Agenda item

The Director of Public Health and the Managing Director of the Barking, Havering and Redbridge CCG gave a presentation to the Committee on “Barking Riverside – a new approach to wellbeing and health creation”.

The development at Barking Riverside had been announced as one of NHS England’s ‘Healthy New Towns’, the only one in London and as such developers were required to provide financial contributions to the development of health and care infrastructure to support the new population.  This provided an opportunity to develop a genuinely integrated service with a focus on prevention.

The Barking Riverside development was moving into phase 2 of the four phases of the build. This was the phase during which the wellbeing hub would be built, which would house health and care, leisure, and community and voluntary sector services.

The developer had requested submission of a single client brief towards the end of 2018 from the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and Barking and Dagenham Clinical Commissioning Group, setting out the high level quantum of space in a schedule of accommodation for the wellbeing hub, and highlighting key requirements.

To meet the developer’s deadline for submission of the single client brief , BHR CCGs and LBBD convened the Barking Riverside System Development Board which had overseen an initial series of five key workshops, alongside a programme of engagement with local people to feed into the development of the proposed model of care, and from this, ascertain key requirements of the physical building and wider Riverside environment.

A ‘straw man’ proposal for the clinical space and emerging model of care/wellbeing had been populated through the process of the workshops, taking into account feedback from local people and key stakeholders.

This included requirements the space must accommodate to deliver the emerging model of care. Some of the key principles included:

•  The service would be jointly procured/commissioned by B&D CCG and LBBD

•  The service would be delivered by a single provider alliance through a single contract, the form of which was to be explored

•  There would not be a traditional GP practice with a list size, however, GPs would be key to leading the team / model of care

•  Neutral branding would be employed (not NHS-focussed) that embodies empowerment, community and friendship to promote the concept of ‘wellness’ rather than a focus on illness

•  there was particular opportunity to capitalise on linking health and wellbeing services with leisure facilities, and to community assets such as education campuses e.g. the nearby Riverside Campus School, and other schools in the area.

•  Access to the leisure and community facilities would be key to the model of wellbeing and should feel part of an integrated offer, not a separate service

•  The space would be as flexible as possible to ensure that it was able to adapt to a model of care that would evolve over time to meet the changing needs of the local population.

These proposals were being shared with a number of key forums and stakeholders for further review and comment.

The Committee were advised that it was proposed that gym and leisure facilities would be cheaper for local residents and if the pilot was successful, it could be rolled out across the Borough.

The report was noted and a further update on progress was requested for the next meeting of the Committee.