To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors N. Emmott, R. Massey and J. Taylor and Kate Jones. Margaret Parker was in attendance as substitute of Kate Jones.

Apologies were also received from the following advisors to the Board: Steve Rumbelow, Maddy Hubbard and Steve Taylor. Dr. S. McCallum was in attendance as substitute for Steve Taylor.

Members are requested to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 24^th January 2024

Resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 24^th January 2024 be agreed as a correct record.

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 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

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 consider a presentation of the Public Health Intelligence Manager – To follow

The Board considered a presentation of the Public Health Intelligence Manager on the Strategic Needs Assessment for Rochdale. This is a tool to understand the needs and resources of the population. The intelligence within the JSNA would be used to inform the work of the Health and Wellbeing Board and the Public Health strategies and priorities for the Borough.

The Officer informed that the JSNA was also utilised by the Council and its partners to devise health and wellbeing programmes and to plan specific pieces of work such as the Neighbourhood Programme and the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment. The JSNA was also used for planning and commissioning services to improve the health and wellbeing of the population and to reduce health inequalities in the area.

In Rochdale, the JSNA had not been undertaken during the pandemic and the last JSNA had been published in 2018. The process to produce the current JSNA had started in 2022, and a draft JSNA had been presented to this Board in January 2023.

A web-site for the current JSNA had been set up on the “Whitehall” model. This meant that the web-pages were topic based with population data and included links to important policies and guidance, morbidity data sets, and room to upload specific needs assessment relating to those topics.

The Public Health Intelligence Manager continued outlining the JSNA summary document based on the All Age Prevention Strategy and the Health and Wellbeing priorities. Both policies focused on residents’ health, with a strong focus on prevention. The summary also outlined the general position about Rochdale’s residents. The Officer highlighted that the standards focus of a JSNA would be on a disease model, whereas this JSNA focused on a whole system approach and solutions to support Health Services and to improve health and wellbeing across the population.

The Officer continued describing the overlap of health and wellbeing priorities with early years, education catch up, skills and work, resilience and the population section including data regarding groups’ characteristics. 

The Officer described some of the key findings and key areas of the JSNA. In particular, the lack of good health in the Borough compared to similar authorities. Additionally, In Rochdale 32.8% of the population lived in areas in the most deprived 10% of the country, with a further 14.5% in the 10% to 20% most deprived. This meant that a wider focus on prevention was necessary.

Through the JSNA, Officers intended to look at assets and opportunities within communities. This classed as a qualitative approach rather than a traditional method of looking at quantifiable data. “Physical” assets like parks and cycling routes, libraries and “not physical” assets such as community groups that could be used to work with and inform communities. Some places where people congregated had a potential negative impact on their health such as pubs and takeaways but Officers intended to look at the positives of some of this areas, for example opportunities for social interaction in a pub, alongside hazardous elements.

The Officer continued informing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

To consider a presentation of the Assistant Director Public Health and Communities - To follow

The Board considered a presentation of the Assistant Director Public Health and Communities which provided an update on the progress against the ten population health priorities for the Borough in 2023/24 and an outline of next steps.

The Assistant Director Public Health and Communities was in attendance to present the information and was accompanied by the Public Health Development Manager, the Public Health Programme Officers and the Public Health Specialist. They all contributed to the presentation, outlining progress and next steps in their areas of expertise and work.

The Public Health Development Manager commenced the presentation reporting on the Anti-Poverty Strategy that set out the Council’s vision and priorities for tackling poverty in the Borough and the specific actions to take over its five year duration.

The strategy outlined the poverty-related issues faced in the Borough, highlighting, in particular, the effect of the cost of living crisis, including what had been done so far to try and mitigate its impact.

It also suggested how to define poverty, some of the main reasons why it existed and its impact on the health and wellbeing of residents.

The Council recognised that resolving poverty required joined up solutions at multiple levels, from national government to local communities.

The Officer outlined the four main themes of the strategy and the related objectives. 

A Poverty Strategic Group would drive forward the objectives set out in the strategy and an Anti-poverty coalition had been formed to bring together the representatives of the different communities. The Health and Wellbeing Board would lead on the delivery of the strategy.

Several key performance indicators had been identified to monitor long term changes in the Borough. Actions would be gathered in the implementation plan and an evaluation framework would be in place. A Live Experience Circle had been set up to build on the good work on poverty and it included libraries, NHS venues and work in collaboration with Children Services.

The Public Health Programme Officers presented the work carried out so far with regards to loneliness and isolation which had a significant impact on health and chronic illnesses of people. In Rochdale, there was a vibrant voluntary sector offer which linked with social prescribing.

A key recommendation from the Local Government Association was to understand and map loneliness across the area and a profile of loneliness across the Borough had been put together. This map was identical to the deprivation areas with hotspots in Littleborough and Norden, The Council had teamed with Living Well to support “chatty cafes”, befriending networks to fight isolation. Additionally, a loneliness training programme had been commissioned to increase understanding and awareness of loneliness. YourTrust worked with the Neighbourhoods Team to address social isolation and loneliness. Social prescribing would be embedded in the Contact Centre and the loneliness training would be rolled out where the mapping exercise had indicated significant levels of loneliness and isolation.

The Public Health Programme Officers continued describing the work undertaken on cardiovascular disease (CVD). In particular, several events had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.