Agenda and draft minutes

To note the appointment of Councillor Marie Bashforth as Chair and to invite the appointments of Vice Chairs of the Health and Wellbeing Board for the 2021/22 Municipal Year.

RESOLVED – That Dr John Patterson and Majid Hussain be appointed Vice Chairs of the Health and Wellbeing Board for the 2021/22 Municipal Year.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Leach, Councillor Skyes, Carolyn Wilkins, Chris Allsopp, Donna Cezair, Gerard Jones, Joanne Sloan, Karen Worthington, Liz Windsor-Welsh, Claire Smith, Val Hussain, David Jago and Dr John Patterson.

To Receive Declarations of Interest in any Contract or matter to be discussed at the meeting.

Tamoor Tariq declared an Interest by virtue of being an Elected Member of Bury Council and Bury Health and Wellbeing Board.

Councillor Chauhan declared an Interest by virtue of his employment as a Local General Practitioner in Oldham.

Dr Keith Jeffery declared an Interest by virtue of his employment as a Local General Practitioner in Oldham.

Urgent business, if any, introduced by the Chair.

There were no items of urgent business.

To receive Questions from the Public, in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.

No public questions had been received.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board held on 23^rd March 2021 are attached for approval.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board held on 23^rd March 2021 be approved as a correct record.

The Board was advised that there was a statutory responsibility to publish and keep up to date a Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA). Oldham’s current PNA was due to be reviewed during 2020/21 and the renewed PNA was to be published in April 2021.

The Board was informed that the Department for Health and Social Care determined that the publication of PNAs be suspended for one year, until April 2022, in order to reduce unnecessary extra pressure on local authorities and Local Pharmaceutical Committees (LPCs) during the response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The deadline for publishing the PNA was then pushed back further to October 2022 with guidance on the production of the PNA being produced within the upcoming months.

The Board was also required to publish a supplementary statement which outlined updated information that superseded the original information in the PNA 2018-21 and the statements issued on 17 December 2018 and June 2020. The Board was advised that the statement would be ready in the next month and would be published as soon as it was completed. There were no significant changes to pharmacy opening times and no issues were expected to arise from the publication.

RESOLVED that:

1.    the suspension of the requirement to publish the renewed Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) until October 2022 as determined by the Department of Health and Social Care as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic be noted.

2.    the publication of a new supplementary statement which reflects local changes in pharmaceutical provision since the previous supplementary statements be agreed.

The Board received a report on behalf of Healthwatch Oldham which advised Members of the findings of the research undertaken which looked at people’s experiences of health and social care services in Oldham during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Board was advised that Greater Manchester had been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 compared to the rest of the UK with Oldham being in the top 20 local Authorities by all-time case rates. Oldham had sustained enduring levels of COVID-19 since the pandemic began with over 690 deaths reported to date. The demographic make-up of the Oldham’s population, comparatively high levels of poverty and deprivation have meant that some Oldham residents have been at increased risk throughout the pandemic.

The Board was informed that a questionnaire had been released in July 2020 and was due to close in August 2020. Due to the views of people from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities not being accurately represented and to increase the participation rates, the survey had been extended to 31^st October 2020 and work was done with the local BAME community groups/projects to gather more ethnically diverse responses.

The survey had highlighted key themes on communication, access to services, cancelled appointments and experience within services. Respondents felt there was a lack of clear and regular communication, the main concern was the conflicting and confusing messages on COVID-19 guidance both locally and nationally which received 42 comments. Respondents felt that the easiest services to access were pharmacies with 358 comments. In contrast, the most difficult service to access was in-person GP appointments of which 213 comments were received. Over half of the respondents (353) stated that they had had appointments cancelled with the highest being dental appointments at 165 comments. Of the 239 respondent’s wo attended in-person appointments, 143 respondents felt that adequate guidance was given on minimising risks. The responses suggested that there were mixed reviews on the benefits of in-person and online consultations with responses that indicated some people found the limited face-to-face support very difficult whilst others gave positive responses to the remote support and felt it could complement face to face consultations.

RESOLVED that that report be noted.

To provide an update to the Board on matters following from the publication of the White Paper.

The Committee were provided with a presentation on the NHS White Paper transition to ICS update.

The Committee was advised that Government had launched the White Paper consultation and in February 2021 had broadly confirmed the outcomes. The proposed Bill had not yet been through the reading of the proposed legislation in Government which until it passed the new model could not be changed until further in the process.

The White Paper included fundamental changes to the Secretary of State. A range of things had been designed to remove barriers that would enable integration and collaboration with providers. The CCG would be removed and replaced with Integrated Care Systems with staff being transferred however the vast majority of those staff would be redeployed locally.

It was explained that Greater Manchester would receive funding with which would be delegated down t each Authority. Place based leads would continue within Oldham supported by a System Board and an Integrated Delivery Board. The five tactical neighbourhood boards would help connect from the top to bottom supporting the Strategic Oldham Population Health Board.

The proposal would create an operating model that was fit for Oldham allowing more influence and control of its destiny. All services would be local and devolved down from Greater Manchester to Oldham and Oldham to the localities.

RESOLVED that the presentation be noted.

The next meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board is scheduled to be a Development Session to be held on Tuesday, 27^th July 2021 at 2.00pm.  The next formal meeting of the Board is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, 14^th September 2021 at 2.00pm.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Board was a development session scheduled to be held on Tuesday, 27^th July 2021 at 2.00pm.

It was noted that the next formal meeting of the Board was scheduled for 14th September 2021 at 2.00pm.