Minutes:
The Board received a presentation from Matthew Eady, Regional Manager (Bromley and South), Helena Taylor, London Regional Manager: Child Weight Management and Prevention Services, Debra Weekes, Mytime Partnerships Manager and Ann Wilbourn, Primetime Manager, Mytime Active on health and wellbeing initiatives being delivered by Mytime Active.
Mytime Active was a social enterprise that aimed to improve people’s wellbeing, regardless of their stage of life. Mytime Active offered a wide range of provision across the Borough including fitness and leisure activities as well as breakfast and after school clubs, and had established a Wellbeing Hub at the Spa Leisure Centre that aimed to support people of all ages and fitness levels to improve their wellbeing through becoming more active, eating healthily, developing a more positive approach to life and socialising with others. Key initiatives included Primetime which was a scheme supporting older people to become more active and participate in social events. A number of programmes were available to children and young people including swimming, soft play and the London Youth Games, and programmes to promote healthy lifestyles were also available to children and young people and their parents. Targeted initiatives available to specific groups of young people included sports and music programmes delivered via MyFuture, Arts Train and Bromley Y, and a free leisure offer and training and apprenticeship programme for children looked after.
The Portfolio Holder for Children, Education and Families was pleased to note the variety of universal and targeted Mytime Active programmes available to children and young people, and emphasised the close working links between the Local Authority and Mytime Active, which included representation on the Local Authority’s Corporate Parenting Board.
In response to a question from the Chairman regarding Mytime Active’s work in reducing social isolation, the Primetime Manager advised the Board that the Primetime scheme was promoted as widely as possible to encourage more older people to become involved including via the volunteers programme, advertising at community events and presentations to residents’ associations and other community groups. A Board Member reported that the Bromley Safeguarding Adults Board had identified older men as being more vulnerable to social isolation and was developing a project to address this vulnerability. The Regional Manager (Bromley and South) confirmed that Mytime Active undertook a range of work with older men including a nationally recognised programme encouraging older men to participate in golf, and would be pleased to link in with this project. A Board Member announced that as part of Jo Cox’s legacy, a £20M fund had been made available to charities and community groups to support groups to understand the impact of their work and share best practice about how to prevent loneliness. Charities would be able to apply for a grant from the Building Connections Fund until the end of December 2020, and this represented an opportunity for Bromley-based charities and community groups to undertake further work to address social isolation in the Borough.
In response to a question from a Member, the Regional Manager (Bromley and South) advised that the Mind, Exercise, Nutrition… Do it! (MEND) obesity prevention and treatment programme for children and young people delivered in schools by Mytime Active took a whole-school approach that involved every child, and that individual children and young people identified as needing additional support were referred to appropriate support services. Mytime Active also undertook workforce training in relation to the Healthy Lifestyles Programmes that was primarily targeted at staff working with children and families but could be expanded to Local Authority staff if appropriate. The Regional Manager (Bromley and South) confirmed that work was underway to identify sustainable funding models for Mytime Active’s Healthy Lifestyles Programmes in the longer term, which could include the use of Pupil Premium funding.
Several Members commented that Mytime Active’s programmes offered a preventative service that reduced pressures on health and social care services, and asked that the activities offered by Mytime Active be optimally communicated to residents.
Action Point: The Communications Executive to review how the activities of Mytime Active were highlighted to residents and provide an update to the next meeting of Health and Wellbeing Board on 27th September 2018 on the actions taken.
The Chairman led Board Members in thanking Matthew Eady, Helena Taylor, Debra Weekes, and Ann Wilbourn for their excellent presentation which is attached at Appendix A.
RESOLVED that the presentation be noted.