.
· Approval granted for the state of the art sports hub at Fearnville Leisure centre in Gipton.
· The Former Matthew Murray school site was set to be transformed into a community sports hub.
· Innovative plans to transform home care in Leeds - a new-look Community Health and Wellbeing Service (CHWS) set to be piloted over an 18-month period which aims to provide a more flexible, personalised service by using ‘neighbourhood teams’ of health and care staff.
· Kerry Jackson announced her intention to step down as the Chief Executive of St Gemma’s Hospice. Kerry has also been an integral part of the wider system over the past 14 years, delivering the highest quality palliative and end of life care, education and research. The Chair expressed gratitude on behalf of the Board for Kerry’s leadership over the years and expressed that she will be greatly missed.
· Dr Sara Munro, the Trust's Chief Executive, had been named in the top 10 chief executives in the NHS by the Health Service Journal (HSJ)