Agenda and minutes

The Health Scrutiny Committee will be holding a special event on Health Promotion. The timetable is as follows:-

(i) Welcome and Introductions

Councillor Tom McGee, Chair of Health Scrutiny

(ii) Public Health Transition – Integration, Innovation and Delivery

Councillor John Pantall, Executive Councillor (Health and Wellbeing)

(iii) The Health of Stockport – JSNA Update

Dr Steve Watkins, Director of Public Health

(iv) Taking forward the Wellness Agenda: Promoting Health and Wellbeing in Stockport

Dr Vicci Owen-Smith, Deputy Director of Public Health

(v) Workshops -  Key Issues for Local Councillors

(vi) Feedback and Next Steps

(vii) Active Life:  Local Sign-up

The Chair welcomed everyone who had attended the meeting for the Health Promotion event.

The Executive Councillor (Health & Wellbeing) (Councillor John Pantall) reported on the transfer of public health functions to the Council from April 2013 and the opportunities this created for integrating services and overcoming operational silos. He referred to the recent announcement of the Public Health financial settlement and stated that work was underway to ensure that the best value for money would be gained from this resource.

The Director of Public Health (Dr Stephen Watkins) made a presentation providing an overview of the key health statistics and health profile of Stockport. Overall, the average health of Stockport residents was close to the national average, but that this masked significant inequalities. It was also stressed that the ‘wellbeing agenda’ was not a luxury but was epidemiologically linked to the causes of mortality.

The Deputy Director of Public Health (Vicci Owen-Smith) made a presentation on mental wellbeing and the evidence available to support increased focus on this to improve the overall wellbeing of residents.

The Chair then invited councillors to take part in a series of workshops on key public health issues.

At 6.25 the meeting adjourned.

At 7.40 the meeting reconvened.

The Chair invited feedback from the Health Promotion workshops:-

(i)            Cancer Prevention and Increasing Screening Uptake in Stockport

Dr Vicci Owen Smith summarised the discussion had during the workshops and highlighted the following issues:-

·         difficulties in engaging all residents and encouraging them to undergo screening, and recognising that there may always be individuals who wont engage with services;

·         opportunities to use the powerful stories of those who had been ‘saved’ by screening programmes;

·         using word of mouth to encourage take up, through children and spouses, as done with smoking cessation campaigns;

·         improved sharing of information between agencies to better target communications and campaigns.

(ii)          20mph Zones and promoting walking and cycling in local communities

Dr Stephen Watkins summarised the discussion had during the workshops and highlighted the following issues:-

·         the contrast between improving road safety but the high incidences of child pedestrian death;

·         the need to better promote the idea of ‘home zones’ to residents;

·         the impact on the levels of heart disease if residents chose to walk or cycle for shorter journeys rather than driving; and

·         the need to improve the perception, and reality, of cycle safety.

(iii)         Healthy Eating – impact of takeaway outlets

Donna Sager (Service Director) summarised the discussion had during the workshops and highlighted the following issues:-

·         questioning whether current policies on takeaways remained fit for purpose;

·         the possibility of providing community cooking lessons;

·         encouraging takeaways to provide healthier options and displaying health information; and

·         targeting messages around healthy eating to grandparents.

(iv)         Alcohol Strategy: Minimum Alcohol Pricing and other opportunities

Jerry O’Keefe (Associate Director of Public Health) summarised the discussion had during the workshops and highlighted the following issues:-

·         the importance of the Alcohol Strategy;

·         the wider impact of alcohol misuse beyond health and crime and disorder;

·         the need to change the culture of alcohol usage as there was a limit to how far services can seek to overcome the widespread availability and falling cost of alcohol. The importance of Minimum Unit Pricing was emphasised; and

·         a need to be clearer on the message around alcohol consumption as the public did not necessarily understand alcohol units.

(v)          Safer Winters for Vulnerable People. 

Sarah Newsam (Head of Health & Wellbeing) summarised the discussion had during the workshops and highlighted the following issues:-

·         particular prevalence of seasonal deaths amongst older people;

·         isolation was a key issue – there was a need to ensure access to services was maintained or just simple ways of maintaining contact;

·         improvements to housing and access to support through winter fuel allowance, and better ways of identifying vulnerability were noted as possible factors in decreasing seasonal deaths; and

·         the importance of the community as a vehicle for supporting vulnerable residents.

Representatives of Life Leisure also attended the meeting to encourage councillors to sign-up for Active Life as a way of monitoring levels of activity and identifying opportunities for increasing exercise.

RESOLVED – (1) That councillors and officers from the Public Health service be thanked for their attendance and participation.

(2) That the Democratic Services Manager be requested to circulate copies of the presentations to councillors and to provide a report to the next ordinary meeting summarising the discussions at the health promotion workshops.

To approve as a correct record and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 27 November 2012.

The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 27 November 2013 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

No declarations of interest were made.

There were no call-ins to consider.

To consider a report of the Director of Public Health

The Health and Social Care Act, passed in March 2012, provided a critical step in the transition towards the establishment of a new public health system, founded upon improving health in the local community through joint programmes driven by leadership from local government. The new system, which is due to be fully implemented in April 2013, will see responsibility for public health transfer from the NHS to Stockport Council. As such Stockport Council will take the lead for improving health, co-ordinating local efforts to protect the public’s health and ensuring health services promote population health.

The report sets out the legal background, the key messages from the Department of Health and the main responsibilities of the Director of Public Health.

The Health Scrutiny Committee is invited to comment on the report and recommend that the Executive

·           Agree to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) transfer of staff between the PCT and Council and note the various consultation exercises.

·           Agree that the acceptance of the Contracts Transfer Scheme, which will take place at the end of March 2013 is delegated to the Chief Executive in consultation with the relevant Executive Councillors.

Officer contact: Donna Sager, 0161 474 3928, donna.sager@stockport.gov.uk

The Service Director (Strategy and Commissioning) submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) inviting the Scrutiny Committee to consider the arrangements for the transfer of public health functions from the Primary Care Trust to the Council from 1 April 2013.

RESOLVED – That the Executive be recommended to:

·        agree to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) transfer of staff between the Primary Care Trust and the Council in respect of public health and note the various consultation exercises.

·        agree that the acceptance of the Contracts Transfer Scheme, which will take place at the end of March 2013 be delegated to the Chief Executive in consultation with the relevant executive councillors.

A representative of the Democratic Services Manager submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) setting out planned items for the Scrutiny Committee’s next meeting and any Forward Plan items that fell within its remit.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.