Agenda and minutes

To approve as accurate records, the minutes of the meetings of the Board, held on:

§  Monday 17 October 2022

§  Friday 18 November 2022

§  Thursday 15 December 2022

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on

§  Wednesday 18 October 2022

§  Friday 17 November 2022

§  Thursday 15 December 2022

were agreed as an accurate record

Members are invited to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and other registrable and non-registrable interests they may have in relation to any items(s) of business on today’s agenda.

There were no disclosures at this meeting.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

There was none.

Public Questions should be submitted before 12 noon on 16 January 2023 to democratic.services@croydon.gov.uk. Any questions should relate to items listed on the agenda. 15 minutes will be allocated at the meeting for all Public Questions that are being considered.

There were none.

To receive a verbal update.

TheHealth and Wellbeing Board received a verbal update from a member of the Local Government Association (LGA), Jonathan McShane, who informed that their service offered support to all Health & Wellbeing Boards in England.

With the changes within the NHS structures, establishments of ICS, place-based arrangements and an oversight of Health and Social Care delivery, the LGA was keen to work together with the Croydon Health & Wellbeing Board as they build a new strategy following the new changes in administration.

The approach to this work would include workshops for how the Board would work in the future and its focus, in addition, the Public Heath Team to review the development of the new Health & Wellbeing Strategy and its deliverance; also addressing how the new joint Health & Wellbeing Strategy would be developed; reflection from partners, forward planning and agenda setting.

The Chair welcomed the support from the Local Government Association which was supporting the Health & Wellbeing in Croydon following the new changes in Croydon.

The Board will receive a verbal update from Jack Edge of SWL ICS.

The Health and Wellbeing Board received a verbal update from the Head of Primary and Community Care – London South, Jack Edge in relation to the discharge fund and winter pressures.

In summary, the Board heard that:

-        In November 2022, there was an initial fund of £500 million pounds to support the discharge into social care, which was divided into two pots: 60% within the health sector and 40% to the local authorities. The distribution of the ICB share and the Adult Social Care discharge fund to local areas, saw Croydon with £2.687 million pounds which was split into £1.5 million pounds from the NHS and £1.16 million pounds from the local authority.

-        The funding was to be used on activities that reduced flow pressure on hospitals by enabling discharge to appropriate settings. This was not to be used to prevent admissions. Funding was also to be streamed into the Better Care fund.

-        Croydon provided twenty-six schemes. The projects put forward would be monitored fortnightly to address the spending. The service was on track on their second return having completed and signed off their first return in spending.

-        There was also funding for eleven stepdown beds which had been purchased.

-        Discharges had been increased into pathway discharges by thirty per week, i.e. path one: would see the patient return to their original place of residence with a care package.

-        Support for seventeen housing spots was provided to mental health patients.

-        Recruitment across all roles were taking place to provide care capacity, inside and outside of hospitals though roles were filled with existing staff.

-        Additional support such as drivers, IT support and equipment had also been used from the funding.

-        The GP rapid response provision had increased, also additional equipment to ensure all packages within the community through the rapid response had increased.

-        A flow hub had been set up to facilitate discharge and prevent discharge at the front door in hospitals. This had been successful.

-        Additional mental health treatment had also been established with support for discharge at home.

-        Working with local authority and South West London (SWL) to best spend the £200 million pounds that was allocated within the NHS to facilitate the discharges, with the guidance around increasing bed capacity and activities contributed to supporting the beds, before 31^st March 2023.

The Board welcomed the update from officers.

In response to queries raised by the Board, Jack Edge and Annette McPartland clarified the following:

-        In relation to the work of the projects and feedback from the first return completed, the Board heard that the first report took a lot of time away from implementing the projects and assessments within the community, the hospitals were now providing daily reports on discharging. This had shown great impact to the health and commissioning leads. The first report highlighted no queries, though some areas received queries on specific projects to understand impact. There were no queries raised with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34/22

To receive the Family Hub report

The Health and Wellbeing Board considered the Family Hubs report which was an overview of the Family Hub and ‘Start for Life’ grant assigned to Croydon by the Department of Education.

The Board received an overview from the Head of Education, Shelley Davies who summarised that Croydon Council had been selected to receive Family Hubs. Section 8 of the report outlined the funding to this development and what the grant would be used for. The development would provide a great opportunity to reshape the services for babies, children and young people with a Start for Life offer at their core. The Family Hub model and purpose was to have a place for families to receive universal services in outreach spaces alongside a robust virtual offer, additionally, to provide a gateway to services for older children, young people (up to 25 years with Special Education Needs and Disabilities) and their families. It was noted that during the pandemic, families were able to access services virtually.

The Interim Manager Transformation Lead, Carolyn Castle, further added that the delivery plan was scheduled for December and that by March 2025 the service would be able to fully implement the Start of Life as proposed in bold within the report on page 4. Services were working together and building strong communication on engagement.

The Chair was pleased to hear of the upcoming projects coming forward.

In response to queries raised by the Board, Shelley Davies clarified the following:

-        In relation to the £4.3 million over three years (£1.3 million a year) and whether the funding was sufficient, the Board heard that the priorities were rig-fenced and the service had to deliver what was set out to be spent on.

-        In relation to supporting parents with parenting especially with a child with disability, the Board heard that it was important for parents to engage with others with similar needs and a parent partnership was set up for this.

-        In relation to Hubs and what it means, the board heard that though there were a lot of hubs, the National policy was to provide a family hub that had information enabling family to access families. Family hubs were different to community hubs, and it was important to understand what was offered in the hubs. It was proposed for the hub to be physically opened in summer of 2023 in an existing place within the borough.

-        In relation to staffing, the Board heard that money had been invested to train frontline staff. There was no impact on retention as staffing was in partnership and therefore retention and recruitment would remain in the same respective areas. The family hubs did not require brand new practitioners as when in partnership staff would become family hub practitioner which would range across a number of different services contributing with skills and multi-workforce development.

The Board RESOLVED:

To support the provisional approach within the ‘Family Hub and Start for Life’ grant.

To consider the attached report, which details the outcomes of the Summit, held in November 2022.

The Health and Wellbeing Board considered the Croydon Mental Health Summit: November 2022 report which was held to deliver with Croydon Citizens the Mayor’s Business plan 2022-2026to improve resident health and reduce health inequalities.

The Board received an overview from the Public Consultant, Jack Bedeman who summarised that the Mental Health summit was a success with a variety of different organisations in attendance from different community groups. Croydon citizens were also keen in working and supporting the work proposed. The summit provided lots of conversations and feedback relating to ensuring better utility in the programme. The key aspects for the future was to take the learning gathered to address how services could develop further the care plan amongst other proposals.

The Board discussed the little feedback received following the summit and comments were made on the disproportionality in the black community, though there was a lot of work happening in the background following review on the information collated.

The Chair thanked all staff involved in the summit which had captured a lot of information and noted that the Board were now reviewing the outcomes of what could be achieved from the information collated.

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

This was not required.