North Yorkshire Health and Wellbeing Board

 
Minutes of the meeting held remotely, via Microsoft Teams, on 19th March 2021

Board Members

Constituent Organisation

County Councillors

County Councillor Michael Harrison (Chair)

Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Health Integration

County Councillor Caroline Dickinson

Executive Member for Public Health, Prevention and Supported Housing

County Councillor Janet Sanderson

Executive Member for Children and Young People’s Service

Clinical Commissioning Groups

Amanda Bloor (Vice-Chair)

Accountable Officer, North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Groups

Alijan Haider

Director of Keeping Well, Bradford District and Craven CCG (substitute for Helen Hirst)

Local Authority Officers

Janet Waggott

Chief Executive, Selby District Council and Assistant Chief Executive, North Yorkshire County Council (District Councils Chief Executive Representative)

Louise Wallace

Director of Public Health, North Yorkshire County Council

Richard Webb

Corporate Director, Health and Adult Services, North Yorkshire County Council

Elected Member District Council Representative

Councillor Richard Foster

Leader, Craven District Council

Other Members

Chris Brackley

Chair, Healthwatch North Yorkshire

Shaun Jones

Deputy Locality Director, NHS England and NHS  Improvement (North East and Yorkshire)

Jill Quinn

Chief Executive, Dementia Forward (Voluntary Sector Representative)

Co-opted Members

Andrew Brodie

Chief Fire Officer, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (Emergency Services Representative)

Naomi Lonergan

Head of Mental Health, Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (substitute for Brent Kilmurray)

Mike Padgham

Chair, Independent Care Group (Care Providers Representative)

Sally Tyrer

Chair of Yorkshire Local Medical Committee Ltd (Primary Care Representative)

 

In Attendance (North Yorkshire County Council) unless stated:-

County Councillor Carl Les, Leader of the Council, Ashley Green, Chief Executive, Healthwatch North Yorkshire, Karl Battersby, Corporate Director, Business and Environmental Services, Dale Owens, Assistant Director (Commissioning and Quality) and Patrick Duffy (Legal and Democratic Services)

                      

Copies of all documents considered are in the Minute Book

 

 

 

136.     Welcome by the Chair

 

The Chair welcomed Members to the meeting and anyone viewing. For the particular benefit of members of the public or the media, he advised that this is a statutory Committee whose main role is to act as a forum for leaders from the local health and care system to work together to improve the health and wellbeing of the local population.

 

The full membership of the Board could be seen on the Council’s website.

 

The Chair also welcomed new Members and added that it has been over a year since the Board has met. This was a conscious decision by him and the Vice-Chair, Amanda Bloor, as they recognised that the main responsibility and focus of Board Members was to manage the Pandemic and prepare for recovery. Now felt an appropriate point to reconvene.

 

He thanked Members and the wider organisations they represent, for the contribution they have made during this incredible challenge posed by Covid-19. Over 1,000 people in North Yorkshire have died. This is a sad milestone and clearly many more people have been affected and continue to be.

 

137.     Apologies for absence

 

            Apologies for absence were submitted by:

 

·           Fiona Bell-Morritt, Lead Officer, Primary Care, Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group

·           Richard Flinton, Chief Executive, North Yorkshire County Council

·           Helen Hirst, Accountable Officer, NHS Bradford and District CCG

·           Brent Kilmurray, Chief Executive, Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust

·           Phil Mettam, Accountable Officer, Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group

 

138      Membership

 

The current Membership of the Board had been circulated with the papers for the meeting, for information.

 

NOTED.

 

139.     Minutes

 

            Resolved -

 

            That the Minutes of the meeting held on 22nd January 2020 be approved as an accurate record.

 

140.     Declarations of Interest

 

            There were no declarations of interest.

 

141.     Public Questions of Statements

 

            There were no public questions or statements.

142.     Our Covid Year

 

            Considered –

 

            A presentation by Louise Wallace, Director of Public Health; Richard Webb, Corporate Director, Health and Adult Services; and Amanda Bloor, Accountable Officer, North Yorkshire CCG.

 

            Louise Wallace introduced the presentation by outlining data relating to the Pandemic in North Yorkshire and highlighted the following:-

 

-           Reflecting on the last year, behind each number is somebody’s life or experience of the virus.  There had now been over 1,100 deaths and 28,000 cases in North Yorkshire

 

-           There have been 269,000 tests

 

-           Lateral Flow Tests are being expanded

 

-           There has been a tremendous volunteering effort, whereby people have stepped forward and cared for each other – we have had over 110,000 volunteering hours

 

-           The vaccination rollout has been momentous and reflects a real team effort – so far 269,000 first doses have been administered

 

-           The Board is about system leadership and pulling together and this has been very evident this last year

 

Richard Webb then outlined the main timeline of events and referred to the following, in particular:-

 

-           Whilst in some ways the Pandemic has kept people apart, in some respects, we have never been more together. This has led to some unlikely combinations

 

-           It is easy to forget where we were one year ago with, for example, difficult conversations being held with Board Members and Faith and Community Leaders about how best we could support communities, based on projections of 500 deaths per day in North Yorkshire. Thankfully, those projections did not come to fruition

 

-           The first peak came in April and May and people rallied around quickly to ensure that PPE was secured and we had our own mobile testing arrangements, in advance of national arrangements

 

-           Work was undertaken with the Voluntary and Community Sector and District Councils to establish 23 Community Support Hubs, as well as practical work with colleagues in the Care Sector to keep people safe in care settings

 

-           Even after the first peak had passed, staff were as busy as ever dealing with the longer term effects of Covid; the rise in the number of people with mental health issues; and people who had kept at home and kept under the radar

 

-           September, Autumn and the New Year had seen spikes in the number of cases in Whitby, Scarborough and Ingleborough.  There had been a massive effort with partners to offer tests and provide advice and information to local people

 

-           The early part of the year had seen huge pressure on Hospitals; Care Settings and the community and a further National Lockdown

 

-           Although the current number of cases is higher than last September, society is getting used to dealing with Covid and living with its effects

 

-           During all of this, life went on and events such as flooding had to be addressed

 

He finished by thanking everyone for the work they had done.

 

Amanda Bloor concluded the presentation by covering Acute Care and Primary Care, including the Vaccination Programme.  She mentioned that-

 

-           Partnership work has been key throughout – no part of the system has worked in isolation.  Despite the overwhelming impact on individuals, families and communities, the situation would have been worse if people had not pulled together – system and partnership had stood us in good stead in North Yorkshire.

 

-           Wave 1 had hit in March. Discussions around the Nightingale Facility in Harrogate had indicated how serious the situation was

 

-           The focus has been on how to recover and open services again, but services have operated differently ever since, with a focus to prevent people catching Covid. It is difficult to deliver face to face services in an environment driven by the need to maintain social distancing and infection control

 

-           The impact on staff across health and social care cannot be underestimated; they all need time to recover and recuperate from an exhausting period

 

-           We are aware of waiting lists and are working through these

 

-           The Mental Health impact on people has been significant

 

-           Across the board we have embraced digital - one of the Board’s key priorities -  to move services online rapidly and successfully

 

-           Partners have displayed innovation and creativity.  For example, Yorkshire Ambulance Service had significant sickness in their Control Room and used  technology in different ways and expanded the use of NHS 111

 

-           Primary Care did not stop. It responded in a different way, with a significant move to services over the phone/on line to keep people safe

 

-           There has been a big investment to support the Primary Care response as well as a major piece of work around clinical leadership in Care Homes and partnership working

 

-           We are now starting to build back services where there have been delays

 

-           Primary Care has led the vaccination rollout across North Yorkshire and York

 

-           Vaccination is governed by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. The overriding focus has been to save life

 

-           There has been complexity around moving and storing the vaccine

 

-           Primary Care delivered a Flu Vaccination Programme, where demand was very high, so they were well placed to carry off the vaccination programme

 

-           Good progress has been made. Despite our rurality. no one is more than 45 minutes from a Vaccination Centre

 

-           We are now targeting people who have not yet come forward to receive a vaccine

 

-           Key reflections:-

 

·                Nobody should underestimate the work done previously as a wider Health and Care Partnership, or as a Health and Wellbeing Board and the relationships we had that stood us in good stead to respond to Covid

 

·                We owe a massive thanks to everyone involved across the board, staff and volunteers

 

·                In some ways the hard work begins now, as we work to navigate the Road Map and ensure we keep services safe and recover well across North Yorkshire

 

The Chair thanked Louise, Richard and Amanda for their presentations. He remarked how people have embraced digital across this system and the whole health economy and how, in the midst of the Pandemic, it could easily be forgotten that the NHS had delivered a Flu Vaccination Programme that was one of the most subscribed to ever

 

143.     Any other business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be considered as a matter of urgency

 

            There was none

 

The meeting concluded at 9.35 a.m.

 

PD