Agenda and minutes

It was moved and seconded that Councillor Sam Corcoran be appointed the Chair.

RESOLVED:

That Councillor Sam Corcoran be appointed as Chair.

It was moved and seconded that Louise Barry be appointed as Vice Chair.

RESOLVED:

That Louise Barry be appointed as Vice Chair.

Apologies for absence were received from Louise Barry (Health Watch), Dr Paul Bishop (NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board), Michelle Davis (Guinness Housing), Dr Matt Tyrer (Director of Public Health - CEC), Superintendent Claire Jesson (Police), Claire Williamson (Children’s Services - CEC) and Isla Wilson (Cheshire East Health and Care  Place Partnership).

Chief Inspector Andy Baker (Police) and Mark Groves (Healthwatch) attended as substitutes.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2024.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2024 be confirmed as a correct record.

In accordance with paragraph 2.24 of the Council’s Committee Procedure Rules and Appendix on Public Speaking, set out in the Constitution, a total period of 15 minutes is allocated for members of the public to put questions to the committee on any matter relating to this agenda. Each member of the public will be allowed up to two minutes each to speak, and the Chair will have discretion to vary this where they consider it appropriate.

Members of the public wishing to speak are required to provide notice of this at least three clear working days’ in advance of the meeting.

There were no registered public speakers.

To consider a report to review the membership of the Cheshire East Health and Wellbeing Board for 2024-2025.

The Cheshire East Health and Wellbeing Board’s Terms of Reference require the membership to be reviewed and agreed at the first meeting of the Municipal Year. The Board considered a report which reviewed the membership for 2024-25.

It was noted that the Chamber of Commerce would be contacted in relation to the vacant position for a Business representative to sit on the Board.

RESOLVED:

That the statutory Cheshire East Health and Wellbeing Board members agree the following individuals as additional members for 2024-2025

Councillor Janet Clowes – Opposition Group representative

Peter Skates – Acting Executive Director of Place

Isla Wilson – representing the Place Health and Care Partnership Board

Superintendent Claire Jesson – representing the Police and Crime Commissioner

Charlotte Wright - representing the Chief Fire Officer

Kathryn Sullivan - representing the community, voluntary and social enterprise sector.

Claire Williamson – an additional representative for Children and Families

 Michelle Davis - representing housing providers.

A Business representative – to be nominated.

To receive a verbal update on Right Care Right Person initiative.

The Board received an update on the Right Care Right Person initiative which had been implemented in Cheshire last year. The initiative sought to ensure that the public were getting the right care, by the right person with the right skills, training, and experience to best meet their needs.

Board members asked questions and made comments in relation to

-       From a Health and Wellbeing Board perspective it would be useful to have comparative data on a regular basis and over a longer period of time.

-       If a call does not meet the Police’s threshold for a response is another service offered?

-       Is there any extra demand on other agencies as a result of the new approach and if there is how would that be monitored?

In response Chief Inspector Reynolds reported that

-       Attendance at a future meeting could be arranged to discuss the long-term data.

-       If a decision is made that the threshold had not been met, the information would still be recorded, and a toolkit used to triage it. Alternative services and support would be signposted.

-       The Tactical Co-ordination Group (TCG) have asked partners to track their data and they had not seen any displaced demand on other agencies to date.

RESOLVED:

That the update be noted.

To receive an update of progress in the JSNA work programme since March 2024.

The Board received an update on the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) work programme.

The update included:

-       Following the conclusion of the lifestyle survey headline findings were that the overall picture of the health and wellbeing of residents in the borough was generally good, but with significant pockets of poorer health and wellbeing often aligned to areas of deprivation.

-       Work was due to commence on unpicking the findings of the report in relation to whether perceptions of health and wellbeing match the challenges the respondents report in terms of lifestyle and further, to make sure there was cross-checking with other data sources as well.

-       Work was progressing on social isolation and care of older people and there continued to be good engagement across the system on all of those aspects of work.

-       Topic areas for 2024/25 included health and wellbeing in the early years (0 – 5-year-olds), sexual health needs assessment and a place-based JSNA focusing on Congleton and Holmes Chapel Care Community.

Work would continue to develop in the following areas:

-       More resources in easy read and plain English summaries.

-       Promotion of the JSNA to inform a wider audience including Members and Parish and Town Councils.

In response to questions asked in relation to taking advantage of Crewe Youth Zone once it had been built and the pilot that had taken place on financial incentives for pregnant women stopping smoking officers report that:

-       Contacts were being identified to help progress the recommendations in relation to Crewe and this included the Crewe Youth Zone.

-       An evaluation was currently underway in respect of smoking cessation and an academic partner was working with officers on that.

RESOLVED: That the Health and Wellbeing Board

1.    Approve the reviews to commence during 2024/25.

2.    Note the progress on the JSNA work programme and to adopt the recommendations that have resulted from this work.

3.    Agree to utilise the JSNA to inform continued challenging decision making in relation to public sector budgets.

To receive a report on the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment 2025.

The Board considered a report which outlined the approach to be taken to the production of the revised Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment which was due to be published by the 1^st October 2025.

RESOLVED: That the Health and Wellbeing Board

1.    approves delegation of the day-to-day authority for the development of the revised Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) to the Director of Public Health (DPH). This will include the approval of the draft PNA prior to consultation.

2.    approves the formation of a working group to steer the production of the revised PNA.

3.    agrees contingency arrangements for endorsing the PNA virtually by board members in September 2025 in case the HWB meeting is cancelled, or the timing of the meeting is such that the PNA required publishing date (before the 1st October 2025) precedes the scheduled meeting date. Due to the consultation requirement of 60 days and to enable the final draft to go through the council review process, it is not feasible to present the final draft for endorsement at an earlier meeting. This will be the Board’s only opportunity to review the results of the consultation and consider the impact of the results from the consultation.

4.    note there is a cost implication in the production of the PNA, mostly for staff time which will be required across all partner organisations. Its production will impact on joint strategic needs assessment (JSNA) activity during 2024/5 and 2025/6. Any financial implications that arise as a result of any actions taken in response to this report are fully covered by existing funding, meaning that there are no changes required to the Council’s existing Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS).

5.    note that the Pharmaceutical Regulations 2013 were amended in September 2023, however most of the amendments are concerning 100- hour pharmacies, changes to contracted opening hours and arrangements regarding temporary cover these do not affect the content or timing of the PNA.

To receive a presentation on the Leighton Hospital Redevelopment Strategic Outline Case.

The Board received a presentation on:  A new Leighton: Strategic Outline Case (SOC). The presentation included the issues with the existing site, an outline of the 3-stage process for the business case approval, a list of the options considered, the preferred way forward, timelines, achievements to date and the next steps.

Board members supported the plan and provided comments and feedback in respect of

-       Welcomed the enhanced communication and integration between community and secondary care built into the design.

-       Clarity required around revenue affordability.

-       Involvement required in signing off the provision of clinical capacity i.e., beds.

-       Mental health services for patients with physical and mental health needs was a key issue. The SOC as it currently stood was light on references to mental health whereas significant additional costs on caring for patients with mental and physical health needs in the A&E and on the wards was being incurred.

-       Public transport between Crewe and Leighton was poor, and the SOC was silent on any aspiration to improve that position. Better transport was potentially a significant social value contributor if it could be addressed.

-       Request to see the timetable for outline business case development.

-       Welcome the carbon neutrality elements of the project.

-       Wanted reassurance when going into the next stage that the highways network was sufficient to deal with the additional housing in the surrounding area and the additional volume of traffic that would be brought in.

RESOLVED:

That the update be noted.

To receive a report on Cheshire East’s New Local Plan.

The Board received a report on Cheshire East’s New Local Plan.  The Plan would look ahead into the 2040s and would identify new long-term development requirements and how they would be met.

The Plan would set out a range of policies regarding a wide range of planning considerations – landscape, biodiversity, heritage, health, housing mix, etc, - so those matters would be taken into account when deciding planning applications.

The Council had published a new Local Plan Issues Paper which announced its intention to prepare a new Local Plan and to provide an initial opportunity for feedback about the scope of the plan.

It was noted that one of the challenges faced at present was the possibility of a change in government which may have different ideas in planning reform so there was some uncertainty about the future programme.

Members asked questions and provided comments in respect of

-       It would be useful to have an opportunity for the Health and Wellbeing Board to have an input in to the new policies from a healthy and safe communities’ perspective.

-       Could the plan include developments that people are less keen to see in the area but would be good from an economic perspective, such as care homes and retirement orientated housing developments but could create additional pressures from a health care and social care perspective?

-       Would the new plan have tighter controls over older properties?

-       Would the new plan have more detailed Town Plans, or would it be similar to the current Plan?

In response officers reported that

-       They would have to see what was happening in terms of the planning reform agenda following the election before the next steps could be taken with the Plan.

-       National Policy stated that Local Authorities would be required to do a Housing Needs Assessment, including all sectors of the community.

-       Due to not knowing how much development the Council would be planning for more detail within the strategy would be required for particular towns.

It was agreed that a workshop around the Local Plan would be added to the work programme of the Health and Wellbeing Board.

RESOLVED: That the Health and Wellbeing Board

Noted that the Council has commenced work on a new Local Plan through the publication of an Issues Paper inviting initial feedback on its scope.

To receive a verbal update on the findings from the Ofsted Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services (ILACS),

The Executive Director of Children’s Services provided a verbal update in respect of the findings from the Ofsted Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services (ILACS) conducted in February and March 2024, the plans in place to improve services in relation to the findings, and monitoring arrangements from Ofsted and the Department for Education (DfE).

Whilst the judgement was disappointing, board members acknowledged that there had been improvements in other areas and that there had been no statutory failings from a Health and Wellbeing perspective.

The Chair thanked the staff in Children and Families Services who were working hard to deliver the required improvements that had been identified.

RESOLVED:

That the update be noted.

Councillor C Bulman and Deborah Woodcock, Executive Director of Children’s Services left the meeting after this item and did not return.