(For a brief NCC summary of the meeting go to: http://www.healthwatchnottinghamshire.co.uk/?attachment_id=2007)
Presentation of Healthwatch Nottinghamshire’s Annual Report (2013-4) and Business Plan (2014-5)
This was an important discussion for us to see how the members of the Board viewed Healthwatch Nottinghamshire (HWN) over the previous year and also what they thought of our role on the Board itself. Here’s what they had to say:
- Much positive comment from the HWB Chair, Cllr Joyce Bosnjak, on the contribution that HWN had made to the work of the HWB. This was reassuring to hear.
- One of the GP CCG leads asked about whether there was an overlap between the work of HWN and the work of GP practices’ Patient Participation Groups (PPGs); also whether HWN could assist PPGs in getting more younger people on the groups. B we are developing some ideas on what could be done about this. Watch this space.
- Is there a role for HWN in assisting Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in having their different communities participate in the commissioning process.
- We heard about the Youth Council in Gedling and the possibility of having a HWN “champion” amongst the members.
- Concern from a Rushcliffe Councillor that HWN avoid unnecessary duplication with other engagement work being undertaken locally. N.B It’s our policy to avoid doing engagement work when other bodies are doing the same thing.
- The HWB was reminded that HWN had asked the HWB Implementation Group to monitor the impact on health and wellbeing of the budget reductions that the local authority and NHS are now subject to.
2014 Care Act
This Act is being described as the biggest shake-up of social care for decades so it is most definitely going to have huge impacts on service users. There were two issues I wanted to raise for Healthwatch:
- Was the government intention in the Act to Integrate health, social care and housing just adding to the list of previous legislation on integration that has not had any meaningful impact. Does the care Act have any additional “teeth”?
This is important because housing is key for much of the success of community care. Just to prove this point, two other papers came to this Board. One was on adults with learning disability returning to Nottinghamshire from Winterbourne View requiring amongst other things good housing. Social services commissioners are finding it very difficult to find appropriate housing. A second paper, the new Nottinghamshire mental health strategy, again raises the importance of planning for housing for adults with mental ill-health.
The answer to the question was that the integration of housing with social care and health would be up to local partnerships to plan for. So – I’m sorry to say – it appears that it may have no more teeth than previous legislation! Let’s hope I’m proved wrong!
- The second issue was raised by the Chair herself. She, like Healthwatch Nottinghamshire and other members of HWB, expressed concern that the Government has under-estimated the costs of the reforms and that the funding allocation to Nottinghamshire will be insufficient.
Health and Wellbeing Strategy
This is now completed and being rolled out. It’s been proposed that each of the 20 priorities have a “champion” member of the HWB. I think that this is a good idea for the HWB. But it puts me as Chair of Healthwatch Nottinghamshire in a situation of a possible conflict of interest if, say, an area of service that I was “champion” for was to be reported as an issue for HWN. I am going to decline, therefore.
Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)
This will be on-line shortly. It’s looking good for people and groups to navigate through to find the resources or information they’re interested in. HWN has said that it would be involved in the planning of the JSNA at key stages of its development.
Communications from the Health and Wellbeing Board
The new summary paper that comes out after every HWB meeting is now in use (See the link to it above). I made the point, previously made, that there needs to be better cross-referencing of communications messages between the HWB strategy and the work of the 3 transformation boards, maybe even sharing of communications resources! Also that the Nottinghamshire public needs to be helped to understand what all this means to them – in digestible and in plain English format!
Nottinghamshire Mental Health Strategy
This has had extensive consultation. It now looks to have the right priorities and has identified key gaps in services that will need to be addressed.
The points I made were that the other report referred to – Nottinghamshire Children and Young People Mental health and Emotional Wellbeing Strategy 2014-16 – is very difficult to find anywhere. It need to be better publicised, alongside this strategy. Secondly, I informed the HWB that Healthwatch Nottinghamshire will be running a survey later this year on adult mental health services, focusing on access to psychological therapies and crisis services across the County.
Report back on the HWB Stakeholder event with the Voluntary and Community Sector, 9 June 2014
This had been a really useful get-together of all the main players in the VCS across Nottinghamshire. Lots of good suggestions made. I asked about one of the suggestions, which was about the importance of maintaining the connections and flows of info across the VCS. My concern was that Budget cuts being made by the County Council in the VCS might weaken those links. But Cllr Bosnjak was clear that that area remains a priority for the Council.
Joe Blogs 