Minutes:
The DPH delivered a presentation on the Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2023-28 refresh framework for delivery and consultation. This detailed:
The Committee requested an informal consultation session between itself, the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health Integration and Public Health, for Members to provide wider Committee feedback on the Strategy.
In response to questions from Members, the DPH stated that:
The Integrated Care Director at NELFT stated that NELFT had a contract with the Language Shop, which provided interpretation services across a range of London boroughs and health providers, for both sign and spoken languages, in telephone and in-person formats. Whilst it recognised that many families would translate for other family members, it did not rely on this as a source of translation, as it acknowledged that family members could mistranslate information, as well as due to challenges in the Borough around issues such as domestic violence and coercion. If an individual had an access need, they were able to highlight this prior to their appointment, so that NELFT was able to provide interpretation services.
The DPH also stated that in many languages, there was often not a direct translation for some medical diagnoses or conditions, which could prove difficult in explaining certain terms to individuals; the Council was investing in learning and work around this through its Health Inequalities project work, investing in community advocates and by co-locating community hubs within faith community spaces.
In response to further questions from Members, the DPH stated that the Council was engaging well with well-established partners from the LGBTQ+ community and with children and young people. The Borough was also continuously assessing the needs of its children and young people through its annual school health survey, in conjunction with the University of Bristol.
A Member stated that the needs of the Lithuanian community needed to be better considered, with many not understanding where to go when they had speech and language problems. The Member had had to signpost these individuals to services in Newham, as they were able to liaise with services in their native language there. The DPH stated that this would be factored into the consultation, ensuring that further work would target this group to improve their access to services.
Supporting documents: