Following agreement at the June Health and Wellbeing Board, a subgroup was formed to undertake a review of the membership over July. This report highlights the key proposed changes to membership and representation.
Minutes:
Witnesses:
Victoria Berry - Policy and Programme Manager – Health and Social Care Integration (H&SCI) (SCC)
Key points raised in the discussion:
1. The Chairman noted that initial proposals for a membership review were presented to the Board in June. It had been eighteen months since the Board was last reconstituted, so it was an opportune time to revisit the Board’s membership as presented in the proposed membership changes.
2. The Chairman highlighted that:
- New members had been invited to this meeting to observe and for approval: Vicky Stobbart to represent Guildford & Waverley ICP and Michael Wilson CBE to represent Crawley, East Surrey and Horsham (CRESH) ICP and Acute Hospitals/Acute Trust Providers.
- Officers were working with the Chairman of the Surrey Leaders Group to identify a new District & Borough Leader Representative.
- Rachael Wardell had been appointed as the new Executive Director for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning and would be joining Surrey County Council in December.
- Matthew Tait had left his role as Joint Accountable Officer at Surrey Heartlands CCG and Dr Claire Fuller had taken over as interim Accountable Officer as well as continuing as Senior Responsible Officer.
- The main membership changes were that some Board members had stepped down including the Priority Two Sponsor in which Dr Helen Rostill had expressed her interest and was proposed by a member, one moved to the One Surrey Growth Board and another to become an Associate Member invited to attend as determined by the agenda.
3. A Board member queried her proposed change to an Associate Member on behalf of the Chief Housing Officers, noting that it was important to ensure that housing would continue to be represented as many items considered by the Board directly or indirectly related to it and asked on what basis she would be invited to attend going forward. In response, the Chairman explained that agendas would be shared with the Associate Member and officers would then discuss to agree on attendance.
4. A Board member asked for clarity on the column titled ‘representing’ - within the table titled ‘Proposed named representation assuming changes’ - as in his case membership on the Board was based on his wider role representing the Voluntary, Community and Faith Sector (VCFS) and not solely that listed organisation for him. In response, the Chairman noted that officers would re-look at the terminology used in the table for all Board members.
5. A Board member queried the positions for both the Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) and for the National Probation Service, as the CRC was due to be subsumed into the National Probation Service (NPS) in April 2021 and whether the CRC role would become an additional NPS post. In response, the Policy and Programme Manager (H&SCI) noted that the membership review sub-group were aware of that change and would keep the matter under review.
6. The Policy and Programme Manager (H&SCI) thanked Board members for completing the recent Health and Wellbeing Board Members Survey in July and August; noting that it was an opportunity for Board members to share their thoughts as to how things had progressed over the last 12-18 months since the Strategy was published in April 2019. She noted that:
- One third of the Board completed the survey and of those, all agreed or strongly agreed that the priorities of the Health and Wellbeing strategies were reflected within the work of Board member’s own organisations.
- All respondents were supportive of adopting a virtual format in the longer term, adopted as a result of Covid-19 - legislation permitting.
- Half of the respondents were undecided on the role of the ‘champion’ adopted last May, and whether all Board members should act as ‘champions’ for all target population groups - rather than having named individuals. In response, the Chairman noted that the three Priority Sponsors had mixed views on that as individual champions provided momentum to focus areas but those roles involved greater commitment; the role of champion would be reviewed and the Board updated in due course.
- Board members were also asked about how engaged they felt with the Health and Wellbeing Strategy and in the ‘overall’ category they felt that they were extremely engaged. Engagement levels were also broken down into the three priorities, target population groups and system capabilities with a range between extremely to slightly engaged; highlighting areas for greater engagement.
- The key strengths identified were that there was a clear understanding of the wider determinants of health, a shared vision and priorities with clear strategic oversight, a strong partnership focus, a collective enthusiasm for change, and a commitment to tackling health inequalities.
- Some areas of change were addressed as part of the membership review such as ensuring effective membership, Board members also noted that it would be beneficial to have more time for discussion on each agenda item as well as clearer executive summaries and recommendations, greater engagement and ownership of the Strategy with local implementation, a focus on the priorities and pace of delivery as well as more of an understanding the Strategy’s delivery at Place level.
7. The Chairman concluded that it was important to continually review the effectiveness of the Board in order to maintain the crossover between the health system and local government - shared through the 10 year Health and Wellbeing Strategy - periodic surveys and regular feedback was vital.
RESOLVED:
The Health and Wellbeing Board:
1. Agreed the proposed representation and approved the changes to membership.
2. Discussed and agreed a new sponsor for priority 2 (see item 8’s resolved recommendation).
3. As a result of the merger of the Community Safety Board with the Health and Wellbeing Board, agreed the arrangement of an informal session for HWB members in the Autumn to better understand the local community safety agenda. This will be used to inform an updated HWB members briefing pack for all existing and new members as vacancies occur.
Actions/further information to be provided:
1. Officers will re-look at the terminology used in the column titled ‘representing’, as some members had a wider role on the Board rather than solely representing one organisation.
2. The Board will be kept updated on future changes to community safety membership as a result of the Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) being subsumed into the National Probation Service in April 2021.
3. The role of the champion and whether target population groups should be represented by individuals or the Board as a collective, will be reviewed with an update provided to the Board in due course.
4. In order to gauge the effectiveness of the Board and its membership, periodic surveys will be useful to gather Board member feedback.
Supporting documents: