Agenda item

The Board considered an oral report and PowerPoint presentation (slides attached at Appendix A to the signed minutes) of the County Council’s Director of Health and Care updating them on progress with regard to the preparation of a refreshed Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA).

The report and accompanying slides were presented by the County Council’s Interim Assistant Director for Public Health and Prevention (Claire McIver).

The JSNA sought to assess the current and future health, care and wellbeing needs of the local population so as to inform local decision making by Partners. At their meetings in December 2020 and March 2021 the Board agreed to:- (i) define and focus on various key post pandemic issues; (ii) consider the role of wider determinants of health and; (iii) identify opportunities for greater collaboration between Partners with a view to tacking health inequalities. The new JSNA was to describe local needs and assets in the wake of the pandemic and make recommendations for priorities for inclusion into a new Joint Health and Wellbeing Board Strategy.

During her presentation the Assistant Director highlighted:- (i) key components of the new Assessment; (ii) Positive (health related) Outcomes (identified in the local community); (iii) Strengths and Innovation (which had taken place to address the needs of the local population); (iv) Community Assets (available to support the local community) Overview; (v) Overview of Key Issues and Trends (which had been identified); (vi) Key Messages (arising from (v) and; (vii) Covid Impact on (health related) Outcomes (both nationally and locally). She also stressed that many of the expected consequences of the pandemic were not reflected in the data currently available owing to the inevitable time lag between observation and recording. These attributes might not be present in the statistics for several years to come. Therefore, efforts would be made to fill any gaps identified with alternative sources of insight.

Continuing, the Assistant Director drew the Board’s attention to the following key issues which required their attention:- (i) how should they ensure the Assessment was both joint and strategic; (ii) was there anything currently absent from the Assessment which should be included; (iii) could Partners contribute any additional datasets/intelligence to strengthen the Assessment and make it more meaningful/holistic and; (iv) what measures needed to be implemented to address identified priorities.

During the full and wide-ranging discussion which ensued Members expressed their support for the proposed approach to the new JSNA, as set out in the presentation. However, they debated the balance required between data and Partner intelligence having regard to the previous comments by the Assistant Director. Members also highlighted the potential contribution predictive data and public consultation could make in ensuring the Assessment was both forward thinking and comprehensive. With regard to local health inequalities, the Assistant Director re-assured them that ‘hot spot’ mapping would be incorporated into the draft document.                      

RESOLVED – (a) That the report and presentation be received and noted.

(b) That Partners commit to sharing all relevant data/intelligence required to inform the refreshed Joint Strategic Needs Assessment.

(c) That Partners submit their comments on the draft refreshed Joint Strategic Needs Assessment to be circulated prior to the next meeting of the Board with a view to the finalised version being brought to their meeting in December 2021 for sign-off.