Health and Wellbeing Board	18^th May 2022
Report of the Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board’s Ageing Well Partnership

Update from the Ageing Well Partnership

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 May 2021.

2. The board are asked to note the report and ratify their continued support for the partnership’s direction of travel.

3. Joe Micheli who is the chair of the partnership and Carl Wain lead officer for Age Friendly York from the Communities and Prevention team, will attend 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.

Chair’s Update

7. The partnership was previously co-chaired by a representative from NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group and a representative from York’s Public Health Team. However due to both retirement and re-structures a collective decision was made for this to be undertaken by the council’s Head of Service for Communities and Prevention, within the Customer and Communities Directorate. With the transition to an ICS there may be another opportunity to look at ensuring there is a clear leadership role from a health perspective. It is however worth noting that there is both health, social care and public health representation on a continual basis to ensure we maintain a balanced approach to priorities.

8. The partnership is currently concentrating on two areas of work, as follows:

Age Friendly York Project

9. 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. Baseline Assessments have been completed for 3 out of the 5 domains with the fourth domain’s ‘baseline assessment’, Your Service, to be submitted for sign off in June 2022. The project plan is reviewed at each meeting and is still on schedule to apply for World Health Organisation (WHO) Age Friendly City Status in December 2022. An evolving Action Plan is updated an approved through the partnership with any completed actions submitted to the partnership before signing off.

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. Each domain includes an Operation Group to ensure there is stakeholder engagement before submitting to the Age Well Partnership for sign off. Annex A provides a summary of the domains, the work that has taken place since May 2021 and the evolving action plan.

Developing a Dementia Strategy for York

12. The partnership has renewed their focus on the development of a dementia strategy for the city and progress against this is outlined in a separate report to the Health and Wellbeing Board.

13. Over many years, efforts have been made to develop a Dementia Strategy for the city, building on the work of the Dementia Collaborative, Minds and Voices, JRF and other partners. The activity carried out so far should be commended for its integrity and for staying close to the vision to engage with people with dementia, their families, and carers to produce a strategy that is meaningful to them.

14. Whilst there have been delays in meeting timelines set out for the delivery of the strategy, most recently these have been due to the need for more time to engage with people in the city. Despite these delays, there continues to be significant service development including the recruitment of dementia coordinators and a specialist dementia nurse in primary care, proposals for the development of a Pathway to Recovery Team for people at Foss Park Hospital and the commissioning of a dementia support service provided by Dementia Forward which includes a Helpline, Dementia Support Advisors, wellbeing activities and young onset dementia support. The multiagency strategy group meets monthly to maintain this momentum.

15. As a partnership we are aware that this piece of work needs to be progressed, reflecting coproduction principles and we have added this as a standing agenda item for consideration at every meeting. The Mental Health Partnership have also added this as a standing item, 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

16. 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.

17. Reports and presentations have been received on a variety of topics including the York Multiple Complex Needs Network ‘Cultural Values’ programme which has gained good traction in the health and care system. The Partnership has also worked on the What’s My Next Step and Feel Real York responding to the pandemic and supporting community recovery.

18. The partnership also continues to consider how we address loneliness and social isolation in the city. Loneliness and building a sense of belonging will continue to be a priority in the refreshed Volunteering Strategy for the city, reflecting the power of communities and importance of relationships, connection and strength based approaches. City partners, including York Cares, York CVS and the council are also about to begin a partnership with The Cares Family, to learn from their highly successful intergenerational approach to addressing loneliness, to inspire a wave of intergenerational connection and community across the city. A short film, describing the Cares Family model is here https://www.thecaresfamily.org.uk/ . This will complement the roll out of community hubs, which provided such valuable sources of support and mutual aid during the pandemic, alongside civil society.

Consultation

19. There has been a consultation issued for each Age Friendly domain to inform ‘baseline assessments’ and ensure there is a co-produced approach to defining the action points. There has also been an additional consultation issued as a follow on from the ‘Getting Out and About’ domain to provide the opportunity for people to propose improvements to their bus stops. This was done in partnership with three citizen groups: Age Friendly Citizen Group; York Bus Forum and York Disability Right Forum.

20. Age Friendly York has the principal of there never being a wrong time to have a view. The consultations are therefore kept live with any additional views gathered each month. If this informs a new or revised action point, then this is submitted to the Ageing Well Partnership for amendment to the action plan.

Options      

21. There are no specific options for the Health and Wellbeing Board but they are asked to:

a. 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, emotional wellbeing loneliness and social isolation.

Strategic/Operational Plans

22. The Ageing Well Partnership will naturally consider the new Health and Wellbeing Strategy within its future work programme and the evolving Health and Care Alliance prospectus and contribution to respective strategic priorities.

        Implications

23. 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

24. The Health and Wellbeing Board are asked to

a. 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 loneliness and social isolation

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

Author:	Chief Officer Responsible for the report:
Joe Micheli Head of Communities Customer & Communities Directorate   Tel No. 07534644859	Pauline Stuchfield Director of Customer and Communities Tel No. 01904 551706
	Report Approved	✔	Date	26.4.22
Wards Affected:					All	✔

Annex A – Age Friendly York Update