Agenda item

Report CS18197

The Board considered the updated Joint Bromley Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2018-22. 

The Joint Bromley Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2018-22 was a shared agreement between a range of key partners to support improved health and wellbeing for all people living and working in Bromley.  Following consideration of the draft Joint Strategic Needs Assessment 2017 at the meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board on 8^th February 2018, it had been agreed to undertake a review of the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy to inform the development of a new strategy.  This work had now been completed and the draft Joint Bromley Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2018-22 was recommended to the Health and Wellbeing Board for approval.  Additional work on Priority 7 – Adults with a Learning Disability had identified Bromley was performing significantly higher in this area than previously thought, and it was therefore recommended that Priority 7 be removed from the Joint Bromley Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2018-22.

In considering the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2018-22, Board Members discussed the proposed priority areas.  A Board Member supported the approach taken in the strategy, but underlined the need for further work where health and wellbeing trends in Bromley were out of step with regional or national trends.  Another Member stressed that the number of priority areas should be manageable to enable resources to be focused effectively.  The Member was concerned that Priority 6: Homelessness and Priority 9: Youth Violence duplicated work by other Portfolios.  In response to this, another Member noted that the strategy had been developed to identify gaps in existing provision relating to health and wellbeing and that there were no plans to duplicate work.  A Member highlighted that many key issues, such as violence against women and girls, were cross-cutting and it was important to take an holistic approach. 

A Member noted that the London Borough of Bromley had the third highest level of low-level depression in London and asked that the issue of depression be included in the strategy, perhaps within an existing priority area.  The Director: Public Health explained that mental health could be divided into two main levels of severity, and that whilst the level of severe mental health problems in Bromley had remained stable and therefore had not been flagged for inclusion in the strategy, there was potential to include more minor mental health problems within the strategy, with a specific focus on depression and anxiety.  The Member also underlined that issues affecting children and young people, such as substance misuse would become an issue for older age groups as children and young people transitioned to adult services and measures should be taken to plan for future service demands.  Following discussion, the Board generally agreed that Priority 5: Suicide Prevention be renamed ‘Adult Mental Health’ and include actions around suicide prevention as well as a specific commitment to undertake further scoping on adult mental health to identify any gaps in provision.  It was also agreed that Priority 4 – Dementia be retained as a separate priority as, in addition to being a mental health condition, dementia was a vascular disease causing a specific range of associated conditions that primarily affected older people.

The Vice-Chairman was concerned that inaccurate data relating to Priority 7 – Adults with a Learning Disability had been published in recent years and stressed the importance of ensuring data was accurate, particularly where it was made publically available.  The Director: Adult Social Care outlined the work undertaken to improve data quality processes.  The Managing Director: Bromley Clinical Commissioning Group further advised that the Local Authority and Bromley Clinical Commissioning Group were working closely together to scrutinise all performance measures and build confidence in published data.  The Managing Director: Bromley Clinical Commissioning Group observed that the Integrated Commissioning Board was working to develop a Joint Learning Disability Strategy that would have a significant impact on the health and wellbeing on people with a learning disability in Bromley.  The Board agreed to retain Priority 7 – Adults with a Learning Disability within the strategy.

In summing up, the Director: Public Health confirmed that there were well-established groups delivering the priorities within the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2018-22 and that it was not intended to duplicate this work, but to apply a health and wellbeing focus to add value to existing work.  It had been agreed to rename Priority 5: Adult Mental Health and include actions around suicide prevention and a specific commitment to undertake further scoping on adult mental health.  It had also been decided to retain Priority 7 – Adults with a Learning Disability as an area of focus.  The final Joint Bromley Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2018-22 would be circulated to the Board by e mail following the meeting for final endorsement.

RESOLVED that the requested amendments be made and that the final Joint Bromley Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2018-22 be circulated to the Board for agreement following the meeting.