Agenda item

Paul Woodcock, Strategic Director, Regeneration and Environment, to present

Paul Woodcock, Strategic Director, Regeneration and Environment gave the following powerpoint presentation:-

Aim 4: All Rotherham people live in healthy, safe and resilient communities

-        Deliver a loneliness plan for Rotherham

-        Promote health and wellbeing through arts and cultural initiatives

-        Ensure Rotherham people are kept safe from harm

-        Develop a Borough that supports a healthy lifestyle

Priority 1 – Deliver a loneliness plan for Rotherham

Key area of progress include

-        The loneliness action plan has been updated and in delivery

-        Work was taking place on the JSNA chapter on loneliness which would include qualitative information from some of Rotherham’s inclusion groups (veterans, carers, neurodiverse adults and parents and carers of children with SEND)

-        Delivery of revised MECC loneliness training would commence in February

-        Ensure the Board was involved in informing local priority setting and was able to take local issues relating to health and wellbeing into account in strategic planning

-        Ward priority setting would take place after the May 2024 elections with publication scheduled for September 2024.  Council services and partners would be invited to contribute to local intelligence in advance of May 2024 to help inform priority setting

Priority 2 – Promote health and wellbeing through arts and cultural initiatives

Key areas of progress include

-        Rotherham Show took place on 2^nd and 3^rd September 2023 attracting an estimated audience of 88,918

-        The Council continued to deliver on the design of the Children’s Capital of Culture programme

-        The second annual UPLIFT Skate and Arts Festival took place in April 2023 with an estimated audience of 6,000 and featured a Teenage Market celebrating young makers and entrepreneurs

-        WoW Rotherham took place in June 2023 with elements of the programme designed and delivered by Children’s Capital of Culture Trainee Festival makers

-        Activities were being delivered in libraries for people of all ages to connect, be active and learn new skills and widen the accessibility of Library Services through Pop-up libraries, reading gardens, Makerspaces, Authors’ visits and performances, fun palaces

-        1,000 people attended fun palaces in October at various venues across the Borough.  Skills shared included origami, gardening, crochet, wood turning, cake decorating, brass bands, gaming and keyboarding

-        The Makerspace Project culminated in an exhibition at Riverside House from works produced at all 5 libraries.  Groups of school children and members of the public had a go at using equipment and materials to make pinch pot birds, 3D pavilions, 2D clay figures and sewed pyjamas and hearts for the neonatal ward

Priority 3 – Ensure Rotherham people are kept safe from harm

Key areas of progress include

-        Work was ongoing to embed referral pathways with key partners in Rotherham through the Home Safety Partnership Referral Scheme and Safe and Well checks

-        Safeguarding Board Chairs meetings were now established to maintain the relationship between the Safeguarding Boards and work on crosscutting issues

-        Delivery of vaccination programme for Covid-19 and Flu.  40,651 Covid vaccinations had been given in Rotherham in 2023.  This equated to a 74% Autumn vaccination uptake

-        This was now business as usual and delivery and uptake would be monitored at service level with assurance received by the Health Protection Committee

Priority 4 – Develop a Borough that supports a healthy lifestyle

Key areas of progress include

-        A Borough-wide MECC training offer on physical activity had been developed.  A new training offer agreed from Yorkshire Sport to be rolled out in train-the-trainer model to social prescribers, health care assistants and care homes to support wider understanding of benefits and opportunities for physical activity for all

-        Rotherham Food Network was now established.  Membership was still growing and actions were on track.  Further detail, including action plan, was shared with the Health and Wellbeing Board in November 2023

-        Work was ongoing to enable all partner staff to support neighbourhoods and communities to thrive.  A partnership offer of training on strength based approaches was being rolled out.  General awareness training was delivered via an e-learning package and now available to all IT enabled Council staff.  Training for Place partners was being commissioned this quarter

Next Steps

Priority 1 – Delivery a loneliness plan for Rotherham

-        A presentation on Ward priority setting was scheduled for the March Health and Wellbeing Board

Priority 3 – Ensure Rotherham people are kept safe from harm

-        Work with other partnership boards on crosscutting issues in relation to safety and safeguarding.  The next Safeguarding Chairs meeting was planned for early March to focus on outcomes frameworks and performance monitoring

-        The Combatting Drugs Partnership for Rotherham will present their annual progress update to the Health and Wellbeing Board in March

Priority 4 – Develop a Borough that supports a healthy lifestyle

-        Annual update from the Moving Rotherham Board will be submitted to the Health and Wellbeing Board in March

-        A workshop was being organised on Spatial Planning, Climate and Health

Discussion ensued with the following issues raised/clarified:-

·        Despite the austerity cuts, Rotherham had not any library closures and the central library was to be re-located

·         The publication of the Ward priority setting, due to the May elections, would cover the type of information and activity that would be undertaken and provide details of what they might look like but the Ward plans were not expected until September/October

Ben Anderson, Director of Public Health, reported that over the last year just over 91% of Rotherham children aged 5 years had had 2 does of the MMR vaccination, below the 95% World Health Organisation target.  Targeted work around MMR capture in particular communities would be taking place as well as work on catching up on MMR vaccinations, particularly for those children that had missed opportunities for vaccination during the pandemic and those parents who may now be re-evaluating their decision given the higher prevalence of Measles currently.

Resolved:-  That the update be noted.