Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the Health Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 10 July 2023 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

The Scrutiny Panel will receive information on the vision and key messages of the You’ve Got This programme, an overview of the community-focused work undertaken in Middlesbrough and details of how the programme aims to contribute to the broader ambitions of South Tees.

The Programme Director and the Programme Officer were in attendance to provide the scrutiny panel with information on the vision and key messages of the You’ve Got This programme, an overview of the community-focused work undertaken in Middlesbrough and details of how the programme aimed to contribute to the broader ambitions of South Tees.

The Programme Director provided the information detailed below:

·        The local You’ve Got This programme was one of twelve Sport England place partnerships, which explored innovative ways of enabling inactive people to become more active and increase population level of physical activity.

·        The local You’ve Got This programme was initially established in 2018.

·        The aim of the programme was to explore experimental approaches to achieving population level change by focusing on those individuals who were the least physically active.

·        The programme had a strong focus on applying insight (information gathered from partners and communities) and learning.

·        Learning from the place partnerships was central to Sport England’s new 10 year strategy, “Uniting the Movement”.

·        Locally, the programme formed part of Public Health South Tees, working through a wide collective partnership of organisations.

·        The programme supported residents of Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland.

·        You’ve Got This co-led one of Public Health’s five programme themes, the Health Environments Programme.

·        The vision for the You’ve Got This programme was Active Lives as a Way of Life.

·        A whole-system approach was taken, by the programme, to tackle inactivity.

·        The programme recognised that tackling inactivity was much more than individual changes, it required action to be built into all levels of the system.

·        The programme adopted a Test and Learn approach by focusing on gathering insight and learning, being open and honest about what approaches had and had not worked and exploring the “how” and “why”, not just the “what”.

·        The programme adopted Distributed Leadership, which recognised that to achieve positive outcomes, leadership and buy-in at all levels of the system was required.

·        The programme recognised that not one person or group of people was able to achieve population level change.

·        Collaboration was key and You’ve Got This involved working in partnership with over 70 organisations working together to address inactivity.

·        In developing the partnership approach, a common purpose had been established to increase physical activity.

·        Sport England encouraged the programme to develop and explore new ways of working.

·        In achieving population level change through a whole-system approach, the programme explored the following factors:

o   Individual - attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, needs and behaviour

o   Social environment - relationships, families, support groups and social networks

o   Organisations and institutions - schools, healthcare, businesses, faith groups, charities and clubs

o   Physical environment - built, natural and transport links

o   Policy - laws, rules, regulations and codes

o   Wider determinants - socio-economic considerations, poverty

·        It was acknowledged that Middlesbrough had high levels of poverty and research had identified that lower-income families were less likely to engage in physical activity.

·        Smoking cessation was a good example of developing a whole-system approach to achieve population level change, by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23/11

The Scrutiny Panel will be asked to consider its work programme for the 2023/24 municipal year.

The Health Scrutiny Panel was asked to consider its work programme for the 2023/24 municipal year.

The Democratic Services Officer presented the submitted report and the following points were referenced:

·        At the start of every municipal year, scrutiny panels discussed the topics that they would like to review during the coming year.

·        Work programmes were useful as they provided some structure to a scrutiny panel’s activity and allowed for the effective planning and preparation of work.

·        The topic of Dental Health and the Impact of Covid-19 had been carried over from the previous year. It was hoped that the Health Scrutiny Panel would be in a position to conclude its evidence gathering, in respect of the topic, at its meetings scheduled to be held in October and November. Further details regarding the topic of Dental Health and the Impact of Covid-19, and the evidence that would be considered at future meetings, had been included at paragraphs 5 and 6 of the report. In addition to the information contained within the report, arrangements would also be made for Professor Tim Thompson from Teesside University to attend a future meeting, to provide information on how the university processed referrals from local dentists and people could have procedures (mostly simple extractions, scale and polish etc) for free.

·        Referenced in the report was a list of topics that were anticipated to be of particular interest to the scrutiny panel. Those topics were detailed in the first table of the submitted report and included:

o   Access to GPs;

o   Avoidable Deaths and Preventable Mortality;

o   Sexual Health Services;

o   Obesity; and

o   Vaccination Uptake.

·        Suggestions had also been received from the HealthWatch South Tees Project Lead and those included:

o   Women’s Health Services;

o   Dentists;

o   GPs; and

o   Secondary Care.

·        When considering its work programme, the scrutiny panel was asked to ensure that topics agreed for inclusion met the criteria detailed at paragraph 13 of the report.

·        It was recommended that the scrutiny panel used the aid, attached at Appendix 1 of the submitted report, to prioritise issues where scrutiny could make an impact, add value or contribute to policy development.

·        The scrutiny panel was asked to identify two topics it would like to include in its work programme. Once agreed, those topics would be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Board, on 20 September 2023, for consideration and approval.

A discussion ensued and Members referenced the following areas of interest and concern:

·        Avoidable Deaths and Preventable Mortality, due to Middlesbrough’s low life expectancy and high rates of under 75 mortality from causes considered preventable.

·        Women’s Health Services, due to the wide range of experiences encountered for those seeking support for perimenopause and menopause that had been well documented in the press.

·        Access to Dental Care, due to its impact on oral health.

·        Obesity, due to Middlesbrough’s high levels of obesity and its association with reduced life expectancy and chronic diseases.

·        Access to GPs, due to the need for patients to receive the care  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23/12

The Chair will present a verbal update on the matters that were considered at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board held on 26 July 2023.

The Chair explained that at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board, which was held on 26 July 2023, the Board had considered:

·        an update from the Deputy Mayor and Executive Member for Education and Culture;

·        the Executive Forward Work Programme;

·        an update on Middlesbrough’s Boundary Review 2023; and

·        updates from the Scrutiny Chairs.

NOTED