Agenda item

The Executive Member for Wellbeing submitted a report in respect of Thriving Together 2024 – 2027, which was the new health and wellbeing plan for East Herts. She set out the background to the paper and summarised the draft work that had already begun in respect of the Health and Welling Plan, including the work of partners in wider health and wellbeing services and ways to include residents.

The Executive Member for Wellbeing said that a helpful approach for residents would be to have this document as a broad mission statement and then have an action plan as a live document which would be monitored and updated on a more regular basis. She said that the Healthy Lifestyles Programme Officer had run a survey for residents that had been broadly advertised and a good number of responses had been received.

The Executive Member for Wellbeing summarised the broadly positive feedback and said that respondents had been given the option to receive further updates or to become part of a wider community group. She said that the report summarised some of the suggested changes and there had been a small focus group prior to Christmas with a few of the residents who had expressed an interest in being more involved.

The Executive Member for Wellbeing said that a number of further edits had been made following the focus group and she welcomed any comments or questions from Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Councillor Buckmaster acknowledged the amount of work and expertise that had gone into the report. He emphasised the importance of the document being easily understood and that there should be an associated “live” action plan document. He talked about ensuring enough flexibility so that various agencies and communities were able to engage with the plan.

Councillor Buckmaster said that the council should make sure that there was a measurable baseline. He referred to the social and community benefits deriving from council services such as Hertford Theatre and the leisure centres. He talked about the council’s cultural strategy and taking culture to the community if residents were unable to attend a theatre. He referred to the previous Forever Active programme from a few years ago and said that every councillor had a part to play in ensuring that the council reached out to as many people as possible.

Councillor Nicholls said that this work was important in tackling loneliness and issues related to mental and physical health in local communities. She referred in particular, to pre-empting the need for adult care as a way of tackling the consequences of neglecting mental and physical health. She welcomed the inclusion of arts and creativity in the health and wellbeing plan and talked about the provision of services in rural communities.

Councillor Carter mentioned that she had noticed that respondents were perhaps weighted to the older age group, and she felt that this should be looked at going forward in the next stage of the process.

In reply to a question from Councillor Andrews regarding when the detailed action plan flowing from the Thriving Together document would be drawn up, the Executive Member for Wellbeing said that the action plan drafting process had commenced. She talked about the timelines for achieving actions and emphasised the importance of ensuring there were defined measures in the new Health and Wellbeing Plan.

Councillor Buckmaster said that there had been some public health funding that had come into the council which had helped with the work of healthy hubs in signposting. He stressed the importance of investing in prevention in respect of ill health such as type 2 diabetes and obesity. He referred to the importance of funding coming down to county and district councils from the health system as this would save the health service money.

The Executive Member for Wellbeing made a number of comments in response to the thoughts expressed by the Committee. In particular, in response to Councillor Carter’s observation about the need to engagement with young people, the Executive Member told members that while the council had relatively few direct links with young people, Officers would work through partners, notably Active in the Community (a sports development agency funded by the council), the Defra-funded Breathe Clean project with schools and as part of the council-funded diversionary activities for young people during school holidays.

Councillor Nicholls proposed and Councillor Swainston seconded, a motion that the revised Thriving Together health and wellbeing plan for 2024 - 2027, had been considered, with any comments provided to the Executive Member for Wellbeing for consideration prior to presentation of the plan to the Executive.

After being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – having considered the revised Thriving Together health and wellbeing plan for 2024 - 2027, our comments be provided to the Executive Member for Wellbeing for consideration prior to presentation of the plan to the Executive.