Agenda item

Presentation followed by a facilitated discussion.

2.1       Mr Robert McCulloch-Graham, Chief Officer Health and Social Care, explained that the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 required Health Boards and Local Authorities to integrate Health and Social Care services.  In the Scottish Borders this included all Social Care Services, Home Care, District Nurses, GPs, Community Hospitals, Mental Health Services, Dentists and Physiotherapists.  The Integration Joint Board (IJB) was established to oversee these services and was made up of 5 Councillors, 5 Non-Executive Directors and other representatives.  The Joint Board determined how the budget, currently £160m, was spent.  The IJB focus was: to improve the health of the population to minimise help required from health professionals; to identify quickly when help was needed from health professionals and to make a quick diagnosis; and to provide support within the community for people to manage their own conditions, through home care etc and avoid hospital readmissions.  Driven by work and engagement with local communities the local objectives set out in 5 Locality Plans dovetailed into the IJB’s Strategic Plan. Local priorities were to increase the availability of locally based rehabilitation services; improve the availability of services including access in rural areas; look at housing needs; assess and support unpaid carers; shift the balance of care from hospital to communities for some conditions; and to reduce problems associated with disability and access to services.  As part of the objective to direct service users and families to the right services at the right time Community Link Workers had been recruited.

2.2       Dr Keith Allan, Consultant in Public Health, referred to six new Public Health Priorities identified in a recent report by the Joint Director of Public Health.  In particular regional and local work was being carried out around type 2 diabetes prevention by encouragement of healthy eating, the Scottish Borders having a higher rate of occurrence of diabetes than the national average. Ms Fiona Doig, from the Alcohol and Drug Partnership, summarised three areas of work being carried out.  In terms of the supply of alcohol from local outlets the Local Licensing Forum produced an annual Alcohol Profile which pulled together statistics on the impact of alcohol consumption in the community.  The Profile was used as a reference to assist the Scottish Borders Licensing Board in its decision making.  Health Improvement work was also directed towards smoking information services including interaction with other behaviours and towards schools and other groups to encourage engagement in activity and healthy eating.  Ms Fiona Jackson was in attendance as Project Manager for the ‘Respect’ project currently being introduced by NHS Borders for roll-out in this area.  She explained that Respect was a guide that reflected the need to document conversations with family and health professionals for a person’s clinical care in a future emergency, in which they were unable to make or express choices.  It provided health and care professionals with a summary of recommendations to enable decisions to be made about that person’s care and treatment.  This would be complementary to a person’s anticipatory care plan.  Copies of the Respect form had been brought along to the meeting for information.

2.3       Galashiels Academy pupils, John Carr and Doddie Turner, gave a presentation they had prepared entitled ‘Health and Wellbeing in Galashiels’ and provided additional commentary on the slides shown and the views expressed by the range of people they had interviewed.  John and Doddie firstly summarised the view of pupils about the main issues, which included reference to alcohol and drugs being a problem amongst youth in Galashiels; too much litter; and neglect of mental health.  The Head of Health and Wellbeing in the school had explained that the Academy explored the physical and emotional wellbeing of youngsters but a wider range of activities was needed.  Issues included transport and the opportunity to take part in the environment.  A representative from Quarriers (a social care charity providing practical care and support for vulnerable children, adults and families) thought that the main issue was children not feeling safe within school whether this was caused by instability through family or friends or by gender/sexuality insecurity.  Staff at Stable Life (providing equine assisted learning) believed that the main issues included isolation in rural areas and pupils not attending at school.  The School Nurse said that openness was one thing that could be improved throughout the school.  She believed that drugs and alcohol were more of a problem now because they were more readily available than they used to be.  The Chairman thanked John and Doddie for their very interesting presentation and it was agreed that the slides be circulated with the feedback from the meeting.

.

2.4       Following the introductory presentations, officers joined Elected Members, partners and the public at their tables for a discussion on the main issues and priorities for the area in terms of ‘Our Health and Wellbeing’.  A pack of information had been provided at each table in addition to feedback sheets on which emerging points could be recorded.  A summary of the output of the discussions is provided as an appendix to this Minute.