Agenda item

Questions from Members of the Public

Meeting of Health and Wellbeing Board, Wednesday 29 January 2025 12.00 pm (Item 22.)

To receive questions from the public in accordance with the Constitution.

Questions, of no longer than 50 words, can be submitted to the Democratic Support Unit, Plymouth City Council, Ballard House, Plymouth, PL1 3BJ, or email to democraticsupport@plymouth.gov.uk. Any questions must be received at least five clear working days before the date of the meeting.

Minutes:

There was one Public Question received:

Question

On 14th October 2024 Plymouth City Council issued a news release, ’NHS Devon has a moral obligation to address Plymouth health funding issue’. What are your plans to engage with NHS Devon about your concerns through the Health & Wellbeing Board which has a statutory role for this purpose?

Response

Thank you for your question. The Health and Wellbeing Board has eight core statutory functions:

1. Conduct Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) to evaluate local health and social care needs;

2. Develop Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy (JHWS) (part of the Plymouth Plan);

3. Encourage integration between health and social care commissioners;

4. Ensure consultation with Healthwatch and local community;

5. Respond to health scrutiny committee recommendations;

6. Maintain the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment;

7. Work with Integrated Care Boards and local authorities;

8. Review and comment on whether local health commissioning plans align with JHWS.

While funding distribution is not explicitly part of these statutory functions, the board addresses fair funding issues through appropriate channels alongside the council's health scrutiny function. The Board receives regular update reports from NHS Devon, including financial spend, and the Health & Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel recently considered an item on NHS Devon ICS Finance.

Historically it was felt that NHS Devon had not invested its resources equitably when compared to a fair share allocation of resources at a locality level. Following previous discussions between council officers, NHS Devon, and elected members, the Devon system recognised the challenge facing health services in Plymouth and the Western locality of Devon in its fair shares analysis. In 2019, the then Devon Clinical Commissioning Group took the decision to take steps to begin to address the inequity at locality level. Through this decision, £5 million of recurrent funding was allocated to Plymouth, however, no further changes were made during the Covid pandemic.

Plymouth City Council and NHS Devon have remained engaged in discussions to understand the history of health resource allocations, going back to 2013/14. The outcome of this work is hoped to be presented to the Integrated Care Board at its meeting on 27 March 2025. Elected members have, and will continue to advocate on this matter, and I as Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board will be scheduling an item to examine the outcome of the ICB, 27 March meeting, on work programme.