Issue - meetings

Dr Fiona Wright, Consultant in Public Health at LBBD, presented the report, the aim of which was to give assurance to the Board that it had discharged its duties in relation to the JSNA.  It also aimed to summarise the approach taken and key findings in the current context and to share the key findings and next steps.  The presentation highlighted three key approaches to reducing health inequalities and the key plans and strategies for the borough.  The Board’s attention was also drawn to the context of the JSNA in regards to key plans and strategies for the LBBD, notably the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy.  The JSNA provided a ‘snapshot in time’ of the Borough’s health and wellbeing needs and inequalities.  There was continued concern on a number of key health issues, details of which were set out in the report and presentation.  Fiona particularly drew attention to life expectancy and healthy life expectancy rates in the Borough, as these indicated that healthy life expectancy was the lowest in London, with healthy life expectancy in women being particularly low.  The Borough also has a comparatively young population and would need to prepare for the projected increase of more than 70,000 residents by 2031

Fiona also drew the Boards attention to a number of key points including:

·  Over a quarter of 4 to 5 year olds are overweight and a third have tooth decay.

·  The second highest rate of teenage conception in London

·  The second highest proportion of young adults not in education or training (NEETS)

·  The highest rate of pregnant smokers and lower than average percentage of mothers that breast feed.

·  Heart disease most common cause of premature death.

·  Cancer being the most common cause of death.  Lung cancer was the most common cancer, with 9 out of 10 lung cancer deaths being related to smoking.  Improving cancer screening coverage was clearly important.

·  Issues that affect older generation such as depression and falls: that had resulted in nearly 400 emergency admissions to hospital.

·  Domestic violence and homelessness on their negative effects on physical and mental health and health inequalities.

In response to a question from Cllr Carpenter, Cabinet Member for Educational Attainment and School Improvement, Matthew Cole advised that there had been improvements in many areas but we were not improving as fast as other London boroughs.  The Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) would be prioritising some issues to enable targeted resources by partners; this would in effect create a smaller number of key priority areas. 

The Chair reminded Partners that the JSNA needs to be more clearly shown in the strategies they develop and to be more explicit in why they are concentrating on specific issues.

Cllr Turner, Cabinet Member for Corporate Performance and Delivery, pointed out that there are differences in demographics between areas and that it would be helpful to break down the information at sub borough level.  Cllr Turner also raised the effect that constantly changing demographics would have on the trends and how change  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35