Issue - meetings

The Board received a report and presentation from Natasha Moody on the Healthy Start work which is a priority for the Board.

The presentation provided an update on Children’s Health and how this work was contributing to the overarching Health and Wellbeing Board Strategy. The presentation noted that the Families Health and Wellbeing (0-19) service supported the ‘Health in early life’ priority.

It was noted that the following steps were being looked at, or were in place, to support infant mortality:

-      A whole system approach to Infant Mortality across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent

-      A commissioned ‘stop smoking in pregnancy’ service

-      A whole system approach to infant feeding (breastfeeding) across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent

-      Implementation of ICON campaign (prevention of abusive head trauma in babies) across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent

An update was provided on the ‘Good mental health’ priority, which included a commissioned Emotional Health and Wellbeing Service, and ongoing work with the ICS Children and Young People Mental Health System Improvement Board, for which several working groups had been developed looking at the following areas:

-      Access

-      Care Experienced Children and Young People

-      Capacity and Demand

-      Workforce

-      Prevention

-      Outcomes

-      Service Delivery / iThrive

Some of the additional work that the partnerships had undertaken included:

-      Kind Minds newsletter

-      Senior Mental Health Leads in education network meetings

-      Anna Freud School and College Links Programme (Jan-Mar 2022)

-      i-Thrive workshops

-      DfE Wellbeing for Education Return / Recovery project

Finally, the ‘Healthy Weight’ priority was discussed. A Family Weight Management Service had been commissioned and delivery of the Better Health Staffordshire programme which was being extended to three further districts.

The report provided an update on the current governance arrangements and asked the Board to review and agree a way forward regarding the effective governance reporting for this work.

The priority featured heavily across the partnership as the data for infant mortality was poor. Multiple boards regarding this as a priority, including: the Integrated Care System (ICS) Children and Young People’s Programme Board; the Families Strategic Partnership; and the Health and Wellbeing Board. Often this resulted in multiple reports being provided to multiple boards.

Current challenges faced centred around a lack of clarity about the different roles of the Integrated Care System and the Health and Wellbeing Board, and therefore the role and relationship between the boards on key priorities like this.

A business case regarding the development of a Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Infant Mortality Steering Group had already been presented at and endorsed by the ICS Children and Young People’s Programme Board and the Maternity & Neonatal Partnership Board (of the Maternity Transformation Programme). Clarity was therefore required on which board the steering group is accountable to.

It was agreed for the Chairs of the four Boards listed in the Governance Map to come together and discuss a way forward. The Board were supportive of this approach.

Resolved – The Board was asked to review the report and agree a way forward  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11