To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from the following Board Members: Councillors D. Ali, R. Massey, I. Ahmed, J. Emsley, N, Emmott, Wardle, Nichola Thompson, Sharon Hubber, Steve Taylor, and Kate Jones.

The following supporting officers also submitted their apologies: Steve Rumbelow, Nicky Porter, Jo Williams, Donna Bowler and Charlotte Mitchell.

Margaret Parker attended as a substitute for Kate Jones.

Joanne Williams attended as a substitute for Nicky Porter

The Senior Governance and Committees Officer informed those present that the meeting was not quorate. Those in attendance could agree to meet informally and any decisions would require appropriate ratification at the next quorate meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board in order for decisions to be legal/ legally binding.

Those present agreed to meet informally and noted that any decisions would require ratification at the next quorate meeting of the Board.

The Senior Governance and Committee Officer asked those present to appoint a Chair for the duration of the meeting.

Resolved that Dr. B Alam be appointed Chair for the duration of today’s meeting.

Members are required to declare any disclosable pecuniary, personal or personal and prejudicial interests they may have and the nature of those interests relating to items on this agenda and/or indicate if S106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.   

There were no declarations of interest received.

To determine whether there are any additional items of business which, by reason of special circumstances, the Chair decides should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

There were no items of urgent business received.

To determine any items on the agenda, if any, where the public are to be excluded from the meeting.

There were no items for exclusion of press and public.

Members are requested to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 14^th June 2023

Resolved that, subject to the ratification of this decision at the next meeting of the Board, the minutes be approved as a correct record.

Item for consideration and discussion

The Chair welcomed those present and noted the importance of today’s topic, “Loneliness and Isolation”; the Chair stressed how the information shared in today’s  report was an eye opener for all the agencies represented on this Board and how this topic did not receive so far the recognition it needed. 

The Public Health Specialist, the Public Health Programme Officer and the Public Health Intelligence Manager delivered a presentation which sought to inform of loneliness and isolation as key cause of population’s ill health and early mortality. This was a new and increasing priority area for which a number of initiatives were ongoing but they often happened in silos and a more strategic/coordinated approach would be useful.

Officers informed of how the Council, together with other agencies, had a key role in tackling loneliness, using community knowledge to bring together partners and lead projects and using community assets where community action could take place.

The Public Health specialist introduced the topic and informed that loneliness and isolation affected people of all ages and especially younger age groups. The Officer outlined the health implications associated with loneliness and isolation such as increased blood pressure, sleep deprivation, weight gain, and impact on diabetes, depression and poor mental health. The Officer continued informing of how a prevention strategy aimed at meaningful social connections should be a Public Health priority.

The Public Health Programme Officer informed of how loneliness and isolation affected the people of Rochdale and shared data and information which pointed out that this issue was the fourth most common reason for social prescribing in Heywood and likely to be the same for the other four townships in the Borough. The Officer continued informing that, in 2021-22, 48.2% of adult social care service users aged 18-64 had reported that they did not have as much social contact as they would like to and this figure increased to 59% for those aged 65 and over.

Officers shared data and information concerning areas of higher risks of loneliness and isolations in the Borough and how this overlapped with areas of higher deprivation. Officers added that it was possible to determine which households were at higher risks and compared Rochdale against regional and national data, with opportunities for targeted intervention.

Board Members queried about the possibility to refine the mapping exercise to better understand groups at risks. Officers informed that the area-based scoring system and Mosaic (i.e.: social care software) analysis both correlated with areas of deprivation. This was consistent with Office for National Statistic research and the latest Active People’s Survey findings and noted that this was a first draft which could be developed further.

The Chair referred to QRISK 3.2, a system utilised in Primary Care and its ability to quantify risks based on households and postcodes and discussed possibility to implement this system at national level, as a tool to prevent population’s ill health.

Representatives from the Primary Care Network drew the attention of the Board on the importance of social prescribing and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.