First meeting of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership Board

Posted on: 7 June 2019

Our Partnership Board met for the first time in public on Tuesday 4 June, 2019 at Leeds Civic Hall. The Partnership Board further strengthens joint working arrangements between all organisations involved, including the NHS, councils, care providers, Healthwatch, community and voluntary groups. Together, the Partnership improves health and care for the 2.6 million people living across the area.

Arriving for the first Partnership Board meeting

The Board is an important group for the Partnership, bringing elected members, non-executives and public lay members into the decision making process. Over 70 representatives make up the Board. You can view the list of members here.

Chaired by Cllr Tim Swift MBE, Leader of Calderdale Council and Chair of Calderdale Health and Wellbeing Board, the first meeting discussed the Board’s terms of reference; allocation of transformation funding and the development of the Partnership’s five year plan which will be published in winter. It also included an overview of our Partnership approach, as well as an update from Board members from the six places which make up West Yorkshire and Harrogate (Bradford District and Craven; Calderdale, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield). Propositions for future programmes of work around children, young people and families; and health inequalities were also outlined. A paper was also presented by Healthwatch on our approach to public questions at future meetings in public.

First things first: Helen Hunter, the Board’s Healthwatch representative, summarised the work carried out from our six Healthwatch colleagues in West Yorkshire and Harrogate regarding how public questions could be raised and responded to at our Partnership Board. The summary included good practice at Council and NHS meetings.  Add picture of Helen

It’s useful to note that this is not the only way that the Partnership does engagement – we want to keep that broad, diverse and appropriate to each decision we make. The paper was about public involvement in Partnership Board meetings. A lot of engagement takes place in our six local places (Bradford District and Craven; Calderdale, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield). You can view the latest engagement and consultation mapping document, published in March, here. This highlights work over the past few years. You can also find out more about West Yorkshire and Harrogate programme engagement work here.

The Partnership Board meeting was held at Leeds Civic HallThe Partnership Board is committed to transparency and accountability. We want to give people every opportunity to ask questions at our meetings.

The recommendations from the Healthwatch paper were agreed by Partnership Board members. This included allowing people to put forward questions before the meeting, and also in the meeting where they related to agenda items. We will post all questions and answers on our website within 10 days. 

Wherever possible we will ensure a person’s story, or details of engagement relating to the agenda item are included. It’s important that we review how these very helpful recommendations are working to make sure that we are meeting the needs of people wanting to ask questions and receive responses. We will review the approach at the Partnership Board meeting in public in March 2020.

Outside of the meeting, people may have questions that they would like to put forward to the Partnership and its members. We will respond to these also within 10 working days and where appropriate promote other opportunities to get involved with the work of the Partnership. There is more information on our website here about public involvement in our programmes of work.

Board members also received an update from Rob Webster, our CEO Partnership Lead on our Partnership approach which is all about supporting people locally. We only work at a West Yorkshire and Harrogate level where it passes three tests: it is a scale issue (for example specialist care from excellence centres, such as hospitals); sharing and spreading good practice and where it is a wicked issue - for example child obesity. All of our six local places have good practice examples. This is one area where the Partnership can add value by sharing and spreading learning. Our approach is set out in our publication ‘Next steps to better health and care for everyone’.

With this in mind we heard from various leaders in Bradford District and Craven (Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe); Calderdale (Robin Tuddenham and Dr Matt Walsh), Harrogate and Rural District (Amanda Bloor), Kirklees (Cllr Viv Kendrick), Leeds (Cllr Rebecca Charlwood) and Wakefield (Anna Hartley).  Each place described the work they are doing in place to join-up services and improve outcomes for people.  There were a number of strong themes that emerged including preventing ill health, tackling health inequalities, making best use of digital technology and working in partnership with communities and voluntary community organisations (VCS). 

Ian Holmes, Director for the Partnership introduced the agenda item to formally approve the Partnership’s memorandum of understanding (MoU). It was agreed that the VCS should have representation as a full member of the Board and that the role of co-opted members should be strengthened. With these additions in view the MoU was agreed by Board members.

Karen Poole (West Yorkshire and Harrogate Local Maternity System Programme Lead) and Sue Rumbold (Chief Officer, Children's Services Leeds) presented a paper on children, young people and families with a proposal to include it as a programme priority for West Yorkshire and Harrogate.  This will also align the Partnership more firmly to the NHS Long Term Plan ambitions.

Dr Ian Cameron, Director for Public Health, Leeds Council) discussed a proposition for improving health and tackling inequalities at a West Yorkshire and Harrogate level where there is added value.

It was agreed by the Board that there are opportunities to work with Department of Health and Social Care regarding mental health support in schools; palliative care; obesity and that a development board to agree priorities and work streams would be established. It’s important that priorities are agreed across the Partnership, including via local Health and Wellbeing Boards whilst ensuring the voice of the child is included throughout.

There is a strong commitment from partners to prioritise preventing ill health. Key to this is tackling variation across the area; and our workforce having the skills, capacity to take on prevention targets for example climate change, social growth, housing and health. Local economy and employment is key and it’s important we evaluate what difference we make together.

There is a strong connection to the two proposals presented. Both propositions were welcomed with the intention of more clarity around themes being brought back to the Partnership Board for wider discussion in September with clear metrics. The Board will then take a view on prioritisation of themes to improve health inequalities, reduce variation, and manage the money. It’s also important that we map out the good work taking place across the area, for example obesity. Other concerns raised included access to dentists.

Both propositions will be discussed with local Health and Wellbeing Boards – with a formal proposal being presented to the Board in September. Working locally with Health and Wellbeing Boards is essential.  The Partnership Board was asked to note the progress made in the development of the five year plan which will be published towards the end of the year.

The final item was a proposal to spend the £8.75 million transformation funding. Jonathan Webb, Finance Director for the Partnership introduced the paper which sets out the principles, approach and proposed prioritisation for Integrated Care System (ICS) transformation funding that will be allocated to the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership (also known as an ICS) in 2019/10.  This was an important discussion about public money and how we choose to prioritise. Further discussions will take place at Health and Wellbeing Boards across West Yorkshire and Harrogate to ensure involvement and engagement on future transformational funding moving forward. There was an agreement to prioritise funds to move forward the children and young people’s proposals. This will form part of the Health and Wellbeing Board discussions with feedback from our six local places and through the executive group in July. 

Councillor Tim SwiftCllr Swift said:

"Working alongside communities, the Partnership Board aims to give people the best start in life with support to stay healthy and live longer. Many factors determine whether someone leads a long and healthy life, including good housing, access to green space, and building an inclusive economy that creates more good jobs, reduces health inequalities and promotes opportunity for all. These important factors are at the heart of the Partnership and I’m looking forward to working alongside other Board members to ensure we discuss these issues fully whilst providing the best support possible for those we serve. This is a priority to us all and one I welcome."

View the Board’s papers, or watch a film recording of the meeting here. The next meeting in public will be on Tuesday 3 September 2019.

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