Issue - meetings

Kate Green, Policy Officer, reported that the Department of Health had recently published draft guidance on developing Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies.

The report submitted set out a timetable for developing the Strategy which hopefully would be produced by May, 2012 in advance of the national timeline of April, 2013 when Boards were due to take on their statutory responsibilities.  Draft guidance had been published to enable local authorities and Clinical Commissioning Groups to incorporate jointly agreed actions based on identified need into their planning.

The work programme approved at the previous meeting set out the timeline for completion of specific tasks and decisions for the next 12 months.  This also provided milestones for self-assessment against specific criteria so that the Board could improve its effectiveness.

The JSNA would be the means by which local leaders worked together to understand and agree the needs, as well as ‘assets’, of local people and communities.  Data, information and intelligence underpinned them as well as being an analysis and narrative of the evidence, presenting a picture of the local community and its health and social care needs.

Dr. Polkinghorn stressed the importance of agreeing and publishing a Strategy by May, 2012, or the Clinical Commissioning Group would not receive “signing off” of their Plan.

It was suggested that a special workshop style meeting be held in March to further discuss and agree priorities for the Strategy and Joint Strategic Needs Assessment to enable community engagement to take place before April.

Resolved:-  (1) That a special meeting of the Board be held in March to agree the further work being undertaken on the JSNA and consider priorities for the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

(2) That a small working group comprising of officers from the local authority, Public Health and Clinical Commissioning Group meet regularly to align the different activities required.