Agenda and minutes

The apologies of Councillor P Baillie, Councillor Kenny, Councillor Winning, Natalie Johnson, Rob Kurn, Dr Sarah Young, Clare Edgar, Robin Poole and Paul Grundy were noted.

The Board noted that Rob Kurn had arranged for Suki Sitaram, Chair of Healthwatch; and that Paul Grundy had arranged for Dr Trevor Smith to attend the meeting as their representatives for the purposes of this meeting.

The Board also noted that Dr Hannah Burgess was no longer in post and therefore there was a vacancy for a mental health services representative on the Board.

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 13 September 2023 and to deal with any matters arising, attached.

RESOLVED: that the minutes for the Panel meeting on 13 September 2023 be approved and signed as a correct record.

Report of the Director of Public Health detailing the importance of good work and fair employment for individual and population health

The Board considered the Annual Director of Public Health Report 2022-23 which detailed the importance of good work and fair employment for individual and population health.

The Board noted that the reports focus on workplace health and wellbeing and good work aligned with the Southampton Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy (2017-2025) and the Health In All Polices approach as approved by Council and set out in the Southampton City Council Corporate Plan 2022-30

The Board noted that the health foundation had set out targets that could be utilised to help measure progress on the recommendations from the report.

The Board noted that the number of young people in Southampton who were Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) were higher than average and the factors that affected this would be the number of children who were in care or had Special Educational Needs and Disability or involved in youth offending behaviour.

The Board noted that positive action had been achieved across the recommendations made in the Annual Director of Public Health Report from 2022.

RESOLVED:that Board members would consider how the report’s recommendations can be implemented in their respective organisation as Anchor Institutions and key employers in the city.

The Board received and noted the Health Protection Annual Report which provided assurance on behalf of the Director of Public Health and the Health and Wellbeing Board in respect of deliver of the local health protection function in Southampton

The Board noted that the Health Protection Board was a key mechanism for facilitating partnership working.  The Health Protection Board had captured learning from the COVID response and found that partnership working in Southampton was particularly strong and the quality of communications regarding rapid changes in national or regional strategy was one of the biggest challenges for the delivery of the local response to the pandemic.  Southampton City Council’s Health Protection Team had supported numerous incidents, situations and enquiries over the last twelve months including the COVID enquiry.  The Board noted that the Southampton Health Protection Dashboard was very useful.

Report of the Cabinet Member Adults, Health & Housing providing an update on the Southampton Health and Wellbeing Strategy indicators and the most recent year’s work programme of the JSNA.

The Board considered the report of the Cabinet Member Adults, Health and Housing which provided an update on the Southampton Health and Wellbeing Strategy (HWBS) indicators and the most recent year’s work programme of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA).

Vicky Toomey, Senior Strategic Intelligence Analyst. Intelligence, Innovation & Change, Southampton City Council; was present and with the consent of the Chair addressed the Board.

The Board noted that the 2021 Census data was published this year which has helped to provide up-to-date information on the city population, although it was noted that the Covid pandemic may have skewed the data on home carers and there was less data on the student population as the Census was taken when students had returned home for the Easter break.

The Board also noted that outcomes achieved to date included the development of the Tobacco, Alcohol and Drug Strategy; the smoke free and vaping strategy and a mental health strategy is planned to be published in 2024.

The Board noted that monitoring and analysis of the HWBS and the JSNA would be utilised to identify new priorities for the next strategy when the current strategy term ends in 2025.  It was also  noted that oral health was a priority issue for Healthwatch however, dentistry had not been included in the strategy due to the challenges of obtaining data on this issue.

RESOLVED: that consideration would be given to the availability of data on dentistry and oral health in the city and the inclusion of this topic in the JSNA and consideration for inclusion in the next HWBS strategy