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Health and Wellbeing Board |
5 May 2021 |
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Report of the Co-Chairs of the Health and Wellbeing Board’s Ageing Well Partnership |
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Ageing Well Partnership: Progress Report
Summary
1. This report presents the Health and Wellbeing Board with an update on the work the Ageing Well Partnership has undertaken since last reporting to the board in March 2020.
2. The board are asked to note the report and ratify the amended Terms of Reference for the partnership as well as indicating their continued support for the partnership’s direction of travel.
3. Nick Sinclair from the public health team who is co-chair of the partnership will be in attendance at the meeting to present this report.
Background
4. The joint health and wellbeing strategy for 2017-22 identifies four principal themes to be addressed. One of these themes is ageing well with the key priority for that theme being to reduce loneliness and isolation for older people.
5. Additionally in 2019 the Health and Wellbeing Board undertook a mid-way review of the joint health and wellbeing strategy and identified that the following priority would be their focus for ageing well for the rest of the strategy’s lifetime:
The board’s ambition is that York will be the most age friendly city it can be. We will ensure that our Age Friendly programme of work is connected across all ages and parts of society.
6. Progressing the Age Friendly York work has therefore been the predominant focus of the Ageing Well Partnership since that time.
Co-Chair’s Update
7. After a short lull in both partnership meetings and the progression of our priorities due to the immediate need to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ageing Well Partnership began to meet again in October 2020. It has been meeting once every two months since then. There has been a change of chairship for the partnership with the previous chair taking a step back to focus on leading the work in response to the pandemic. The partnership is currently co-chaired by a representative from NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group and a representative from York’s Public Health Team, which has the benefit of being a more joined up approach.
8. The partnership is concentrating on two areas of work at the moment as follows:
Age Friendly York Project
9. Currently the partnership’s primary focus is working towards Age Friendly City status and this is being taken forward through the Age Friendly York project. Updates on this are received at every partnership meeting.
10. This is a very hands on and operational project with five focused domains and one cross cutting. The domains are not all being progressed at the same time but at various stages with a view to applying for World Health Organisation (WHO) Age Friendly City Status in December 2022. Baseline assessments against each of the domains along with a citizen led action plan must form part of our submission.
11. The project has excellent leadership and is co-produced at every stage with the Age Friendly York Citizen Group who are intrinsic to the success of the work. Annex A provides a summary of the domains, the work that has taken place since October 2020 and the evolving action plan.
Developing a Dementia Strategy for York
12. The partnership have renewed their focus on the development of a dementia strategy for the city and progress against this is contained within Annex B to this report.
13. As a partnership we are aware that this piece of work needs to be progressed at pace and we have now added this as a standing agenda item for consideration at every meeting.
14. The Mental Health Partnership have also added this as a standing item to all of their meeting agendas which should ensure that there is input and energy from both partnerships in order to make headway with this cross-cutting piece of work.
Other areas of work
15. The two areas of work detailed above are the main focus for the partnership and whilst the partnership are confident that these are being progressed and action plans developed they have started to explore other areas of work linked to the ageing well agenda to look at where best they can add value and influence.
16. Reports and presentations have been received on a variety of topics including an end of life strategy; a rapid health needs assessment (impact of Covid-19- on older people) and falls prevention.
17. The partnership has also considered digital inclusion for older people; particularly in light of societal changes during the pandemic which have led to a higher need for access to the internet to undertake everyday tasks such as banking and shopping.
18. York Explore are leading on a digital inclusion project for all ages and the chair of the Digital Inclusion Partnership has attended the Ageing Well Partnership to update on this work. The Ageing Well Partnership are assured that this work is progressing well and will continue to receive occasional updates and suggest further areas of exploration. A representative from York Explore has also been invited to join the Ageing Well Partnership to provide a channel for information sharing.
19. The partnership has continued to build links with the York Health and Care Collaborative (YHCC) and have considered the way that they interact with them. Having a representative from NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group as co-chair has provided a solid connection, as they have a close working relationship with both the partnership and the YHCC. There are opportunities to co-ordinate the work of the partnership and the YHCC, particularly in relation to supporting people to age well and in the prevention and reversal of mild frailty, as well as in falls prevention. These will be further explored during 2021/22.
20. As part of this deconditioning has been identified as an area where more work is required. As many have struggled to access activities in their local communities due to the pandemic this has had an impact on frailty and more people have become deconditioned as they have become less mobile.
21. A campaign around deconditioning to initially focus on supporting those most at risk of developing frailty is being developed through a joint working group. This links very clearly to work that the YHCC is doing around frailty within the city. The key messages around this campaign will be developed to raise awareness about the impacts of inactivity on physical conditioning; to promote resources available and to encourage physical activity in those most at risk of deconditioning. This work is informed by recent evidence on the impact of covid-19 restrictions, needs assessments, and research.
22. The partnership have identified this as something they would like to focus on and it is suggested that this becomes their third priority. Further consideration will need to be given as to what the next steps/actions need to be to drive this piece of work forward.
23. The partnership will also be giving consideration to the aim of how best to communicate their work using existing communication channels within representative organisations.
24. Finally the partnership have raised the renewal of the joint health and wellbeing strategy as something they would like to know more about as they are very keen to take an active role in this.
Terms of Reference
25. Since restarting partnership meetings in October 2020 meetings have been held via Zoom. Attendance has been good and work has progressed but it felt timely to lightly refresh the Terms of Reference in particular to better reflect the Age Friendly York work and changes to the partnership’s membership and chairship. The amended Terms of Reference are at Annex C.
Consultation
26. Consultation with a wide audience took place when developing the joint health and wellbeing strategy. The Age Friendly York work is citizen led and there has been extensive consultation and engagement, with more planned, for the development of the dementia strategy.
Options
27. There are no specific options for the Health and Wellbeing Board but they are asked to
i) Ratify the refreshed Terms of Reference at Annex C
ii) Indicate their ongoing support for the direction of travel for the Ageing Well Partnership including the three identified priorities around progressing the Age Friendly York project; developing a dementia strategy and undertaking further work around deconditioning.
Implications
28. It is important that the priorities in relation to ageing well in the joint health and wellbeing strategy are delivered. The establishment of the Ageing Well Partnership has enabled this to be achieved.
Recommendations
29. The Health and Wellbeing Board are asked to
i) Ratify the refreshed Terms of Reference at Annex C.
ii) Indicate their ongoing support for the direction of travel for the Ageing Well Partnership including the three identified priorities around progressing the Age Friendly York project; developing a dementia strategy and undertaking further work around deconditioning.
Reason: To give the Health and Wellbeing Board oversight of the work of the Ageing Well Partnership and assurance in relation to strategy delivery.
Contact Details
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Author: |
Chief Officer Responsible for the report: |
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Tracy Wallis on behalf of the co-chairs of the Ageing Well Partnership
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Sharon Stoltz Director of Public Health
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Report Approved |
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Date |
22.04.2021 |
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Specialist Implications Officer(s): None |
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Wards Affected: |
All |
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For further information please contact the author of the report |
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Background Papers: None
Annexes:
Annex A: Summary of work undertaken in relation to the Age Friendly York project
Annex B: Development of a dementia strategy for the city
Annex C: Refreshed Terms of Reference