To elect a Chairman/woman for the 2015/2016 Municipal Year.

Councillor Mills was elected Chairman for the 2015/2016 Municipal year.

(Councillor Mills in the Chair)

To receive any apologies for absence, including notifications of any changes to the membership of the Committee.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Parrott, Liz Thomas (NHS England), Melanie Walker (Devon Partnership NHS Trust), Mandy Seymour-Hanbury (Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust), Councillor Stockman who was represented by Councillor Ellery and Tony Hogg (Police and Crime Commissioner) who was represented by Ian Ansell.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the Health and Wellbeing Board held on 9 March 2015.

The Minutes of the Health and Wellbeing Board held on 9 March 2015 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To appoint a Vice-Chairman/woman for the 2015/2016 Municipal Year.

Caroline Dimond was appointed as Vice-Chairman for the 2015/2016 Municipal Year.

Councillor Doggett declared a non-pecuniary interest as he is a lay member of the Joined Up Medicines Optimisation Group.

To consider a report on the above.

The Board considered a report that outlined the governance arrangements of the Health and Wellbeing Board including its Terms of Reference and Membership.  Caroline Dimond advised Members that the Board required strong governance arrangements and the ability to review its own performance in order to be affective.  Feedback suggested that the Board had too many priorities resulting in large agenda’s that were not conducive to the ‘deep dive’ exercise that the priorities commanded.

Members were asked to consider the membership of the Board as a number of requests for inclusion had been made.  The Board felt that given the role of the Director of Special Projects and Innovations his presence would be of great value in aiding the Board to deliver its outcomes.

Resolved:

i)          The Board noted the report;

ii)         That the Membership of the Health and Wellbeing Board be amended to include the Director of Special Projects and Innovations (Torbay Council) as a non-voting co-optee; and

iii)        that the Cultural Strategy Working Party be asked to submit update reports to the Health and Wellbeing Board.

To consider a report on the above.

Members were informed that the Shadow Health and Wellbeing Board approved the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy in November 2012.  Since its approval there had been a number of significant changes in the strategic direction for health and wellbeing across Torbay in particular:

·         Pioneer Status

·         Successful ageing well bid

·         Development of the Integrated Care Organisation

·         Devon Partnership Trusts service review

·         Refreshed Police and Crime plan

As well as a change in strategic direction there had also been national and local changes such as the Care Act and significant pressure on public sector finances.

Members were advised that the current strategy has three main outcome areas which also linked to a number of key priority tasks.  Whilst work had commenced and plans were being embedded, the changes at the national, local and strategic level meant that the strategy needed to be refreshed.

Resolved:

That the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy be refreshed ensuring that it reflects local and national changes in the health and wellbeing sectors.

To consider a report on the above.

The Board noted a report that focused on the current Partnership Early Help provision, over the past 12 months work had been undertaken to develop an early help offer to meet the needs of children and families in Torbay.  Priorities had been to ensure early identification, good access and effective, co-ordinated support with clear review processes, and to ensure that a full range of services and resources contribute to this as appropriate to meet need and required outcomes.  Members were informed that over the past 12 months the number of referrals had increased with the aim for them to increase further, by intervening earlier there would be a subsequent reduction of referrals to statutory services.

The Board were advised that Children’s Services had successfully bid for funding from the Department for Education under the banner of doing things differently in children’s social work.  There were three key areas of development within the project:

·         The implementation of a Public Service Trust

·         Targeted delivery within Community Hubs

·         The integration of staff to create a workforce with shared tools and shared family outcomes.

Richard Williams explained that at the heart of the project, was the intention to establish community-based Early Help Hubs which would complement the Children and Families Community Hub initiated through the Pioneer project.   The approach is asset and strengths based and will work with and alongside the community to build resilience.  Services working across the life-course are indicating a real commitment and enthusiasm for working together to look at a whole family and a whole community rather than an individual in isolation.

To consider a report that outlines findings from a trial of a model to forecast the costs of implementing parts of the Care Act.

Members were informed that the Department of Health had been developing and trialling a model to forecast the costs of implementing parts of the Care Act, specifically those parts which will see implementation in 2016/17 rather than the current financial year.

Torbay was invited to take part in a ‘desk top’ trial which included some significant assumptions.  When testing, the model was considered to be a reasonable way of forecasting the impact of possible future return costs of the Care Act.  However the concerns raised by Torbay about some of the original data were generally echoed in the regional response, although the model is only used for forecasting the estimated cost of the Act, it does use national data which could be utilised when generating funding proposals.  This will be a concern if the underestimations of costs are as great as those reported during the trial.

Resolved:

i)          that the concerns of Torbay Council and the Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust over the data being used in the current Department of Health model be raised nationally at every opportunity through ADASS, the Local Government Association and any other professional body felt appropriate; and

ii)         that assuming the Government fully funds the initial model and utilises current data, the Board recognises that Torbay could be facing a deficit in funding of £0.6 million in 2016/17 and seek options to reduce the potential financial impact on the residents of Torbay.

To note the update on the Crisis Care Concordat.

The Board noted the report.