Agenda item

A presentation will be provided setting out the process for designing and adopting the BSW Integrated Care Strategy.

Richard Smale, Director of Strategy and Transformation for the Integrated Care Board presented an update to the Committee setting out the process for designing and adopting the BSW Integrated Care Strategy.

It was emphasised that the Integrated Care Board were statutorily required to produce the Integrated Care Strategy by 31 March 2023 and as such, officers were in the first stages of the process. It was further noted that officers were meeting with the Health and Wellbeing Board the following week to engage with colleagues and private stakeholders for the development of the strategy, therefore the presentation would be focussed on explaining the process itself to Members.

The three products that officers would produce were explained, namely: the Integrated Care Strategy, the Integrated Care Implementation Plan, and the Operating Plan 2023/24 and then the importance of the relationship between the Integrated Care Strategy, which sets the direction, and the Joint Forward Plan, which defines how the elements of the strategy will be delivered, was highlighted. Officers then described an engagement event that was held on 16 December 2022 to inform the development of the strategy, feedback from which derived key areas of importance such as: tackling inequality, focussing on the individual, considering all ages, focussing on prevention and wellbeing, and wider determinants on health examples being housing conditions, diet and employment. Further areas were listed as focussing on a holistic view of all of the factors impacting on health and wellbeing rather than on the literal delivery of the services themselves and drawing on the strength and development of local communities.

Details were then given on the content required for the strategy and the desire to change the way the system operates with regard to areas such as greater diagnostic capabilities, recruitment and retention of staff, developing workforces, investment into apprenticeships and considering how to get the best from your resources. It was noted that the first draft would be circulated for comments during the time in which the local teams would be producing their specific Health and Wellbeing Strategies to ensure that there would be no duplications between engagement and to retrieve feedback that could be used in the development process.

Cllr Richard Clewer, Leader of the Council and Chair of the Integrated Care Partnership, emphasised the difficulties in combining all of the local strategies into the Integrated Care Strategy for the whole of BSW. The importance of undertaking a thematic approach akin to the Wiltshire Business Plan was noted and it was highlighted that both the development and implementation of the Strategy would be expected to evolve continuously over the course of the first year but that the potential benefits of a cohesive plan and vision across BSW would overcome the expected difficulties. Officers confirmed that a rough draft could be presented to the Committee for feedback ahead of the next planned meeting.

Cllrs sought clarification as to whether any information would be fed to Central Government and it was confirmed that it would not as there was not a statutory body responsible for the development and delivery of the Strategy.

At the conclusion of the discussion, it was:

Resolved

1)    To note the report on engagement within Wiltshire on the ongoing development of the initial Integrated Care Strategy.

2)    For the Chair and Vice-Chair to explore the best approach to further scrutiny engagement on the draft strategy and report back to the Committee.