Agenda item

For action: To consider a repot setting out an update on progress with delivery of health place shaping across Oxfordshire and to present the new Health and Wellbeing Board Strategy for Oxfordshire.

The Partnership considered a report that provided an update on healthy placemaking across Oxfordshire and the new Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Oxfordshire. Rosie Rowe, Head of Healthy Place Shaping and David Munday, Deputy Director of Public Health, Oxfordshire County Council gave a detailed presentation summarising the report and strategy.

In summary, members of the Partnership raised the following issues:

·           That it was appropriate that the Partnership be a primary partner for facilitating the Health and Wellbeing Strategy. It was important that this was a strategy that was delivered on the ground not just drafted.

·           As referred to in Paragraph 11 of the report, the lack of capacity of the NHS to engage with planning authorities on estate issues and problems in bringing forward primary care facilities including GP surgeries across the county was a matter of serious concern, particularly engagement with the current round of Local Plan reviews. This needed to be addressed in the future.

·           It was noted the Planning Advisory Group, (PAG) was looking into the issues around planning for health infrastructure and had at its December meeting received presentations on planning for health from a public health perspective and from representatives from the BOB Integrated Care Board setting out from its perspective, the challenges, and constraints in providing primary care infrastructure.

·           The emphasis within the basic building blocks of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy on prevention of ill health and in supporting people to live longer in their homes was acknowledged and welcomed. Comment was also made that this did impact on local planning considerations as issues such as easy access to doctors, access to green space etc were all related and interconnected.

·           The reference to the principles of ‘Start Well, ‘Live Well’ and ‘Age Well’ within the Strategy were acknowledged and welcomed, but it was suggested that there was tendency from a local government place making perspective to focus upon the Live Well aspects and perhaps not consider enough issues related to Starting Well and Aging Well. Ensuring children started out well in life was known to be particularly important for their future health and wellbeing and challenges included child poverty, overcrowding and access to quality green space – all planning related issues.

·           Members commented that emphasis was also needed on preparing for palliative and end-of-life care.

Dan Leveson on behalf the BOB Integrated Care Board referred to the links and joint working between the Integrated Care Strategy, the ICB Five Year Forward View and Health and Wellbeing Strategy in terms of access to services. The Health and Wellbeing Strategy would provide the references to hold the NHS to account for delivery and attention was also drawn to the draft Primary Care Strategy.

Responding to the point on NHS engagement with the planning process he stated the ICB was doing all it could to engage on planning issues and he commented that it would not be possible to build new GP practices where existing ones existed. Adapting and developing GP practices for modern models of service delivery, finding ways to share estate and developing digital health systems would be important.

In conclusion, the Chair commented that it was clear that the issue of planning for health infrastructure was crucial and access to GP services remained an outstanding issue of significant concern to residents, particularly in light of new housing growth across the county. It was therefore very important that local authorities worked closely with the health system in order to plan in adequate health facilities and access to health. She asked that the results of further discussion at the Planning Advisory Group around planning for health continue to be feedback to Partnership and that the issue be pursued as a priority.

As Chair of the Planning Advisory Group, Councillor Andy Graham responded that he was happy to take this forward and to seek to come back to the Partnerships after further discussion and work by officers.

RESOLVED:

1.     That the Future Oxfordshire Partnership endorses the new Health & Wellbeing Board Strategy for Oxfordshire.

2.     That the Future Oxfordshire Partnership continues to support healthy place shaping as a strategic priority in enabling the regeneration of existing communities and the development of new communities which promote health and wellbeing.