Apologies were received from Hannah Doody.

John Morgan, Assistant Director for Adult Social Care attended in her place

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 27 November 2018 were agreed as an accurate record.

The Chair welcomed Andrew Otley to his first meeting of the HWBB

The Director of Public Health presented her report on Mental Health and Wellbeing, which the Board noted and endorsed.

The Board were pleased to note the opportunity to lever support from Thrive London to help campaign and raise awareness locally. Partners agreed to engage with this, emphasizing the need that it should link up with existing local engagement and avoid the risk of ‘over consulting’ with the same communities. The Board also committed to press on healthy workplace activity in their own organisations, particularly recognised the benefits of trained Mental Health First-Aiders in the workplace and expressed support for a proposed ‘light touch’ common framework for workplace health.

The Director of Children, Schools and Families stressed the ‘infrastructure for wellbeing’ and links between programmes and agencies that can help Children’s’ Mental Health. This programme links with the ‘Think Family’ approach as the mental health of parents are the key indicator of mental health of children, by improving the mental health of parents there will be a positive impact on their children’s mental health.

The Chair of Healthwatch offered assistance in reaching seldom heard groups, and the Director of Public Health agreed that the joint resources of the Board would be needed to promote this work.

James Blyth emphasised the enhanced offer from the new providers of Mental Health services to the borough from 1 April, and also asked the Board to note the benefits of providing clinical support as early as possible to those who need it.

Dr Andrew Murray presented his report on the Children and Young People Wellbeing Programme: Whole Schools Approach and trailblazer. (Note: this presentation is published in the Supplementary Agenda)

The Board welcomed this programme and were pleased to note the successful bid for National Trailbazer Funding and noted that Trailblazer complements the iThrive programme. The Board noted that results will be evaluated in the Spring term and repeated next year with the aim to roll this out to all Schools in the Borough

The Chair thanked all the schools involved in the programme. He commented that it was fantastic to get this additional support and funding

RESOLVED

That the HWBB:

A.   Agree to engage residents, in partnership with Thrive London, in order to understand what matters to them around mental health and wellbeing, to campaign against stigma and to identify areas of improvement in mental health and wellbeing in Merton.

B.   Commit to improving the mental health and wellbeing of the workforce across Merton, discuss approaches that would secure improvements and nominate a lead in their respective organisations to deliver programmes in partnership with Public Health.

C.   Note recent successes and to promote and champion key programmes related to mental health and wellbeing in Merton in order to secure further improvements.

D.   Note the on-going negotiations between Merton Council and South West London & St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust on the Section 75 agreement

Darren Tulley, Borough Commander for the Fire Brigade presented his report on the Sustainable Communities Plan 2019-25. He emphasised that the focus and ambition of the plan will be on building Social Capital in the borough. Social Capital is a measure of the links between different groups, organisations and individual people.

All Board Members welcomed the work on the Sustainable Communities Plan, and Members emphasised that the Plan had clear synergies and links with other work and plans;

• There are clear links with this plan and the other plans on this agenda; the Health and Wellbeing Strategy and Merton Local Health and Care Plan.
• There are synergies between this Plan and the East Merton Model of Health and Wellbeing.
• This plan also links to social prescribing and there need to be links to partners.
• That a lot of engagement/ consultation ongoing at the moment – this must all tie together and not duplicate.
• This Plan will bring together the views and enthusiasm of the voluntary sector.
• There are links to community cohesion, and  it would be helpful to revisit the issues that emerged from the Merton Partnership Conference for the themes and thoughts of the voluntary sector.

Board members gave examples of current work that supports this Plan:

• My Futures work to provide employment opportunities for vulnerable young adults
• The Family Information Service, a directory of services which should feed into any future directories and the ‘Think Family’ approach to support vulnerable families
• The recent Young Peoples’ survey that received 1700 replies that fed into the Children and Young Peoples Plan, the Health and Wellbeing Strategy as well as the Sustainable Communities Plan.
• Neighbourhood funding provided from CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy)
• Work done by the Dementia Action Alliance.

The Board emphasised that joint thinking will ensure that all of this work and these Plans will complement and support each other.

The Board thanked the Borough Commander, and he thanked the Board for their comments and said he would write to the individually asking them to take forward the resolutions of the HWBB

RESOLVED

The Health and Wellbeing Board:

A.   Noted the progress so far on the development of a new Sustainable Communities Plan for the borough and the links that can be built with the review of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy;

B.   Highlighted any examples of projects the have been overseen by the Board or that are upcoming which promote or build social capital;

C.   Outlined how the Board engages with the subsidiary groups and organisations that feed into it and any engagement channels that could be used to support the development of the Sustainable Communities Plan; and

D.   Considered whether there are any places or communities they wish to prioritise for the engagement work with hard to reach groups and suggest any channels or mechanisms for how to engage with them.   

The Managing Director of Merton CCG presented his report on the progress of Merton Health and Care Together and the development of Merton Local Health and Care Plan. (Note: this presentation is available in the Supplementary Agenda). A video was shown of the Merton Health and Care Plan deliberative event which highlighted the positive feedback received and supporting the priorities of Merton Health and Care Together.

The Managing Director of Merton CCG emphasised the need for partnership working to co-produce the Local Health and Care Plan and explained that the plan would need to align with the NHS long term plan. He said that the production of the Local Health and Care Plan built on the continuity of the work of the Health and Wellbeing Board and was another step on the journey that the Board has been on for some time. A further report will be brought to the Board at a future date.

The Chief Executive of Merton Voluntary Service Council noted that discussion of this Item and Item 7 – Merton Health and Wellbeing Strategy – were closely linked.

The Chair asked the Board to approve a letter responding to a request from NHS England for the Board to comment on the ways in which the CCG has taken account of Merton Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The request was received 22^nd January with a deadline for the response of 31^st January.. Board members received a copy of the letter of response in the meeting, and the letter was published in the Supplementary Agenda. The Board approved the letter.

The Director of Public Health presented her report on the Merton Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2019-24. She emphasised the focus on creating a ‘Healthy Place’. She also reminded members that this was refresh of the current Strategy.

Board members welcomed the HWB Strategy, were pleased with the outcomes from the themed workshops already held, the Director of Environment and Regeneration commented that this had a been a thorough process of engagement and all looked forward to the Age Well and final Healthy Place workshops to come.

The Board welcomed the emphasis on ‘Healthy Place’ and considered what this might look like. The Director of Children, Schools and Families suggested that this should include encouraging children’s freedom and sense of belonging, and also provided suitable spaces for adolescents that made them feel safe and not excluded.

A question was asked about preparedness for a no-deal Brexit, and any difficulties this may cause for services to more vulnerable residents, such as Lunch Clubs. Council and CCG Officers replied that such issues were being considered and planned for.

The Chair requested that the HWB Strategy be brought back to the Board on 26 March 2019.

RESOLVED

The HWBB:

A.   Considered the update on the refresh of the Merton Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2019-24 and the particular focus on ‘healthy place’.

B.   Noted the findings from the Start Well and Live Well workshops and plans for further engagement. 

C.   Approved the letter responding the NHS

This will be a verbal update

The Managing Director of Merton and Wandsworth CCG gave the Board a verbal presentation on the NHS Long Term Plan. He described some of the elements of the plan:

• A more holistic model of support
• Future funding
• Primary care network of GPs
• GP support for Care homes
• Reducing pressure on A&E with a same day emergency service
• Full roll out of social prescribing
• Digitally enabled primary care/pilots for telemedicine
• Personal Health Budgets
• A Renewed Focus on Preventable diseases
• A new focus on prevention with further detail to follow
• Commitment to Mental Health, especially for Children and Young People

There will now be work on the Merton response and Healthwatch will receive national funding to support local responses.   He continued that a South West London summary was being prepared and that he would circulate this to the Board when it is available. The Chair added that the Board would consider a full report on the full implications of the Long Term Plan at a future meeting.

The Assistant Director of Adult Social Care expressed his concern regarding the delay to the Adult Social Care Green Paper. The Board noted that there will be linkages between this plan and the Green Paper regarding future funding of Adult Social Care.

This will be a verbal update on Training Dates

RESOLVED

Board members agreed to attend the Dementia Friends Training on 26 March at 5pm in Committee Rooms CDE