Agenda item - Chair's Communications

The Chair of the Board will start the meeting with a short update on recent developments on health and wellbeing.

21.1         The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted that at is was a busy agenda his communications will be noted in full in the minutes; but he wished to outline a few points.

Health and Wellbeing Partnership event

21.2         In September the Board held it second partnership event. Approximately 100 people gathered for a hard working afternoon focused on refining the Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The outcome of this event will come to the Board in December.

AGM CCG

21.3         The CCG had its Annual General Meeting in September and I was happy to attend as Chair of the Board. It provided me with an opportunity to hear first-hand what the CCG had achieved in the past year and what the plans for the future would be. It was clear that it had been a busy year and the reflection of work done is partnership with not only the council but a wide range of agencies was evident.

Older Peoples Week

21.4         As Chair I was happy to attend the Older People’s Awards which were part of Brighton & Hove’s celebration of International Older People’s Day.  The awards ceremony was commissioned by the Public Health team from local organisation, Impact Initiatives, as part of a week long programme of events to celebrate the contribution of older people in the city and challenge stigma around ageing.

21.5         One of the award winners was 92 year old Tai Chi Instructor Adele Percival!

21.6         Feedback has included the following Donna Baily, Impact Initiatives. She writes:

Many thanks for your support with the older people’s week; the week has gone brilliantly so far, and the awards ceremony was its highlight. I’ve had lovely feedback from guests who attended yesterday, and it has clearly brought many older people together and given them the recognition they truly deserve. We now have the photographic exhibition up at St John’s, which will remain there until Sunday when we have the grand finale to the week, which is

Stoptober

21.7         Stoptober is a campaign from Public Health England that encourages smokers across the country to stop smoking for 28 days during the month of October. The campaign aims to encourage people to take part in the mass quit attempt and to utilise a range of proven, free support tools available.

21.8         It is targeting all smokers (their families and friends) but with a particular emphasis on routine and manual workers, amongst whom there is a high percentage of smokers.

21.9         While we are on the subject of smoking the consultation on the Smokefree Areas has now closed. With local and national media interest the consultation generated 1,913 responses through the consultation portal. A report will be returning to the Board in December with the analysis and suggested way forward.

The Sugar Debate

21.10      On October 5^th we launched a public health debate:

Should action be taken to reduce sugar intake in Brighton & Hove?

21.11      It has attracted a significant amount of media interest both locally and nationally. One in four children are already overweight in Brighton and Hove by the time they leave primary school and a 2/3rds of adults are either overweight or obese.  Sugar plays a part in this and we are already eating up to three times as much as we should be.   Too much sugar increases the risk of tooth decay and drinking more sugary drinks is associated with gaining weight and developing Type 2 diabetes.  New government recommendations include limiting our intake of ‘free sugars’ to just 5% of our daily energy intake. We want to find out whether, and how, to take action on sugar in the city. The debate is the first stage.  We plan to analyse the results in January 2016 and use these to inform and develop a Sugar smart city action plan.  A report will come back to the Board as necessary in the New Year.  

21.12      This is the link to the sugar smart city on the council website. The minutes will also include the web link

http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/health/healthy-lifestyle/sugar-smart-city-what-do-you-think

Rough Sleeping Summit

21.13      The Council is leading a review of the city’s approach to rough sleeping with the aim of “making sure no-one has the need to sleep rough in Brighton & Hove by 2020”.

21.14      A Rough Sleeping Summit is being held in December (as part of The Learning Together to Safeguard the City fortnight) that will bring together a range of stakeholders such as councillors, the council, clinical commissioning group, Police, third sector advocates, providers, business community, relevant professional experts and service users to review the city’s approach to rough sleeping and develop options for the city’s future Rough Sleeper Strategy.

21.15      Please note that the Summit is invite only. Following the Summit, a draft strategy will be developed in the New Year for public consultation.

21.16      I would like to draw your attention to the joint meeting of the Children’s, Young People and Skills Committee and the Health and Wellbeing Board which will take place on 10^th November at 4pm at the BRIGHTON CENTRE.  This joint meeting will focus on the progress of the Special Educational Needs and Disability and Learning Disability reviews. We hope you will be able to join us for that meeting.

21.17      Today there is a paper concerning the Primary Care Services.  As the Board is aware Goodwood Court Medical Centre was closed in June 2015 following a CQC inspection. The Charter Medical centre was awarded an interim contract so that patients affected could access ongoing care. The interim arrangement will run until March 2016 and NHSE are seeking the views of patients and other local stakeholders as part of the review to determine longer term options for the future care of these patients.

21.18      Finally I would like to take the time to say farewell to a Board member, Geraldine Hoban. Geraldine is leaving to take up the position of Accountable Officer working with Horsham & Mid Sussex CCG from November.  Geraldine has worked in Brighton for over eight years from Primary care Trust to CCG.  The Board would like to say thank you Geraldine and good luck to you – you will be missed.

21.19      Councillor Ken Norman also wished to record his thanks and appreciation for all her work and support and wished Geraldine well in her future role with Horsham & Mid-Sussex.