Agenda and minutes

Venue: David Hicks 1 - Civic Offices, Shute End, Wokingham RG40 1BN

Contact: Madeleine Shopland  Democratic & Electoral Services Specialist

Media

Items
No. Item

12.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were submitted from Sarah Deason, Graham Ebers, Nick Fellows, Charles Margetts, Steve Moore and Matt Pope.

13.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 230 KB

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 9 June 2022.

 

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 9 June 2022 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

14.

Declaration of Interest

To receive any declarations of interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

15.

Public Question Time

To answer any public questions

 

A period of 30 minutes will be allowed for members of the public to ask questions submitted under notice.

 

The Council welcomes questions from members of the public about the work of this Board.

 

Subject to meeting certain timescales, questions can relate to general issues concerned with the work of the Board or an item which is on the Agenda for this meeting.  For full details of the procedure for submitting questions please contact the Democratic Services Section on the numbers given below or go to www.wokingham.gov.uk/publicquestions

Minutes:

There were no public questions.

16.

Member Question Time

To answer any member questions

Minutes:

There were no Member questions.

17.

Annual Report from the Director of Public Health pdf icon PDF 130 KB

To receive the Annual Report from the Director of Public Health.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board considered the Berkshire Public Health Annual Report for 2021/22. The report had been co-authored by Tracy Daszkiewicz (Director of Public Health, Berkshire West) and Stuart Lines (Director of Public Health, Berkshire East). The Annual Report was titled “Helping tackle climate change, one meal at a time”. The report’s broad focus was on the impact of diet on individual health, susceptibility to various diseases and the health of the planet.

 

During the discussion of this item, the following points were made:

 

·           The Annual Report was an informative, well-produced document. It could be used as a building block for conversations about the importance of food and diet across a range of services and networks.

 

·           The potential impact of producing food on mental health was highlighted. There were many examples across the country, e.g. the work of the Shaw Trust, use of allotments, people with large gardens allowing access for people with disabilities and farms developing programmes for primary school children.

 

·           The report highlighted issues around obesity and the number of families who lacked guidance on how to prepare fresh food and healthy meals, which were frequently cheaper than processed meals. There were a number of ongoing initiatives on this issue including work with schools to deliver programmes during school holidays.

 

·           Could a list of schools with mini-allotments be developed and used as a starting point to ensure that as many schools as possible were adopting this initiative, with support from partner agencies?

 

RESOLVED: That the Berkshire Public Health Annual Report for 2021/22 be noted and shared with networks.

18.

Suicide Prevention Strategy pdf icon PDF 72 KB

To receive an update on the Suicide Prevention Strategy.

Minutes:

The Board considered an update on the development of a Suicide Prevention Strategy. A strategy had been drafted initially in October 2021, but had not been presented to the Board ahead of the review of DPH carried out in January 2022. Since the first version was drafted, new data profiles had become available and there was a new policy landscape resulting in the need for a review of the existing strategy. The review would include a Suicide Prevention Summit, proposed for late autumn of 2022, which would achieve wider partner engagement.

 

During the discussion of this item, the following points were made:

 

·           The proposed review was welcomed – there was evidence of more young people presenting with suicidal thoughts.

 

·           In relation to dignity in dying, the updated strategy needed to include a clear definition of suicide.

 

·           It was important that mental health services were involved in the review – their experiences could provide important learning points for the review.

 

·           At present, data on the number of suicides in the Borough was patchy – could the review seek to develop a clearer picture of the situation? It was confirmed that this would be part of the review.

 

·           On a similar point – could the review provide greater clarity on the number of people who committed suicide due to old age/serious health conditions? It was confirmed that this data could be sought from the Coroners service. However, it would need to be treated sensitively and anonymised as necessary.

 

·           Would the impact of the cost of living crisis be included in the review? It was confirmed that the review would look at the causes and triggers of suicide for different age groups. It would also look at ways in which partner organisations could develop/improve suicide prevention mechanisms.

 

RESOLVED That:

 

1)     the Suicide Prevention Strategy by updated;

 

2)     the Suicide Prevention Partnership arrange a summit for autumn 2022, to launch a full consultation process into Suicide Prevention to further inform the Strategy refresh.

19.

Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment

To consider the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board considered the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) for the Borough. The Board had responsibility for developing the PNA, involving a public consultation exercise prior to its publication. The draft PNA had been considered by the Board in June 2022 and approved for the statutory 60 day consultation, ending on 9 August 2022. The final draft was now submitted to the Board for approval.

 

The Board also received a presentation setting out a summary of the consultation responses and a summary of changes made to the previous PNA draft. The presentation also highlighted the proposed Public Health Actions linked to the PNA, viz:

 

·           Map current service provision and run a communication campaign to raise awareness of pharmacy provision as part of winter preparedness;

 

·           Strengthen existing partnership with LPC/Local Pharmacy to support targeted health promotion and service commissioning activities;

 

·           Formalise democratic process regarding notification of changes to Pharmacy Opening Hours and other related changes.

 

During the discussion of this item, the following points were made:

 

·           Whilst the proposed Public Health actions were welcomed, there were concerns about the uneven level of service provided by pharmacies across the Borough, i.e. the range of services provided and the timeliness of service delivery.

 

·           Tracy Daszkiewicz confirmed that she had started to attend meetings of the Local Pharmaceutical Committee in order to discuss how Public Health services and advice could be delivered through local pharmacies. These discussions were ongoing and it was hoped to develop a more constructive working relationship going forwards.

 

·           Debbie Milligan commented that, as pharmacies were independent, it was difficult to achieve a consistent approach across the Borough. There were also issues around pharmacies having to close at short notice due to staff sickness.

 

·           Prue Bray suggested that a further update be submitted to the Board in six months’ time.

 

RESOLVED That:

 

1)     the final version and conclusions of the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment for Wokingham, be noted;

 

2)     publication of the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment on 1 October 2022, in line with the statutory requirement, be approved;

 

3)     the Board receive an update on the Public Health actions arising out of the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment in six months’ time.

 

 

20.

Forward Programme pdf icon PDF 135 KB

To consider the Board’s work programme for the remainder of the municipal year.

Minutes:

The Board discussed the forward programme for the remainder of the Municipal Year, as follows:

 

·           It was suggested that the Suicide Prevention Strategy by deleted from the October meeting, to be discussed at the December meeting.

 

·           The responsible officer for the Designing Our Neighbourhoods item (October) was Lewis Williams.

 

·           Sarah Webster to be invited to attend the October meeting.

 

·           It was suggested that the Covid Autumn Plan be submitted to the October meeting with an update on Covid to the December meeting.

 

·           Item on Children in Care CAMHs Update to the December meeting.

 

·           Item on GP Performance to the February 2023 meeting.

 

RESOLVED: That the Forward Programme be updated to reflect the points set out above.