Agenda item

Daniel Flecknoe  - Public Health

Daniel Flecknoe from Public Health Team presented the public health report which included information on the local profile and also recommendations on public health. During the presentation the following points were noted:-

·         Covid 19 Update – there was a decline in reported case numbers locally and nationally and the Government was relaxing the legal framework for the pandemic response. There were reduced  hospitalisations strongly linked to the vaccination and the Omicron variant also appeared to cause less serious illness.

·         Community Board health profile – the indicators included in the profile within the agenda pack were important markers of the health and wellbeing of the local community. The profile highlighted areas where things were going well but also where improvements could be made to help inform priority setting for current local health and wellbeing needs. Strong communities would be a strong driver for recovery from the impact of the pandemic.

·         A diagram was shown about what influenced health eg ecosystems, lifestyle, community etc.

·         Structure of the profile included areas such as vulnerable groups, heath behaviours, long terms conditions etc

·         Impact of Covid -19 – this has had different impacts on communities which included factors such as older age, ethnic minority heritage, deprived areas, occupation and long term conditions which was associated with a greater risk of infection and a poorer clinical outcome.

·         This was a high level overview document which should sit alongside local health intelligence as local communities have better knowledge about their local area and more importantly assets which could be incorporated into the full picture of local needs and how they could be best met. Other Community Boards could be used as comparisons but it was important to also refer to the national England reference values where available for wider context. It was important to note that there were disparities in every area.

·         The recommendations were outlined in the agenda pack but in summary were to prevent diabetes, heart disease and stroke, support residents to stop smoking and improving mental health, tackling social isolation and reducing stigma. Different interventions could be more or less effective in different parts of the area eg projects to tackle isolation should be targeted based on local knowledge.

During discussion the following points were noted:-

·         In relation to community led isolation projects examples were sought. Daniel Flecknoe referred the Board to the recommendations where projects had been suggested for consideration which could include school based interventions, activities to reduce isolation for older people and mental health first aider training. If anyone was interested in these projects Daniel Flecknoe could provide officer contact details to pursue these further. A comment was made that Simply Walk was an ideal activity for this. Daniel Flecknoe concurred with this and said that this activity cut across all the public health recommendations.

·         Reference was made to the statistic that 30% of young people were overweight or obese. Daniel Flecknoe reported that this was an important area to address sensitively starting through school based activities. The Chairman suggested that this would be a good area to focus on from the Board’s perspective.

·         Concern was raised about services around mental health and the availability of provision in Buckinghamshire. Daniel Flecknoe referred to parity of esteem and the importance of giving equal focus to physical and mental health. Most of the programmes put forward were aiming to prevent the need for significant intervention later. Particularly for children and young people there were a backlog for acute cases which required the services of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. CAMHS were taking action to address this backlog which related to capacity and demand for services. There was still a stigma around having mental health problems which also needed to be addressed, particularly for young boys. As a Board they could take a proactive stance on this by leading a positive conversation about mental health and there were excellent communication resources which the Council could help provide. A contact would be provided.

·         A representative from Lindengate commented that they provided services to help people’s wellbeing, with emphasis on wellbeing rather than mental health needs. This had made a significance difference to the number of people who engaged with their service and there was also additional capacity available for anyone else who was interested. They had undertaken a project in the past year with the NHS which focused on building resilience and maintaining wellbeing. Work also had been carried out with under 25 year olds including working with the John Colet School. One of the issues they had faced was that sometimes those young people who required the most support were not able to obtain permission from their parents to utilise services. A way of bringing in young people in the first instance was through volunteering where they could also benefit from the service provided. A strategic approach to managing the journey to better mental health was key including the need to self-refer and help people from the beginning and the need to maintain wellbeing through their journey.

·         The Active Communities Officer Natalie Judson referred to the campaign Making Every Contact Count where the Council worked with the health service to provide a free one hour session to give people skills to have a healthy conversation so people could make positive changes to their physical health and wellbeing which was available to everyone. There were monthly sessions and the next one was being held on Tuesday at 1pm. The Active Communities Officer could share the meeting link to those interested.

Daniel Flecknoe thanked everyone for their comments and welcomed the proactive approach to public health. His email address was Daniel.flecknoe@buckinghamshire.gov.uk If anyone wished to contact him. The Board thanked him for his informative presentation.