Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Chauhan, Councillor Moores, Dr Keith Jeffery, David Jago, Joanne Sloan and Donna Cezair.

There were no public questions received.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board held on 16^th November 2021 are attached for approval.

Resolved:
That the Minutes of the meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board, held 16^th November 2021, be approved as a correct record.

The Board considered a report of the Director of Adult Social Care and Managing Director Community Health and Social Care, which provided the Health and Wellbeing Board’s members with details of the Oldham Better Care Fund (BCF) Plan for 2021-2022 and which also sought to obtain ‘sign off’ in line with the requirements of the national conditions of the BCF.

The BCF was one of the government’s national vehicles for driving health and social care integration. It required local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and local government to agree a joint plan, ‘agreed and owned’ by the Health and Wellbeing Board. The joint plan supported integration using a pooled budget and was governed by an agreement under section 75 of the NHS Act (2006).

The details of the operation of the BCF were set out in two documents: 2021 to 2022 Better Care Fund policy framework and Better Care Fund planning requirements 2021-2022. These documents were only published in September and October 2021 and formed the basis of the Oldham BCF plan for 2021-2022.

In line with the requirements set out by the government Oldham had submitted its BCF Plan for 2021-2022 on 16^th November 2021. This was initially submitted to Greater Manchester’s Health and Social Care Partnership as part of the agreement for regional ratification of BCF plans across Greater Manchester. The requirements therefore allowed for post-submission amendments and ‘sign-off’ by Health and Wellbeing Boards in consideration of the late publication of the policy framework and planning requirements.

For 2021-2022, the BCF plan was in two parts: an overall template that provided information on income, expenditure, type of schemes funded, metrics and how the plan meets national conditions; and a narrative plan outlining the key areas of focus in Oldham. This was based on the current Oldham Locality Plan.

The BCF consists of three main funding contributions: NHS CCG contribution to the BCF; the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG); and the Improved Better Care Fund (iBCF). The total value of the BCF in Oldham in 2021-2022 was £32,869,636 and this was broken down as follows: NHS CCG Contributions - £19,667,669, DFG - £2,343,287 and iBCF - £10,858,680.

The funding was dependent on meeting the following four national conditions: National Condition 1 - a jointly agreed plan between local health and social care commissioners signed off by the Health and Wellbeing Board. National Condition 2 - NHS contribution to adult social care to be maintained in line with the uplift to CCG minimum contribution. National Condition 3 - invest in NHS commissioned out of hospital services. National Condition 4 - plan for improving outcomes for people being discharged from hospital.

Resolved:

That the Health and Wellbeing Board agrees to approve and sign off the plan in line with the requirements of the National Conditions of the Better Care Fund.

The Board considered a report of the Director of Public Health, that updated members of the Health and Wellbeing Board on the progress of the production of the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment.

Oldham Health and Wellbeing Board had 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 2020/2021 and the renewed PNA was to be published in April 2021. However, the Department of Health and Social Care had 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.  Further notification was received that the deadline for publishing the PNA had now been postponed until October 2022.

Guidance for production of the PNA was produced in October 2021, setting out the process to be followed. The Medicines Optimisation team had been contracted to undertake the PNA for Oldham. The Team was to concurrently undertake the PNAs for Bury and Rochdale as well as Oldham.

Resolved:

1. The Health and Wellbeing Board notes that guidance to produce the PNA has now been received.
2. The Health and Wellbeing Board notes that the delay to the intended timescale due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and staff absence in the Medicines Optimisation Team undertaking the PNA.
3. The Health and Wellbeing Board notes the issues raised and the need for mitigating actions to limit the impact of any further delays on the production and publication of the Oldham PNA.

The next meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board will be on Tuesday 22^nd March 2022 at 2.00pm.

Resolved:
That the next meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board be held on Tuesday, 22^nd March 2022, starting at 2.00pm, in the Civic Centre, Oldham.