Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from G Binning, A Blair, C Mann, V McFarlane-Reid, R Nightingale, H Porteous and J Watson.

Minutes of the meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board held on Thursday, 9 January 2025 as circulated, to be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board held on 9 January 2025, as circulated, be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

To receive a presentation which will summarise the plan and provide an overview of the 0-19 offer.

A Iceton and S Anderson provided members with a presentation on the Healthy Families Plan, which was part of the Growing Healthy Northumberland 0-19 Service and described how the service would support the partnership vision for children, young people and their families by contributing to the Healthy Child Programme.

The offer included services such as:

·         Universal and targeted/specialist support

·         0-5 Health Visiting Pillar

·         Public Health Pillar including the National Childhood Measurement Programme

·         Infant Feeding Pillar

·         Emotional Health and Resilience Pillar

·         Safeguarding Pillar

·         Single Point of Contact

·         Home Visiting Service

Following the presentation, the committee heard that the service had KPIs that underpinned all contacts with families, which showed impacts and outcomes for children, a Section 75 meeting was regularly scheduled with the Local Authority where information was shared, and an annual update would be included in the Health and Wellbeing Board Forward Plan.

It was clarified that, included in the 0-5 Targeted Offer was a digital weaning package for parents to receive advice and further information on the services. A YouTube channel where parents were able to watch workshops in their own time had also been created as well as an 0-19 app which contained information on weaning.

The purpose of the report is:

a)       To update board members of the progress made by the Healthy Weight Alliance in Year 1.

b)       To feedback on current work, gaps and opportunities identified by Healthy Weight Alliance Task and Finish groups.

c)       Seek feedback from Board Members regarding work to date and proposed future approach to support a Whole Systems Approach to Healthy Weight in Northumberland.   

Members were provided with an update on progress and future direction on the Healthy Weigh Alliance. D Turnbull - Senior Public Health Manager, provided members with a presentation on the background of the formation of the Alliance on a regional and national level.

Northumberland’s Healthy Weigh Alliance launched in 2024, with a vision of “increasing the trend in the proportion of people in Northumberland achieving and maintaining a healthy weight within the next decade”. Since the launch, the HWA had established a quarterly meeting frequency, appointed a designation chair, created three task and finish groups and ensured representation from across the system in terms of their membership.

Three priority areas for action had been determined for the Task and Finish Groups:

·         Children and Young People – Conception to 5 years old

·         Children and Young People – 5 – 19 years old

·         Building a Healthy Weigh Environment

Each Task and Finish Group ensured consistency by using the same proforma and captured the work across each the priority areas, gaps in the provision and potential opportunities.

Moving forward, the HWA aimed to develop an assessment tool which would prioritise actions, reduce health inequalities, impact population and show evidence of effectiveness. A Strategic plan was also being developed and would ensure a data driven approach to decision making.

Following the presentation, the Chair invited members to ask questions or comment on the report to which the following comments were made:

·         Access to Fast Food takeaways was more prevalent in areas of deprivation and in turn correlated with levels of childhood obesity.

·         Two thirds of the adult population were categorised as overweight or obese and the HWA were considering whether weight loss drugs were a tool to assist with adults being a healthy weight or whether it would create a poor culture of gaining further weight to meet the BMI threshold of certain drugs, the HWA wished to emphasise the promotion of healthy eating habits and physical activity.

RESOLVED that Health and Wellbeing Board:

a)    Continue to receive updates and reports from the HWA which outline work undertaken.

b)    H&WBB continued to support representation and engagement in the Healthy Weight Alliance dedicating time and resource to support the development of key actions such as the proposed action plan and input of data and intelligence.

c)    Ensure the HWA actions align with systemwide priorities across all Northumberland partners.

Councillor Sanderson and R Murfin left the meeting at this point.

The purpose of this report is to present the independent Director of Public Health (DPH) Annual Report for 2024.  The report focusses on physical activity across Northumberland and highlights the ways we can get more people active more often.

Members were provided with the Director of Public Health Annual Report for 2024. J Elliott - Health Improvement Specialist Practitioner and L Robertshaw - Deputy Director Public Health provided members with a presentation and highlighted the importance of physical activity, levels of physical activity in Northumberland and the opportunities to increase physical activity levels in neighbourhoods in Northumberland.

Members thanked officers for the presentation and discussed opportunities for increasing physical activities when people were working from home.

RESOLVED that Health and Wellbeing Board:

a)    Considered the content of the Director of Public Health Annual Report 2024.

b)    Commented on the contribution that Health and Wellbeing Board partners can make to promoting physical activity across Northumberland.

c)    Accepted and enforced the findings in the independent Director of Public Health Annual Report 2024 attached as appendix 1 to the report.

To note/discuss details of forthcoming agenda items at future meetings; the latest version is enclosed.

The Committee reviewed its forward plan for the 2024/25 council year.

RESOLVED that the Forward Plan be noted.

The next meeting will be a Development Session held on Thursday, 13 March 2025 at 10.00 a.m. in County Hall, Morpeth. 

RESOLVED that the next meeting will be a closed Development Session on Thursday, 13 March 2025.