Mark Adams, Director of Public Health (South Tees) will be in attendance to provide the Panel with an overview of the key areas of work undertaken by Public Health South Tees.
Minutes:
The Joint
Director of Public Health provided an overview of his service and made the
following points:
·
The
position of Director for Public Health was statutorily mandated since the
passing of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
·
The
statutory duties if the Public Health Service were often wrapped up in other
legislation which meant there was often no clear distinction between Public
Health services the services supported by Public Health.
As the
National Childhood Weight Management Programme was a mandated
service a Member queried the accuracy of that programme
as they felt it could be stigmatic for children to be labelled as obese. It was
clarified that while the system for measuring children’s weight via the BMI
index was not perfect it was something that could not be changed locally as it
was a national programme. The Chair stated that it
was an issue that could be brought back to the Committee as part of its work programme.
The
Director continued with his presentation and made the following points:
·
The
service was also required to be part of the Health and Wellbeing Board and to
create Joint Strategic Needs Assessment which fed into the Joint Strategic
Health and Wellbeing Strategy which ran until 2023, as well as creating the
Pharmaceutical needs assessment.
A Member queried how the Joint Strategic Needs
Assessment was being made available. It was confirmed that the JSNA was more accessible via web formats given the nature
of its content. It was also clarified the JSNA needed
to be updated going forward.
·
One
of the principles that Public Health operated to was the offer of service
across all areas but to target those services at some groups, so called
“proportionate universalism”. Public Health’s job was to understand and
appreciate different needs and how those needs were expressed.
· Some of the key issues that Public Health were addressing were inequalities in life expectancy and health outcomes; reducing mortality and morbidity from preventable causes; and ensuring local population health is protected from infectious and communicable disease.
·
One
of the approaches used by Public Health was the population intervention
triangle, which it was hoped would allow a more focused approach to Service,
Civic and Community interventions and services. Ultimately, this model tried to
move away from simply providing a service.
·
Public
Health’s values were based on a model of five Programmes,
five Business Imperatives and three Levels of intervention across the life
course.
A Member queried what successes the Heroin
Assisted Treatment had seen. It was clarified that the evidence suggested the programme had been successful with the small number of
participants involved. It was also clarified that the Police and Crime
Commissioner was supportive of treatment being provided through the ADDER programme although his primary objective was to address the
issue of drugs as a crime rather than as a public health issue. It was also
confirmed that there was no immediate threat to the funding available to the programme.
·
The
key issues and priorities facing Public Health centered around
Relationships; Capacity and Capability as well as Uncertainty. The Covid Pandemic had demonstrated how the Council could work
as a single unit for the betterment of the people of Middlesbrough.
It was important to try and replicate a similar sense of unity for other issues
such as childhood obesity or substance misuse.
·
The
profile of the Public Health Team had grown during the Pandemic and it was
intended that the Health and Wellbeing Board was more mission driven.
·
There
were difficulties with regards to recruitment and retention in Public Health
roles due to a drift to NHS positions.
·
There
was a move to build the Live Well Centre concept into Town Centre Plans,
especially in light of a shrinking retail offer in the town.
·
Public
Health needed to build on their public perception to deliver on important
issues.
The Chair
and Panel expressed their thanks to the Public Health team for their efforts
during the Pandemic.
ORDERED: That the information presented be noted.