Adult Independence and Wellbeing subgroup meeting minutes
16-1-13, Cambridge House
Present
Name
Alvin
Andrew
Andy
Barry
Barry
Bekim
Carleen
Catherine
Charlotte
Errol
Hazel
Jacky
Jennifer
Jin
Jo
Joan
Layla
Les
Milly
Phil
Rebecca
Sabeena
Sharon
Truly
Vicky
Negus
Organisation
LINk
SDF
CAS
DMI
LINk Southwark
Thames Reach
Lambeth family link
CAS
Pamulake
Franklin
Saunders
Bourke-White
George
Lim
Clare
Baxter
Davidson
Alden
Hutchinson
Mawhinney
Fenner
Subba
Kitson
Johnston
Hartell
Men's Health Forum
Faces in Focus
Age UK Lewisham and Southwark
DMI
Southwark Council
Three Cs
WPF Therapy
Southwark Council
People Care Association
LINk Southwark
CAS
Peabody
DMI
Faces in Focus
CAS
Metropolitan
Kinch
Rice
Boaden
Coker
Silverman
Berlajolli
Thomas
1. Southwark Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy engagement exercise – Jin Lim,
Southwark Public Health Consultant
The Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy is the guiding document for Southwark’s Health and
Wellbeing Board. Informed by the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and Public Health regional
outcomes framework, the strategy will prioritise actions and underpin commissioning in the short,
medium and longer term in Southwark.
The priorities for the strategy are:
• Tackle the root causes of ill health and wellbeing, improving the wider determinants of
health & wellbeing, and reducing inequalities
• Building resilience and enabling everyone, including the most vulnerable, to manage their
own health & wellbeing and to live healthy lives
• Enable every child to have the best start in life
In light of the presentation (available to download here) and in relation to the above priorities,
attendees were asked to answer the following set of questions. The responses were as follows:
What knowledge or expertise can the voluntary sector bring to the strategy/objective?
The strength of the voluntary and community sector (VCS) lies in its ability to provide a holistic
service that addresses the wider determinants of health such as employment, housing etc. e.g. the
Thamesreach Employment Academy who support the homeless & people with mental health issues
back into work.
The VCS provides personalised services. They can explain conditions/how to access services in
plain language. Service users/patients need to be seen as people rather than a condition/number.
What should be the measures of success/desired outcomes?
Greater focus on outcomes rather than outputs and processes.
The outcomes should be jointly decided by public and voluntary and community sector colleagues.
There are a great variety of strategies that need to be rationalised as part of the JHWBS.
Better joining up of services/prioritisation of mental health. A particular problem area is the lag in
supporting people out of mental health centres and into council housing. The resultant cost in
future services is huge because of this disconnect.
Connectedness/Loneliness has such a huge effect on health. Needs to be prioritised.
Greater focus on recovery, not just maintenance in relation to Mental Health.
GPs referring to VCS either through database of VCS providers built into their systems or a
designated person working within GP practices.
What actions are needed?
To make engagement around strategic priorities meaningful, the general public need to be involved
in resource allocation and be able to influence this.
Performance/quality of GP services is hugely variable across the borough. Lack of knowledge
amongst local population about what constitutes a good service. This is reflected in people’s
inability to self-manage conditions e.g. Diabetes. PALS service not visible enough/understood.
Performance data should therefore include stakeholder perception of GP surgeries. By creating a
benchmark, this could be used to drive quality up. VCS to raise awareness/expectations among
patients of the kind of service they need/deserve.
Support needs to reach people earlier. People with long term mental health problems tend to have
established these by 14 years old.
Revive Total Place initiative with greater VCS involvement
Greater VCS engagement with the Integrated Care Programme. Know what they are retendering
and when they require input. Look at current performance.
2. Improving how CAS represents and lobbies for the voluntary sector – Andy
Boaden and Phil Mawhinney, CAS
CAS is constantly looking to give the local voluntary sector a stronger voice amongst policy
makers. A number of exciting developments over the past few months have begun to provide CAS
with a stronger evidence base and levers to influence to help the sector achieve this.
The Thinking allowed…about Health Summit. The summit was part of a series of events
between senior public and voluntary sector figures to create an action plan to improve partnership
working in relation to particular areas of work. The Health Summit tackled Clinical Commissioning,
the Health and Wellbeing Board, the transition of Public Health into the Local Authority and the
formation of Healthwatch.
The action plan from the Health summit (outlined in the presentation which is available to
download here) focused on issues such as market development, communication, strategic planning,
collaboration and co-production. Attendees were invited to give feedback on the action plan. Key
points included:
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The need for commissioning timetables
Creation of subcontracting opportunities for niche providers in the developing Health
agenda
Organisational charts of Council and Clinical Commissioning Group
An update list of providers for GPs to refer patients on to.
Clarification over the role of Healthwatch in the new health landscape
More information and engagement with the Integrated Care Programme
A new system of elected representatives has been developed to represent the wider
voluntary sector more effectively at Southwark’s strategic partnership boards. During November
2012, CAS invited applications to become representatives with the 30 successful applicants being
announced at CAS’s AGM on 5th of December 2012. From January to April 2013, CAS will be
working with the Reps to train them in their role, agree key messages and develop communications
with the wider sector. The new system of Reps is set to go live in April 2013 at which point more
information will be circulated. More information can be found in the presentation which is available
to download here.
The culmination of the new system of Reps and the summits, alongside a review of CAS’s existing
policy work, will be a CAS Policy Strategy that outlines priorities for 2013. This will be published in
March and circulated amongst the members via the Cascade e-bulletin for comment.
Read more about how CAS are improving their policy work here