Agenda item

To provide the Health and Wellbeing Board with an update on HealthWatch Brent’s progress throughout 2022-23 and the development of the HealthWatch Brent workplan for 2023-24.

Cleo Chalk (Manager, HealthWatch Brent) introduced the report, which asked Board members to note the outcomes achieved over the past year, as well as HealthWatch’s plan to build on existing priorities and develop the service. In introducing the report, she highlighted the following key points:

·         HealthWatch had experienced challenges over the past 12 months due to staffing challenges but were now in a stronger position with Cleo Chalk as Manager and an overarching Service Manager from the Advocacy Project.

·         HealthWatch were pleased to have made progress in the past 12 months despite staffing challenges, particularly the project work with Brent’s communities facing multiple health inequalities including strengthening links with Romanian and Somali communities. HealthWatch looked forward to continuing that targeted work in 2023-24. It had been found that the experiences of these groups echoed the broader lack of access affecting many communities in Brent.

·         A series of highly insightful ‘enter and view’ visits had been conducted at the Park Royal Centre for Mental Health, which resulted in several key findings, notably the lack of information patients had about their care plans and the need for more information about the complaints process. HealthWatch were now working closely with that service to implement the changes from those recommendations.

·         Priorities for 2023-24 had now been agreed for the Annual Work Programme, which had been informed by a detailed piece of work evaluating what HealthWatch knew about health inequalities in Brent and its relationship with key stakeholders.

·         The first priority was mental health in key communities and geographical hotspots, building on existing work with the Somali community and developing a new project working specifically with the Pakistani community. The Pakistani community had been chosen following conversations with CNWL which suggested that group was underrepresented.

·         The second priority would be around translation and additional support to access services. From the work HealthWatch had done with the Romanian community, they knew that there was a lack of access to translated materials and HealthWatch were looking to investigate that further, including in relation to key services such as maternity. It was hoped this would lead to more opportunities for co-production work in that community to develop those translated resources.

·         The final priority was to ensure HealthWatch was focusing on residents in the most deprived wards. Engagement work had always been concentrated in Harlesden and Stonebridge and this would be expanded to include Kensal Rise. The work in those areas would focus on delivering HealthWatch’s advice and information service, crucially in face-to-face and pop-up services and not solely online or telephone. That work would also focus on the delivery of health information, and was looking at cancer screening workshops to be delivered specifically in those wards.

·         Now that the service was close to being fully staffed and there was a larger pool of volunteers, HealthWatch were looking at service development and wanted to expand the advice and signposting service, which was felt to be a really important way HealthWatch reached residents most struggling to access services.

In considering the presentation, the Board raised the following points:

·         The Board understood the focus on the Romanian community as a rapidly expanding emerging community. They highlighted that the Arabic community was the second largest emerging community in Brent and so asked HealthWatch to consider focusing on Arabic communities specifically as well.

·         The Board highlighted that there were nearly 700 asylum seekers currently placed in hotels in the borough, who were not on safe routes and did not have refugee packages, who would be going through the streamlined process for leave to remain. It was highlighted that many of these asylum seekers would have serious mental health and trauma related issues, and the Board asked what HealthWatch might be considering doing in these areas. Cleo Chalk advised the Board that asylum seekers in hotels were on their radar and HealthWatch had started to make links with homelessness groups and other voluntary organisations working with those communities in Brent. Carolyn Downs (Chief Executive, Brent Council) advised HealthWatch that the local authority would want to work with HealthWatch on any project they did coming out of that.

·         The Board highlighted that, alongside HealthWatch, Brent also had Brent Health Matters (BHM) and increasing awareness from mainstream statutory services of the need to reflect on and address health inequalities. As such, they asked where HealthWatch saw itself in the wider system to make the best impact and influence. Cleo Chalk explained that HealthWatch had been reviewing its stakeholder engagement strategy which had involved looking at how it could differentiate itself from other work programmes already existing in Brent and ensure it was not duplicating the work of other organisations such as BHM. What she saw as being unique to HealthWatch was that it could contribute its knowledge and links with services to the wider health system. Going forward, HealthWatch would be focusing much more on people who were actively using services whilst bringing community groups and services together. The work HealthWatch had done with the Somali community had been around putting community leaders in a room with service providers to co-design service provision based on the knowledge those communities had, and she hoped to replicate that type of work in the future.

·         In relation to how the wider health system engaged with HealthWatch, Phil Porter (Corporate Director Adult Social Care & Health, Brent Council) advised the Board that the ICP were committed to engaging and working with communities to co-design services and, as such, HealthWatch had a seat on all ICP Executive Groups.

·         The Board asked about the reasoning for the focus on Pakistani and Bengali communities in relation to paragraph 3.11 of the report, which detailed feedback gathered following the covid-19 vaccination rollout. They were advised that this had been a piece of work commissioned by NHSE to focus specifically on those community groups due to Healthwatch’s existing links to those communities. The work focused on understanding the messaging that had gone out and future messaging to encourage people to get vaccinated. HealthWatch had also supported a wider vaccination awareness programme with volunteers going out with the vaccination bus to spread awareness to a much broader range of community groups.

·         The Board asked if HealthWatch had any work planned around access to NHS dentists as this was a significant public health risk for children. An announcement on the day of the meeting that 85 BUPA dentists were closing showed the broader trend of private and NHS dentists closing down. Dr Melanie Smith (Director of Public Health, Brent Council) advised the Board that Public Health continued to lobby NHSE for a reinvestment of the underspend on the general dental contract into community dental services, outreach, and health promotion. In the meantime, the oral health bus would be revisiting several primary schools across the borough during the summer. Public Health were aware that the children who accessed the oral health bus the previous summer had considerable unmet need and were happy to report that they had been able to get access to dentistry for a number of those children, and several local dentists had agreed to take referrals from Public Health over the summer.

·         Nigel Chapman (Corporate Director Children and Young People, Brent Council) highlighted the reference in the report to conversations about children’s health. He advised the Board that conversations were being had around the work HealthWatch could do to support children’s health, such as advocacy for care leavers and care leavers accessing their own health history. 

RESOLVED: To note the information provided in the paper.