Agenda, decisions and minutes

The Chair welcomed members of the Partnership to the first meeting of the new Council Year.  He explained for the benefit of new members that Milton Keynes Local Authority area was situated wholly within the geographical area of the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care System (BLMK ICS).  The role of the Partnership was to bring together key players involved in the planning and delivery health and care to residents of the city of Milton Keynes, to work collaboratively and collectively to add value to the services provided.

To approve, and the Chair to sign as a correct record, the Minutes of the meeting of the Partnership held on 22 February 2023.

RESOLVED -

That the Minutes of the meeting of the Health and Care Partnership held on 22 February 2023 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

To consider the Health and Care Partnership Tracker and information regarding actions agreed at previous meetings.

The actions arising from the previous meeting held on 22 February 2023 were noted. All other actions were completed or in the process of being completed with a progress reported noted accordingly on the Decision Tracker.

Councillors to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests, other registerable interests, or non-registerable interests (including other pecuniary interests) they may have in the business to be transacted, and officers to declare any interests they may have in any contract to be considered.

None.

To consider, BLMK ICP and ICB Update with annexes

The Partnership received a report from the Chief of System Assurance and Corporate Services, BLMK ICB.  Key areas of the report were highlighted:

·      The Report included the draft Joint Forward Plan (JFP) of the ICB at Annex A, which was required to be submitted to NHS England by 30 June 2023.

·      The JFP was required to be a five year plan, but the ICB had elected to take a longer term strategic view to 2040.  The intention was to create a “working” document that would be frequently revisited and revised in the light of changing priorities and new challenges.  The JFP presented to members was the initial draft and a link to the latest version would be provided to members subsequent to the meeting for their further consideration and comment.

·      Future health and care planning for the city was based on local needs using a population health approach.  The ICB worked closely with local authority colleagues to analyse the data available and forecast future need, and had formed a “Population Health Intelligence Unit” with this specific remit.

·      The system population was increasing at a fast rate, particularly in Milton Keynes, and it was important that this growth was properly forecast and understood in order to ensure that the supply of health services was able to meet resident demand.  The work carried out in partnership with MKCC and others over the past year, particularly through the MK Deal, had provided valuable knowledge and experience and would greatly aid the development of the ICS into the future. 

·      Resident participation had been key in developing the JFP and this would continue.  Over the summer and into the Autumn the ICB would be undertaking a “Big Conversation” with residents across BLMK, and would be a presence at many venues to discuss with residents their priorities and concerns, to ensure that this high level of participation continues.

·      The findings of the “Big Conversation” would be combined with the further input of partners to produce a more detailed plan next Spring, with a target of March 2024.  This would be presented to partners for further comment at that time.

·      Further to the report to the last meeting, the Musculoskeletal (MSK) procurement had been extended to allow for further resident and partner engagement.  The running costs exercise had also progressed, with staff consultation currently underway.

Members of the Partnership welcomed the JFP.  However, concerns were expressed about the veracity of the population growth figures across the city.  Population statistics could vary depending on their derivation and the metrics employed, e.g. whether based on voter numbers, housebuilding targets and so on, and so the creation of the Population Health Intelligence Unit would be vital to ensure accurate forecasting.  It was agreed that partners would liaise outside of the meeting to ensure that the figures provided in the final submission were as accurate as possible.

RESOLVED:

1.         Having reviewed the Draft Joint Forward Plan the Partnership agreed that, subject to reflecting local projections on the level of population and  ...  view the full minutes text for item HCP5

To consider, an update on the MK Deal with annexes

The Partnership received a report from the Chief Executive of Milton Keynes City Council.  Key areas of the report were highlighted:

·      Following consideration and discussion with partners the Joint Leadership Team recommended that Bletchley would be a suitable and sensible choice for the Neighbourhood Working pilot project.  Bletchley possessed key criteria identified in the Fuller Report, for example the area was a clearly identified local area with substantial community involvements and an identified willingness to engage.  There were identifiable and measurable health inequalities across the Bletchley community.

·      The team were keen to take the pilot forward, and proposed that between now and September they devote time to discussing key issues with residents and partners in the community. One of the particular challenges was that partners, for example those in primary care, schools and in the VCSE sector, may need to vary their current working methods to fully engage with the integrated care methodology.  Whilst the new systems promised significant opportunities, and parties had broadly welcomed the proposals thus far, change may be harder to achieve in practice.  It was important that this was properly understood and agreed prior to the commencement of the pilot.

·      In September, following the research phase, at the next meeting of the Health and Care Partnership it was proposed to bring the matter for decision to proceed with an 18 month pilot.

·      This research phase would include a workforce audit in the area, identifying and mapping key health and care personnel in Bletchley.  This would include primary care, community and mental health teams, local authorities (MKCC and town councils), Police, VCSE and schools amongst others.  Case Management approaches and operating models would need to be developed to support specific groups of people.  Consideration would need to be given to how the neighbourhood based approach would inter-relate to other relevant bodies, such as MK University Hospital.  Finally, it was important that appropriate metrics of success were decided upon and agreed.

·      Key operational developments would include growing the use of key assets, such as Bletchley Leisure Centre to support inactive residents, piloting the health and wellbeing coach role (taking a holistic view of an individual’s health, to include smoking and weight management for example), developing the role of pharmacies and working with Primary Care Networks to expand initiatives that reduced health inequality.

·      Consideration would also need to be given to high level co-ordination of this work, to include ongoing assessment of the pilot and the collation of evidence, to be used as neighbourhood working is rolled out more widely across the city.

·      It was also important to note that the neighbourhood working pilot would need to co-ordinate with, and to complement, work that the ICB was carrying out city-wide to improve primary care services.  This included, for example, improvements to GP practice websites and telephony systems, the increased use of remote consultations and better clinical signposting to the most appropriate health and care.

Members of the Partnership considered and discussed the proposal.  The success of the project was  ...  view the full minutes text for item HCP6

To note, the next meeting of the Health and Care Partnership will be held on 20 September 2023 at 2.00pm

It was noted that the next meeting of the Health and Care Partnership would be held on Wednesday 20 September 2023 at 2.00 pm.