Agenda item - Children's Health & Wellbeing Commissioning Strategy

Joint report of the Chief Operating Officer of the Clinical Commissioning Group, the Statutory Director for Children’s Services and the Director of Public Health (copy attached).

42.1         The Public Health Programme Manager introduced the paper which set out the shared ambition of commissioners in the council and NHS for the children and young people of the city.  She stated that the strategy set out at a high level the way partner organisations intended to work together to achieve the ambition by 2020.

42.2         Councillor Mac Cafferty welcomed the report and asked whether in drawing up the strategy any consideration had been made to national changes and their impact in a local context e.g. local authority rules in relation to schools and joint commissioning as outlined on page 85 of the report.  He queried whether there was any duplication currently and suggested that it would help to reference the challenges ahead.

42.3         The Public Health Programme Manager stated that the national picture had been taken into account and in real terms council and public health budgets would be used as the drivers for change and improvement.  The need for better and more integrated services was recognised and this would address any duplication.

42.4         The Assistant Director (Children’s and Adult Service) noted that it was a new role for the local authority and was sure that the health and attainment of young people would be considered.  However, overall she felt it was a positive approach and would bring about changes.

42.5         Councillor Penn stated that she wished to thank the officers involved in bringing the report forward and stated that it appeared that service users had been taken into account in the formulation of the strategy.  She believed that when service users were engaged in a process it was more likely that better outcomes would be achieved.

42.6         Dr. Beesley stated that as a GP it was important to meet children and families and she was aware that at present it was not possible to work with all service providers.  She believed that the new strategy would help to join things up and provide advantages for those children and families in the future.

42.7         The Assistant Director (Stronger Families Youth and Communities) welcomed the comments and noted that it was intended to provide an on-line system which would link to the Early Help team and the multi-agency hubs.

42.8         The Chair thanked the officers and welcomed the recognition that working together and sharing information was important and would lead to better service provision and outcomes.

42.9         RESOLVED: That the Children’s Health and Wellbeing Commissioning Strategy as set out in appendix 1 to the report be approved and published.