Agenda and minutes

Cllr Mary Lanigan / Cllr Dorothy Davison

Councillor Lanigan welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Live Well South Tees Board.

Cllr Mary Lanigan / Cllr Dorothy Davison

There were no declarations of interest received at this point in the meeting.

Cllr Mary Lanigan / Cllr Dorothy Davison

The minutes of the Live Well South Tees Board meeting held on 3 September 2020 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

 

The Board received a presentation from the Director of Public Health South Tees on Addressing Inequalities.

 

The presentation provided the definition of Health Inequalities:

 

●     Health Inequalities are unfair and avoidable differences in health across the population, and between different groups within society. Health inequalities arise because of the conditions in which we are born, grow, live, work and age.

●     Health Inequalities result in poor health being experienced from a younger age, at a higher intensity for a greater proportion of life and ultimately in premature death.

●     The factors influencing health inequality and the dimensions of inequality are complex

 

The Board heard of the overlapping dimensions of health inequalities:

 

Socioeconomic groups and Deprivation

 

●     Unemployed, low income, deprived areas

 

Protected characteristics in the Equality Duty

 

●     Age, sex, religion, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy and meternity

 

Inclusion health and vulnerable groups

 

●     Homeless people, Gypsy, Roma and Travellers, sex workers, vulnerable migrants and people who leave prison

 

 

 

 

Geography

 

●     Urban and rural

 

The North East Context

 

The North East is a great place to live and work with many positive assets conducive to good health and wellbeing. However there are stark differences for those living in the most deprived areas compared to the more affluent areas.

 

Inequalities within boroughs e.g within Middleborough smoking in pregnancy varies at ward level between 1 and 35% following significant recent improvements in pathways and support the gap persists.  Patterns of inequality can be locked in at an early age and follow in individual throughout their life impacting on longer term life expectancy. Under 15s admissions for injury varies between 119-247/100,000 compared with 110/100000 for England - context 30% of children living in poverty.

 

It was advised that key contributors to the gap in length and quality of life included deaths caused by heart disease, stroke, and cancers which made up half of the gap in life expectancy between the most and least deprived quantiles in England.

 

The Director of Public Health stated that the COVID-19 infection and illness does not affect all population groups equally:

 

●     Mortality - People aged 80 or older with COVID-19 were seventy times more likely to die than those under 40. Being male, living in a deprived area and being a member of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups are factors independently associated with a higher risk of dying from COVID-19. As were conditions such as diabetes and obesity which are also unevenly spread.

●     Transmission - people in lower paid work are more likely to be unable to work from home (care work, hospitality, cleaning and transport) and/or to be socially distanced in their work, those from lower incomes groups are more likely to live in overcrowded housing and may have limited access to outdoor space
Indirect harm - the burden of lockdown measures falls hardest on those with poor living conditions, educational impacts unevenly spread with many facing barriers in accessing education remotely due to issues such as access to technology and home environments conducive to learning and financial impact of furlough, job loss  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20/10

The Board received an update from the Director of Public Health for South Tees on Covid.  The Board heard that the rates of Covid infection across Redcar and Cleveland had flattened and had dropped dramatically from around 500 cases per 100,000 to around 140 cases per 100,000 however the rate of decrease has flattened.  In Middlesbrough cases are starting to increase which is driven largely by 25-34 year olds which is a concern that it escalates through to older age groups and can have an impact on the hospitals.   The Board was advised that activity within the hospitals had reduced and was flattening.  It had reduced from 20-25 new cases per day to around 10 people who had been admitted to hospital with Covid or diagnosed in the hospital.   It is significantly lower than what it was but is still providing pressure on the NHS.  It was advised that there is 10-11 people in the Intensive Care Unit at James Cook Hospital.

 

The Board heard that the rates had fallen very rapidly but unfortunately they had not fallen far enough from the perspective of the Director of Public Health for the easing of restrictions over the Christmas period when more families will be mixing and staying overnight which could amplify the spread of the virus and there is concern that we could see a rate of increase to that of before the national lockdown which was around 500 cases per 100,000.  It was advised that January is a busy period for the NHS and the impact of the easing of restrictions over the 5 day Christmas period will be critical.

 

It was advised that work is being undertaken on Communications and amplifying the messages of the national communication around Covid to ensure that people enjoy Christmas as safely as possible.  There is a pilot community led testing taking place in Grangetown running until 18 December to see what the demand for testing is.  The pilot will test asymptomatic residents using the lateral airflow tests and will determine what communities think of this testing.

 

Both Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland all looking at opening up a larger testing regime around mid-January which will give both local authorities time to plan and allow for learning from other areas that have carried out mass testing as the financial modelling relies on numbers tested for the income that would be received to support the costs.

 

The Board also heard that both local authorities had signed up to the local tracing partnership which will look at contacting residents that the national scheme has been unable to contact this went live on 9 December 2020 and both local authorities a part of a pilot to get those cases sooner than 32 hours and get access to them immediately which will have an impact as residents will be informed of support that is available to them.  There is a drive between Christmas and New Year to have as many contract tracers in place as possible in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20/11

The Health and Wellbeing Executive Chair's Report was presented by Kathryn Warnock, South Tees Integration Programme Manager and the following points were highlighted:

 

●     The Better Care Fund will continue into 21/22 up to March 2022 at a Health and Wellbeing Board level.  A policy framework is expected in the New Year.  An update will be provided to the Live Well South Tees Board on the policy framework and the programme for the future.

●     Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment normally the Live Well South Tees Board would be updated on a new Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment but due to Covid the requirement to publish a renewed Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment has been delayed to April 2022.  Updates will be provided to the Board where necessary.

●     Healthwatch South Tees provided a summary of their engagements that has taken place throughout the Covid Pandemic which is detailed in the report for information.

●     Progress against priorities - at the last meeting of the Live Well South Tees Board a presentation was provided on Predictions for Post Lockdown Increase In Demand for Mental Health Services Across System Partners it was advised that Dominic Gardener and colleagues had worked on a action plan and that the strategic oversight for this approach is aligned to the Mental Health Prevention and Crisis Concordat group reporting regularly to the Live Well South Tees Board.

●     Funding opportunities, Green Space Social Prescribing bid outcome to be announced shortly and the bid to the Kings Fund Healthy Communities Programme was unsuccessful, however there is a commitment across the Health and Wellbeing Executive and Stakeholders to continue the work and look for alternative funding sources.