The Health and Wellbeing Board was introduced
by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 which required that top tier
authorities (i.e. Unitary and County Councils) establish a Board by
1 April 2013.
The statutory functions of the Board
include:
·
To prepare a
Joint Strategic Assessment (JSNA); a Pharmaceutical
Needs Assessment (PNA) and
Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy (JHWS).
·
A duty to encourage integrated working between health and social
care commissioners in connection with the provision of health and
social care services;
·
A power to encourage close working between commissioners and
health-related services and the board itself; and
·
A power to encourage close working
between commissioners of health-related services and commissioners
of health and social care services.
There are a number of principles underlying
its creation. These include:
·
Shared leadership of a strategic approach to the health and
wellbeing of communities;
·
A commitment to drive real action and change to improve services
and outcomes;
·
Parity between Board members in terms of their opportunity
contribute to the Board’s deliberations, strategies and
activities
·
Shared ownership of the Board by all its members and accountability
to the communities it serves; and
·
Openness and transparency in the way that the Board carries out its
work.
