Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Civic Offices, Shute End, Wokingham RG40 1BN. View directions

Contact: Madeleine Shopland  Democratic & Electoral Services Specialist

Media

Items
No. Item

53.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence

Minutes:

An apology for absence was submitted from Carl Doran.

 

Jenny Cheng attended the meeting virtually.

54.

Declaration of Interest

To receive any declarations of interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest received.

 

55.

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 committee.

 

Subject to meeting certain timescales, questions can relate to general issues concerned with the work of the Committee 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.

 

56.

Member Question Time

To answer any member questions

Minutes:

There were no Member questions.

 

57.

Berkshire West - Winter Communications Plan pdf icon PDF 691 KB

To receive a presentation on the Berkshire West – Winter Communications Plan.

Minutes:

Niall Norbury, Campaigns and Marketing Manager, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust provided an update on the Berkshire West Winter Communication Plan.  The presentation focused on what had been delivered in the campaign.

 

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

 

·        When developing the Plan, a huge variety of groups had been consulted including different departments within the Trust, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, South Central Ambulance Service, the Berkshire West Healthwatches, Pharmacy Thames Valley and the local authorities. 

·        The Plan had 3 key messages:

Ø  Be prepared – reducing unnecessary pressure on the health system. The message focused on ensuring that people had stocked up medicine cabinets, were able to have conversations regarding mental health so that they did not become too isolated, and caring for vulnerable friends and family.

Ø  Choose the right service – ensuring that people knew which service to contact, making proper use of NHS 111, understanding the difference between urgent and emergency.

Ø  See your GP differently – decreasing some public dissatisfaction around changes in primary care, particularly by highlighting the different roles that existed.  Also, highlighting the benefits of alternatives to face to face appointments.

·        Niall Norbury outlined what the campaign had delivered.

·        A website had been built within the current Trust’s website which contained a lot of resources such as what you should have stocked in your medicine cabinet, and how to refer yourself to Talking Therapies, different roles in the GP surgeries, and where the Minor Injury Units were located.

·        Bus campaign – this had been the first time that this had been run.  The campaign was run in conjunction with Reading Buses, on 30 buses covering across Wokingham, West Berkshire, and Reading.  This was particularly effective in reaching those who may not be reached via other means.

·        Printed materials – Banners and leaflets across the sites and GP practices.

·        Digital graphics – for use across social media, email signatures, website banners, digital screens, and other locations.  Over 30 different graphics had been produced.

·        Videos – 15 different videos on various topics.

·        Social media – Content had been added to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, NextDoor and Tik Tok.  NextDoor had not been used before and had proved a good way of reaching the community.  Paid campaigns had also been run ahead of Christmas to encourage prescription refilling.

·        Events – a number of public facing events had been run including a live online Q&A targeted at Wokingham parents on managing common childhood illnesses.  This had been very successful.

·        Press and media – Coverage in Berkshire Live, Reading Chronicle, Wokingham Today and BBC Radio Berkshire.  Not as much coverage as had been hoped for had been secured.

·        Partner communications – working closely with the Communications Teams from partners such as the local authorities, PCN’s, CCG and Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, to cascade key messages.

·        A lot of data was still being collated.  Focus Groups would be held next week to delve more into the information. 

·        Social media was easier  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.

58.

Maternity Services

To receive an update on maternity services offered by the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust.

Minutes:

The Committee received an update on maternity services provided by the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, from Gill Valentine, Director of Midwifery, and Sarah Philip, Lead Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust.

 

·       In October 2020 Healthwatch had produced a report on Experiences of Perinatal Mental Health Support in Wokingham Borough.  During the first wave of the pandemic there had been a lot of changes to maternity services and choices and access to services had been reduced.

·       The report had been divided into three sections.

·       The first section related to Care during pregnancy – choice and further support.  Some women had felt that they had not received a choice around antenatal care, and had been steered into a particular course of action, which had had a negative impact on their perinatal mental health as a result.

·       Women were provided with a choice of Antenatal care provider (RBH, Frimley or other.  Midwife or consultant led care).  There were some criteria where it would be suggested that women have consultant care.  Women were offered a choice of where they had their baby (hospital, Midwifery Led Unit, or a homebirth.  During the first wave of the pandemic the Midwifery Led Unit had been suspended as a choice because all staff had been moved to the delivery suite to cope with the anticipated increase in mothers with Covid who were in labour.

·       Women could be referred to a consultant midwife if they wanted to have more individualised plans for care, particularly if they had a complex pregnancy previously.

·       Personalised care planning was offered from the first antenatal appointment through to postnatal care, to try to individualise the care offered as much as possible. 

·       The second section of the report looked at birth experiences.  Where women had not had the experience that they had wanted or expected, this had sometimes impacted negatively on their perinatal health.

·       A Birth Reflection Service had been implemented in 2020 after a successful 12-month pilot.  Women could be referred, or self-refer to the service, and could talk about their birth experiences and how it made them feel.  As part of the service, a screen was carried out for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  The Team worked closely with the Berkshire Birth Trauma Service to ensure that appropriate referrals were made.  There was high demand for the Birth Reflection Service and feedback had been very positive.

·       Themes sometimes emerged from the Birth Reflection Service which were fed back to the Intrapartum Strategy Group where service improvements were discussed and agreed.  The Group worked with the Maternity Voices Partnership and other users. 

·       The third section of the report focused on Postnatal care and infant feeding.  Lots of feedback had been received regarding post-natal care particularly hospital based.  There was a focus on making improvements in this area.  Initially during the pandemic no visiting was allowed and then it had been very restricted meaning that women had not been able to have partners with them, or later, on a time restricted basis, which  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

59.

Health Integration pdf icon PDF 522 KB

To receive a presentation on health integration.

Minutes:

Martin Sloan, Assistant Director Adult Social Care Transformation, and Integration provided a presentation on health integration.

 

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

 

·       Wokingham Integrated Partnership (WIP) was one of the partnerships that fed through to the Wellbeing Board.  The Board had recently signed off a new Wellbeing Strategy which influenced a lot of the partnership’s work.

·       Members were reminded that WIP focused more on Adult Services and that there was a separate Board which focused on Children and young people.

·       Since the last update to the Committee, there were now 5 Primary Care Networks and Voluntary Sector representation had increased.

·       Each year the WIP agreed a work programme for the year in March/April.  It was submitted to NHS England for approval.   This year there had been 6 key priority areas:

Ø  Mental health and social inclusion;

Ø  Deconditioning/rehab/physical activity

Ø  Frailty monitoring;

Ø  Inequality and poverty;

Ø  Social prescription (including data and IT to support integrative work);

Ø  Better Care Fund monitoring and administration.

·       These priorities had fed into 19 projects to support the partnership to integrate.

·       The Integration Board looked at all the schemes in December and determined whether they should be continued, or the funds directed elsewhere.

·       Mental Health and Inclusion -

Ø  Implement MIND service and establish Mental Health Alliance

v the MIND service was now nearly at capacity. 

v Quarterly Mental Health Alliance meetings were now taking place to support the system to work together on mental health, and patients were reporting good outcomes.

Ø  Implement Friendship Alliance Phase 2 (including Look to increase Digital Inclusion for the most vulnerable in the community).  There were 4 key organisations involved in the Friendship Alliance; Involve, Age UK, LINK visiting scheme and Wokingham Volunteer Centre -

v Friendship Month had been a massive success with over 300 residents attending over 30 events, including Friendship Cafes.

v Digital Devices had been issued to over 45 elderly people and their families.  A mid-year review had resulted in a further 25 devices being made available.

·       Deconditioning/rehab/physical activity

Ø  Reablement Review/Implementation

v Members were informed of the Surrey Model, which ensured a greater focus on domiciliary care.

Ø  Moving with confidence – Sport and Leisure staff went into people’s homes to help those who had become deconditioned following the pandemic, to provide a 1-2-1 service to help to get them more active again. 

Ø  Leg Ulcer pilot – working with Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust which had set up group clinics for leg ulcers.  There had been a soft launch in November, and it had officially launched in January.  Initial feedback was very positive.

Ø  Reducing Hospital Pressure with Bed Based Services

v Work had focused on the Oak Wing and there had been an increase in performance.

v Some beds were also being used in Wokingham hospital for reablement.

·       Frailty monitoring

Ø  Social Work Liaison Implementation-

v Additional social workers had been appointed and assigned to two Primary Care Networks.  A work plan had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.