Agenda item

Report of the Chief Officer for Communities, Public Health, Environment and Prosperity on the timeline and principles for the update of the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy, attached.

The Board considered a Report from the Chief Officer for Communities, Public Health, Environment and Prosperity on the timeline and principles for updating the current Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy, covering the period 2016 to 2019, due to be updated during 2019, and how the Board would contribute to this process.

The timeline for the completion of the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy was set out below and included the establishment of a draft for consultation by the end of June to be launched at the annual stakeholder conference in July 2019, followed by sign-off of the strategy by the Board in October 2019. This aligned with the timetable for producing the NHS Long-Term Plan for Devon, which was due to be published in October 2019 with detailed engagement planned during the summer.

At the June 2018 stakeholder conference, table discussions on the strategy provided an opportunity for Board Members, scrutiny members, local authority officers, local NHS representatives, community and voluntary sector representatives and other partners to inform the refresh. Whilst it was felt that the existing strategy’s vision and priorities were broadly appropriate, there was a call to shift to plain English and for the document to be written from a community rather than a ‘service-led’ perspective.  Mental health, housing, physical activity, disability, inequalities, rurality, workforce, economic development, and health literacy featured prominently in priority discussions.

Following the Conference, a joint workshop for board and scrutiny members was held in December 2018 to share and discuss the findings, and to refine and agree the principles for the update. The agreed principles were:

·         Short document (up to 10 sides in length) with web interface

·         Written from community lens in plain English

·         A focus on poorer outcomes and challenges

·         An emphasis on the wider determinants of health

·         Strategic alignment with the STP and other partnerships, including joint priorities, collaboration and reporting arrangements with other partnership boards

·         Life course approach

·         A five-year strategy from 2020 to 2025

The Board welcomed the agreed principles, in particular the aim to use plain English and make the Strategy more accessible to the public in order to effectively engage with local communities on the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy, alongside the consultation around the NHS Long Term Plan.

It was MOVED by Councillor Leadbetter, SECONDED by Dr Pearson, and

RESOLVED that the timeline and principles for the update of the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy be agreed and the Board contribute to the development of the new Strategy.