Julie (CEO of Hunts Forum) welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked POSH for letting us use their venue. Julie explained that a Health Alliance Director had been appointed and they would be taking the reins from today- Sandie Smith was introduced.

Many of you may already know Sandie- Sandie was previously the CEO of Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough so had been part of the first discussions with the ICS and has a great knowledge of the Health and Care system. Sandie started on the 1^st of June and has a one-year part-time contract. She will be working to further the Health Alliance’s involvement with the ICS and to promote the good work that has already been achieved. She will continue to be supported by Debbie and will be chairing the meeting going forward.

Sandie plans to meet with many of the Health Alliance members, particularly those who have been involved as reps or as part of the task and finish groups. If you would like to discuss anything with Sandie please email her sandie@huntsforum.org.uk or Debbie debbie@huntsforum.org.uk

Andrea Grobois, Assistant Director of Community Strategic Partnerships, was introduced- Andrea has been in post for 8 weeks. Andrea will be attending the Health Alliance meetings going forward and will be ensuring the voluntary sector have an equitable voice in the ICS and will help address challenges. Andrea is contactable via email a.grobois@nhs.net

The action log was reviewed, and there were some updates.

The governance review had taken place, and 2 of the boards that the Alliance have reps attending have been merged with no notice to those involved. For the Alliance, this could mean over-representation. Andrea and Sandie will discuss this. It was also noted that this meeting came with 600+ pages of papers which is a massive ask. (action 34)

A safeguarding task and finish group have met, the meeting went well, and members discussed safeguarding training in the sector. It has been agreed that Sandie will draft a safeguarding action plan. (action 35)

There is willingness from North and South place partnership for a joint meeting with the voluntary sector to discuss the Hewitt report. The next steps would be to co ordinate this. (action 43)

Jenna Lusk from POSH talked about the charitable foundation’s involvement in the community and the aim to help people stay healthy and as mobile as possible. Jenna explained that the projects they run are wide ranging and funding is sought from various areas. Some projects include Yoga, Chair based exercise, walking football, healthy goals sessions, and a time out social group. Many activities take place at the football ground but there are opportunities to take some projects into the community which they do. The team often link with other organisations to enable projects to happen and have good links into Cambridge United’s foundation too.

Debbie gave feedback from the Health Inequalities task and finish group. The 3 projects that were undertaken have now been completed. Debbie had used the projects as an opportunity to speak to attendees about the ICS priorities- what did people feel about them? What do they feel is needed to achieve them? What is missing?

Debbie reported that the project that had been undertaken on the Oxmoor with families had sparked interest from other areas in the county.

 

The meeting then went on to look at some of the goals from the voluntary sector strategy. Sandie will be focussing on some of these going forward and Andrea will support if there needs to be ICS input.

Under Goal 1 the group discussed the funding available for the VCSE sector. The Healthier Futures Fund is the monies that are available at present and organisations will need to get their bids in for August. There have been a few questions raised.

• How are the bids being evaluated? Initially they will be looked at by Cambridge Community Foundation, districts are being asked if they would like to review. Where is the voluntary sector voice on this?
• It was felt more needs to be done to make it accessible to smaller groups.
• It was felt that the “new project” approach will stop some organisations as many need funding to continue the service they already offer. Where is the money for this?
• How can the impacts from these projects influence future commissioning.

Organisations are being encouraged to sign up to the JOY app but there is some hesitation on this. Organisations are already reporting that some have been overwhelmed by the number of new referrals they are receiving and more complex cases (no finance to support) The social prescribers often make a referral without understanding what an organisation can offer.

The Alliance members agreed that it would be good to find out who has signed up to the JOY app and if they had any implications they could share. Maybe the impact is not as expected. Debbie will ask all on mailing list for feedback on this.

The Health and Wellbeing Network have hosted a few “Meet Your Social Prescriber” events which have been popular and there is another one on 4^th July 1pm on line (see link below)

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/656740457387

Social prescribing will be added to next agenda.

AOB

Sharon Allen shared: She is part of a small advisory group working with Alessandro Bosco (ab2984@medschl.cam.ac.uk) who is part of a small research team supported by colleagues from Eastern Academic Health Science Network and ARHC. The focus of Alessandro’s work is investigating health inequalities for people needing to access medication for palliative and end of life care, particularly out of hours.

It will be really helpful to engage in dialogue with people who have had this experience, particularly those from marginalised communities and are particularly keen to engage with people in Peterborough and Fenland.

They want to share a leaflet on anticipatory medicine currently in use. The leaflet provides guidance on anticipatory medication in the community and should target end of life care.  The idea would be to explore with members of the public their ideas and views on the leaflet.

Any member organisations who think they could facilitate a focus group that Alessandro can attend and hear people’s experiences and ideas for how we can improve things. If any Health Alliance members think they could support with bringing a group together or have other information or ideas that could support with this work please contact Alessandro direct.

 

The Next Health Alliance meeting is July 12^th 9.30 on Zoom – contact debbie@huntsforum.org.uk

To learn more about the Health Alliance and the health agenda CLICK HERE