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Health and Wellbeing Board |
19 March 2025 |
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Report of the Chair of the York Health and Wellbeing Board
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Chair’s report and updates
Summary
1. This paper is designed to summarise key issues and progress which has happened in between meetings of the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWBB), giving Board members a concise update on a broad range of relevant topics which would otherwise entail separate papers.
Key Updates for the Board
Partnership
2. The team at Healthwatch York has been shortlisted for a national award for their work in improving healthcare for people in the city. The National Healthwatch Impact Award recognises outstanding examples of people sharing their experiences to improve care for their community.
3. Healthwatch York has been shortlisted for its independent evaluation of the new pathway for assessing Autism and ADHD in adults. The report highlighted significant concerns about the new pathway.
4. The full report, ADHD and Autism Pilot Pathway: An independent assessment, and an executive summary are available at: https://www.healthwatchyork.co.uk/our-work/hw-york-publications/
5. The nominees were announced as part of 'Share for Better Care Week', a campaign to encourage people to share their experiences of NHS and adult social care services across England to help improve care for everyone.
6. The Ageing Well Partnership continues to meet every two months and recent topics have included: the Adult Social Care Strategy; Self-Monitoring findings; Age Friendly York achievements 2024 and the Frailty Hub.
7. The second cycle for Age Friendly York has now started with a re-fresh of the Your Home Domain action points through a co-designed workshop on a wide range of age related housing topics.
Adult Social Care
8. Consultation on the City of York Council’s draft Adult Social Care Strategy for the next three years is now available. This strategy sets out commitments, priorities and approaches, reflecting both the challenges ahead and the opportunities we have to make a real impact. The strategy is available to read online at:
https://www.york.gov.uk/AdultSocialCareStrategy2025 and also in easy read version
9. The consultation runs until the end of March 2025.
Children and Young People
10. The implementation plan for the SENDHub is underway and the role of SEND Hub and integration Manager has been recruited to and the manager will be in post from Monday 31st March. A management committee has been established and a programme of monthly meetings is taking place. Voice work to support the development of the SEND Hub has been facilitated by the York Parent/ Carer Forum and feedback is being used to inform the further development of the offer from the Hub.
11. The local authority has engaged with support from the DfE RISE (Research and Improvement for SEND) programme to support the local areas work on Preparation for Adulthood. Two workshops facilitated by the National Development Team for Inclusion (NdTI) have taken place in March to develop partners understanding of preparation for adulthood and to provide the context for the implementation of York’s co-produced preparation of adulthood protocol.
Public Health
12.Specialist Sexual Health Service: Following a robust procurement process the new contract with York and Scarborough NHS Foundation Trust (Y&SFT) for a Specialist Sexual Health Service, will commence on 1 April 2025. This contract has been agreed using a “Section 75 agreement” (which is a partnership agreement in compliance with NHS and Local Authorities Partnership Arrangement Regulations 2000). Y&SFT have provided sexual health services (Also known as YorSexualHealth) in York since the services became local authority responsibility in 2013. Working within a challenging financial environment have meant significant changes to the service delivery model, however the provision of a free, comprehensive, open access sexual health and contraceptive service has been secured for 10 years. The service will now work with partners across the changing sexual health system to develop a safe, sustainable service model for the future.
13. Key challenges:
· Addressing the provision of Long-Acting Reversible contraception in the City.
· Increasing the positivity rate of chlamydia screening in females aged between 15 and 24.
· Reducing residents who go out of area for STI treatment and management.
- Establishing a system wide approach to contraception.
14.The Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) is in progress and due to be published in Autumn 2025. The main purpose of the pharmaceutical needs assessment is to inform the submission of and evaluation of applications for new pharmacies into a local area. As part of developing the York PNA, we asked residents their views of local pharmacy services.
15. The survey ran for six weeks, from 20th January until 2nd March. The survey was available online and promoted in pharmacies and GP practices and other local organisations. There were also paper copies in libraries and distributed through selected charity groups.
16. 415 residents completed the survey either online or on paper. This is a significant increase from the 2022-2025 PNA where there were 62 responses. Data analysis is currently underway however preliminary findings show the following:
- The majority of respondents visited their local pharmacy at least once a month
- Over 70% stated that their usual pharmacy was one on their local high street.
- The majority of respondents felt the availability of pharmacies in the area were “good.”
- A quarter rated provision as either “poor” or “very poor.”
- Over a quarter of respondents felt pharmacies needed to be open at weekends and bank holidays with a fifth also stating evening opening hours. Respondents expressed concern about limited opening hours with some unable to use their local pharmacy as they worked full-time.
- Over 10% believed more staff and availability of over-the-counter products would improve services.
- There were several comments about the closure of Boots in Clifton ward. People were either having to travel into the centre of York to use pharmacy services or relied on home delivery.
- Out of hours provision meant some respondents were not able to access emergency medication within a 20-mile radius in some instances.
- A fifth wanted better availability of medication.
- Many respondents had issues with medication shortages. Some pharmacies were unable to source medication meaning respondents had to try and find pharmacies that did. Others were experiencing delays of up to and over a week before they could collect their prescriptions.
17. A full analysis of the data will be included in the PNA.
18. In addition to the residents’ survey, we are currently engaging with stakeholders for professional views on pharmacy services. These include GP Practices and other local organisations and charities that work with service users who may use pharmacies often or face additional barriers in using a pharmacy.
19. Finally, there will be a statutory 60-day consultation period on the full draft of the PNA. This is scheduled for 20 June where the public and professionals will be invited to read and comment on a draft of the PNA. The final version will be submitted to HWBB for approval in Autumn 2025.
Specialist Implications Officers Not applicable
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Wards Affected:
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For further information please contact the author of the report
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