Agenda item

Since initial discussion by Board members in November 2021, a series of working group meetings had taken place with system partners and a range of engagement opportunities had been drawn upon or carried out to form the basis of a Health Inequalities Plan for Oldham. The recommendations from the Greater Manchester (GM) Marmot Build Back Fairer and GM Independent Health Inequalities Commission report had been used as a starting point for discussions.

The actions identified within the draft Health Inequalities Plan for Oldham sat within a number of key themes:

• Income, Poverty, Housing and Debt;
• Housing, Transport and Environment;
• Work and Unemployment;
• Health in all Policies/Communities and Place;
• Health and Wellbeing, and Health Services; and
• Children and Young People.

Some actions reflected and built upon existing work within the Borough, while others would lead to new work being initiated. The intention was to hold the key actions for reducing Health Inequalities in Oldham in one place, allowing progress to be tracked.  It was not intended for the Plan to be a static document, with actions being removed when complete or new ones added where appropriate as the Plan develops.

Following an initial consideration of a draft in March 2022, the final draft Health Inequalities Plan for Oldham was considered, the Board being asked to offer any final feedback or comments; to agree and sign off on the final content of the Plan; agree Health and Wellbeing Board member lead sponsors for each of the themes within the Plan; agree governance arrangement for driving delivery of the Plan’s actions; and to agree the timetable for reviewing themes in detail over the next 12 months.

Each theme within the Plan was considered in turn and comments made as outlined below –

·         Income, Poverty, Debt – it was suggested that data relating to debt needed to be sourced wider than just Citizens Advice as not all engaged with that agency and, it was suggested, older people were less likely to feature in such data.  The issues presented by hard to reach individuals or groups were noted, and the challenge of rolling out the Money Advice Referral Tool to frontline staff referenced;

·         Housing, Transport and Environment – comment made that the first objective should be to ensure every resident can access “suitable” housing, while acknowledging the issues of housing supply, the need for landlord enforcement etc.  Caution was expressed as to the ambition to develop relevant content for the Local Plan as what might be included could be restricted by law.  Noting the requirement for identification of land for housing, the challenges presented by underinvestment and the need for affordable homes for rent were referenced, and comment made that while there was a focus to build on brownfield sites, in some areas such sites were the only opportunity for providing needed green space, particularly in areas of densely populated terraced housing.  Issues related to digital access to services were noted and, with reference to the frontline staff promoting services such as the substance misuse offer, the need to ensure that both they and elected Members were fully equipped to respond to issues was acknowledged.  The Board noted that objectives and actions in relation to Transport were under consideration;

·         Work and Unemployment – Noted that those in employment enjoyed better health which stressed the need to increase employment in Oldham: bodies such as the Council and NHS organisations needed to work with Colleges to provide real pathways into jobs.  Difficulties with filling front line jobs were noted, highlighting the need to understand who applies for jobs, and who gets appointed.  Other issues suggested for consideration included how jobs are advertised, and mentoring and support of new employees to aid staff retention;

·         Health in all Policies/Communities and Place – supportive comment made as to the review of Equality Impact Assessment processes linked to Council reports to ensure health and health inequalities were considered in all policies.  Discussion ensued around the gaining of residents’ views and embedding resident engagement, noting that this issue had been much debated and a lot of work undertaken over the years.  It was noted that good practice existed, and that once an engagement process had been determined this needed to be followed and undertaken by all;

·         Health, Wellbeing and Health Services – the greater focus on wellbeing in the post-Covid period was noted, and a concern about waiting lists and the need to re-assess the automatic discharging of those not attending appointments considered;

·         Children and Young People – the linkage to poverty of food insecurity was noted, suggesting that improved access to food could be an objective supported by re-introduction of the Green Ambassadors.  Referring to a previous meeting and discussions around childhood obesity, and to the earlier consideration of child mortality, the need to look at actions and see how things were going to be different was stressed.  With regard to obesity, schools would need to know how to make referrals and know how to identify those at risk, messaging around fast food outlets needed to be managed against the licensing by the local authority which had to be undertaken against national rules and criteria.  The Board noted work had been done with schools and, given healthy weight was a national issue, lobbying had been undertaken.

RESOLVED that

1.    The report and Board considerations be noted;

2.    The Health Inequalities Plan for Oldham be agreed; 

3.    Lead sponsors for each theme within the Plan be agreed as follows –

4.    the governance arrangements be as outlined in Section 3 to the submitted report;

5.    the themes be reviewed by the Board to the following timeline