Agenda item

The Head of Community and Wellbeing introduced members to the work of the Health and Wellbeing service and explained that the service led on maintaining the quality of life for the community and meeting the wellbeing needs of a growing population. The cross-cutting service was delivered in partnership with West Sussex County Council, the NHS and Parish Councils and benefitted from good volunteer support. There was a national challenge to deliver wellbeing services with diminishing resources.

The Health and Wellbeing Manager briefed the group on the work of the Health and Wellbeing team and the HUB service. The group received a 2016/17 performance summary to date, volumetric and financial information and a briefing paper on public health grant reduction. The group heard:

·         That responsibility for public health had passed from the PCTs to local authorities in 2013 with a vision that local needs would be better met locally than by replication of national models.

·         Horsham Wellbeing was funded from a Public Health grant settlement received directly from central government to WSCC. The grant was reducing year on year and the planned overall reduction in funding for Public Health in West Sussex for the next financial year was £3.2m

·         Public Health West Sussex used a funding formula for the Hubs, based on population size and weighted allocations against local wellbeing indices of smoking, alcohol, and obesity prevalence.  Horsham Wellbeing’s allocation for 2017/2018 was £286,732; a reduction from £328,500 in 2015.

·         Consequently, the Horsham Wellbeing Hub would no longer be able to provide a dedicated alcohol wellbeing programme. Public Health West Sussex were exploring and developing a County wide alternative to Horsham Wellbeing’s popular alcohol programme, to target risky drinkers. Hazardous and harmful drinkers would be referred by the Hub into the countywide specialist alcohol service. The Horsham Wellbeing Hub would continue to deliver an in-house Weight Management programme, and due to a change to Public Health commissioning will see clients with a wider BMI range (25-39). This means that the Wellbeing Hub will be seeing higher numbers of people with long-term health conditions.

·         Work was underway on a Sport England funding bid with the Falls Prevention & Physical Activity coordinators, as one of the work streams was tackling inactivity in the over 55s. The Health and Wellbeing team had scope to develop both those programmes with additional funds.

·         That GPs played an important role in signposting patients to the Hub; and

·         About the location and accessibility of the services, based in the Octagon in Horsham   

Members complemented officers on the breadth and quality of the services provided. At the invitation of the Chairman members queried:

·         The accessibility of the services to those less able to engage online

·         Whether the cost of the service to the council was covered by the grant

·         Whether despite the grant reduction, the Hub still offered value for money

·         How advisers were recruited and trained

Officers responded

·         That the 35 – 65 age group was most likely to engage online and would be targeted for preventative engagement

·         That the cost of the service to HDC was entirely covered by the grant and that value for money assurance was provided by Public Health West Sussex. Officers demonstrated a ‘five ways to wellbeing’ assessment tool for measuring success against the county wide public health framework. 

·         That advisers were trained in CBT and that interest in roles was high

Members further commented on:

·         The need to continue to promote the service to users

·         That loneliness and social isolation should continue to be addressed

·         The role of members in signposting residents to services

The Chairman noted the views of the group and thanked officers for their outstanding work.