Agenda item

2.35pm

Report by Ansaf Azhar, Corporate Director of Public Health & Wellbeing, Oxfordshire County Council.

Oxfordshire’s Health and Wellbeing Board last published a Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy in 2019. The Board has a statutory responsibility to publish this Strategy.  Officers have now begun the process of updating it as agreed by the Board at their previous meeting on 16 March 2023.

The Health and Wellbeing Board is RECOMMENDED to

·       Note the formation and activity of the cross-organisational Task and Finish group, with representation from all organisations on the Health and Wellbeing Board;

·       Note ongoing progress towards updating the Health and Wellbeing Strategy;

·       Approve plans to communicate and engage with residents;

·       Approve proposed structure for the Health and Wellbeing Strategy;

·       Consider and determine the timeframe for the updated Health and Wellbeing Strategy;

·       Discuss emerging themes, principles, and priorities and offer guidance to officers regarding content of the strategy;

·       Approve a workshop of the HWB to take place in September so that board members and officers on the Task and Finish group can work together on further content development.

David Munday, Consultant in Public Health, in addressing the Board spoke about the increased opportunity for evidence based work and joined up partnership working from the Health and Wellbeing Strategy.  There was a need to review the Strategy in the light of the impact which Covid, lockdowns and the cost of living crisis had had on health and wellbeing.

At the previous meeting of the Board in March it had been agreed that a revised version of the Strategy would be developed over the course of the year with the final version being published in December.  It would be the principal strategy document for Oxfordshire based work.  Mr Munday confirmed that the Task and Finish Groups, made up of senior representatives of all the organisations involved with the Board, had met and taken the development of the Strategy forward.

A presentation was provided by Mr Munday and Jamie Slagel, Public Health Policy Researcher.  Mr Munday spoke about key themes from the Strategy including health inequality in relation to life expectancy.  Mr Slagel explained how the involvement of existing resident focus groups, led by community leaders, would be reflected in the Strategy.  Healthwatch Oxfordshire would be undertaking parallel work, surveying and speaking with residents.  It would be necessary to feedback to residents what impact they had had in the development of the Strategy.  There would be a public and professional consultation period before the new Strategy was announced in December.  It was noted that the communication and engagement with residents would continue after December 2023.

Board Members recommended that local connections, including voluntary groups and elected councillors in rural areas as well as urban, were part of the engagement process.  Mr Munday responded that the next meeting of the Task and Finish Group was taking place the following week and the comments on the engagement process would be reflected at that meeting.

The Board was requested to approve the overarching framework for the Strategy.  This included the Task and Finish Group proposal that the Strategy adopted the Life Course approach, with ‘Start Well’, ‘Live Well’, and ‘Age Well’ as key themes as reflected in the approach taken by the ICS Strategy.  The Board was content with the overarching framework approach but it was agreed that there would be more consideration given to how the Strategy was guided by ‘principles’, including that of health inequalities, prior to the HWB Workshop which was provisionally scheduled for 7^th September.  It was agreed that a more detailed discussion on the content of the Strategy would take place at the Workshop.  This would be followed by the draft Strategy being agreed for consultation in early October and the public consultation between October and November before the Strategy was published at the end of the calendar year.

RESOLVED: that the Board:

(a)        Noted the formation and activity of the cross-organisational Task and Finish group, with representation from all organisations on the Health and Wellbeing Board;

(b)        Noted ongoing progress towards updating the Health and Wellbeing Strategy;

(c)        Approved plans to communicate and engage with residents;

(d)        Approved the proposed structure for the Health and Wellbeing Strategy;

(e)        Further consider and determine the timeframe for the updated Health and Wellbeing Strategy;

(f)         Further discuss emerging themes, principles, and priorities and offer guidance to officers regarding content of the strategy; and,

(g)        Approved a workshop of the HWB to take place in September (a provisional date of 7^th September to be confirmed) so that board members and officers on the Task and Finish group can work together on further content development.