Members of the Board are asked whether they have any personal or prejudicial interests in connection with any application on the agenda and, if so, to declare them and state the nature of the interest.

There were no declarations of interests.

Apologies were received from:

Paula Cowan, Wirral Health and Care Commissioning,

Supt. Martin Earle, Police

Julie Gray, The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre

Sir David Henshaw and Janelle Holmes from Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 

Sue Higginson, Wirral Met College

Councillor Kathy Hodson

Karen Howell and Michael Brown, Wirral Community Health and Care

Karen Prior, Healthwatch Wirral

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the meeting held on 23 March 2022.

Resolved –

That the minutes of the Health and Wellbeing Board meeting held on 23 March 2022 be agreed as a correct record.

There were no questions, statements or petitions received.

The Assistant Director for Parks and Environment introduced the report of the Director of Public Health and the Director of Neighbourhood Services which outlined the work to date to address climate change through the collective contribution of the organisations and sectors represented on the Health & Wellbeing Board. To limit the impacts of climate change in Wirral, and to contribute to global efforts, the longstanding Climate Change Partnership for Wirral ‘Cool Wirral’ had set targets for Wirral to be ‘net carbon neutral’ by 2041, to be delivered through the Cool2 Climate Strategy for Wirral. As a key partner of Cool Wirral, Wirral Council had set its own ambitious climate target of being net carbon neutral by 2030.

Members noted that meetings had been held with health organisations to plan progress and ensure that the green plans of other organisations were consistent with the target.

RESOLVED: That

(1)  The Board commit to taking action to address the causes of the environment and climate emergency.

(2)  the delivery of the Cool2 Wirral Climate Strategy be supported and participated in and appropriate joint working arrangements and action plans to address the environment and climate emergency be developed.

In the absence of any people to present this report the Chair proposed that the matter be deferred and it was -

Resolved:

That the Healthwatch Wirral update June 2022 item be deferred to a future meeting.

The Director of Regeneration and Place introduced his report which provided an overview of the economic strategy and regeneration programme planned for Wirral and the significant opportunity it brings to change the lives of the most vulnerable communities by working together to address health, economic and social inequality.

Members debated the report and felt that further reports on individual projects or particular issues, such as the additional funding for community champions to work with BAME groups, would we welcomed. They noted the spatial framework and standards such as the Local Plan which would help guide planning decisions to develop communities rather than allow developments which may be to their detriment.

RESOLVED: That

(1)   the programme of work and its contribution to improving health in Wirral be noted.

(2)   the following elements of the Economic Strategy for Wirral be aligned with the emerging Health and Wellbeing Board Strategy: the role of anchor institutions, health related worklessness programmes, safe and active travel, health impact assessment and healthy housing.

The Deputy Director of Strategy for the Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust presented his report which provided an overview of Wirral Community Health & Care NHS Foundation Trust’s developing approach to increasing the social value it delivers, alongside providing its core services, which involved bringing strands together such as community wealth, net zero carbon and procurement.

Members noted that the NHS was the largest employer on the Wirral so skills, jobs and education were key to them and to the population.

RESOLVED:

That the development of the approach to social value being developed by Wirral Community Health & Care NHS Foundation Trust’s and its connections to other local and national approaches be noted.

Please note that Appendix 2 may not be suitable to view for people with disabilities, users of assistive technology or mobile phone devices. Please contact Jennifer Smedley at jennifersmedley@wirral.gov.uk, if you would like this document in an accessible format.

The Director of Public Health presented this report which provided an update on work to develop a Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Wirral following the Board’s decision, on 3 November 2021, to establish a working group to produce a local Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The working group had met and set priorities based upon the annual report from 2021. The strategy was to be published in September, with indicators to monitor progress and see outcomes.

RESOLVED:

That the continued development of Wirral’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy be noted and supported.

Four representatives of the community, voluntary and faith sector presented the report of the Director of Law and Governance which provided the latest updates and proposals from the Community, Voluntary and Faith (CVF) Sector Reference Group and an update on the ‘Working with the Community, Voluntary and Faith Sector’ workstream. The Reference Group was established as a mechanism to promote the views of the CVF Sector to the Health and Wellbeing Board.

Since the last Board meeting which the Reference Group reported to there had been activities such as the development of a health and wellbeing strategy to help tackle inequalities. The Reference Group was an active member of working group on the Strategy. There had also been a bid for the transformation fund of £1 million. The report’s appendices set out the steps, including having community link organisations in each constituency initially, and preparing a business plan.

Following the Reference Group outline proposal in February, there had been progress in meetings with key stakeholders to identify individuals and sites for four pilots. Since then the public health report on increasing access to green space had been published with strong evidence to its importance. 

The working group representatives spoke to their report and explained that they were commissioned by public health to be autonomous and independent, to engender trust between services and CVF bodies. They were trying to develop a voice at the regional level to show that there were communities of place (communities, facilities), people (ages, interests, profiles) and practice (organisations) to be heard.  The output included a draft collaboration framework which was a social contract agreement across all sectors and levels and was included in the agenda.

Board members were supportive of the work done.

RESOLVED:

That the content of, and recommendations from, the Community Voluntary and Faith Sector Reference Group and the ‘Working with the Community, Voluntary and Faith Sector’ document as appended to this report be noted.

RESOLVED:

That the proposed Health and Wellbeing Board work programme for the remainder of the 2022/23 municipal year be noted.