Agenda item

The Chief Executive of Watford Borough Council and the Chief Strategy and Collaboration Officer at West Herts Teaching Hospital Trust to make a presentation updating the committee on this emerging area of work.

The committee received a presentation by Toby Hyde, Chief Strategy and Collaboration Officer and Donna Nolan, Chief Executive of Watford Borough Council. The presentation provided the context of the reorganisation of NHS structures, the local integrated care system and the collaboration journey locally. An overview was also provided of Watford Borough Council’s increasing engagement over the last year and potential opportunities.

                Discussing how this piece complemented wider council work, the Chief Executive noted that an internal exercise had been undertaken to consider how the core services contributed to health and the findings were that the council had a major role in the prevention of ill-health which had gone unrecognised in the system.

Other partners had responded very positively to the engagement from Watford including the county council and other districts. The biggest future obstacle would be funding and capacity. It was a complex system with a large number of organisations involved and the NHS had moved from a focus on competition to collaboration.

The local mental health provider was Hertfordshire Partnership Foundation Trust      who worked in acute services. The aim was to provide alternative ways of supporting those with mental health concerns outside A&E as well as addressing the other physical health conditions that they might be experiencing. 

                The committee noted that public health sat with Hertfordshire County Council and asked why this was a priority for Watford Borough Council. The Chief Executive noted that the top concern in the residents’ survey was health and social care, so it mattered to residents. The Council Plan also included commitments around a ‘Happy and Healthy Town’, but there should be a focus on the best outcomes rather than who did what. It remained important that the funding was allocated in the right way in order to maximise this opportunity to create a new approach in the health system for the next generation of healthcare.

                Turning to the measures of success, the key metrics were what mattered to patients as well as costs. This might include, for patients experiencing complex frailty, reduced time spent in hospital. It was also important that there was no wrong door for accessing support and that collective resources were maximised. The costs for the proposed projects had not yet been identified, as these were early stages.

                Approaches like this were operating at different stages in other places; the best ideas would be considered as the evidence base was being developed and then the implementation models could be reviewed.  It was vital that there was a commitment across the system to ensure that momentum was maintained even when personnel changed.

                The focus needed to be to start with the issues that caused the most problems and did not represent value for the taxpayer.  This would involve undertaking pilots to prove concepts and gain confidence. 

The pandemic had demonstrated how partners could work across organisations to achieve common goals and the barriers between organisations had not reformed in Watford which provided a sound foundation for this work.

                The Chief Executive held responsibility for this at Watford Borough Council and she was linked in with other chief executives across the country who had similar ambitions as well as the District Councils Network who were bringing together the work nationally.  The local NHS leaders were engaged with the emerging evidence testing of these new ways of working. The Chief Executive of the NHS had recently visited Watford to discuss this work and had noted this was the ‘most joined up health system we have been to see’ which was a reflection of the quality of the relationships.

                Responding to a question about working with education authorities, it was noted that this linked in with other work taking a long-term approach to a vision for Watford, which brought together 20 key anchor organisations and had a link to health.

                The committee thanked the guests for their update.

RESOLVED –

that the update be noted and that a further update be brought back to the committee in 12 months.