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Swindon Health and Wellbeing Board

Terms of Reference

1       Introduction

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 establishes Health and Wellbeing Boards as a forum where key leaders from the health and care system work together to improve the health and wellbeing of their local population and reduce health inequalities.

The Swindon Health and Wellbeing Board is made up of a collection of people from different organisations (including the NHS, the local authority officers and elected members, the Clinical Commissioning Group and the voluntary sector), who will work together on issues to do with being healthy and feeling well. The Board aims to find out what people in Swindon need to be healthy and feel well and work together to agree a strategy (plan) that will promote positive change towards making things happen. The Health and Wellbeing Strategy will help the Health and Wellbeing Board plan services to do with being healthy and feeling well and that make it easier for everyone to get the care they need. The Board also aims to reduce the health differences between poorer and better off groups across Swindon (health inequalities).

It is the responsibility of commissioners (who hold the budget) that their commissioning plans are supportive of the priorities identified in the Health and Wellbeing Strategy and the local needs of our population, and it is the responsibility of the Health and Wellbeing Board to ensure that they do.

The Health and Wellbeing Strategy will provide the priorities and objectives against which the success of the Health and Wellbeing Board can be measured.

The Health and Wellbeing Boardsprimary role is to provide strategic leadership to improve the health and wellbeing of Swindon’s population (both adults and children) and to reduce the inequalities in health experienced by some communities. It aims to:

·         Ensure delivery of improved outcomes for the people of Swindon bringing together national health and social care policy in conjunction with local priorities. 

·         Achieve democratic legitimacy and accountability, and empower local people to take part in decision-making about local health and wellbeing. 

·         Ensure the development of integrated working across the health and care system.

2       Purpose

The purpose of the Board is to improve the health and wellbeing of people of all ages resident in the borough of Swindon, and to reduce health inequalities in Swindon.

3          Underlying Principles

·         shared leadership of a strategic approach to the health and wellbeing of our local communities

·         a commitment to driving real action and change to improve services and outcomes

·         parity between Board members in terms of their opportunity to contribute to the Board’s deliberations, strategies and activities

·         shared ownership of the Board by all the members (with commitment from their nominating organisations) and accountability to the communities it serves

·         openness and transparency in the way that the Board carries out its work

·         inclusiveness in the way it engages with patients, service users and the public

·         recognition of safeguarding (adults and children) as everyone’s business  and a cross-cutting theme ensuring that all people in Swindon are safe and their wellbeing protected

·         promotion of integrated commissioning and working across health and social care

4       Key responsibilities

The key responsibilities of the Board are:

• To provide collective leadership, set strategic direction, prioritise local activity, and present comprehensible plans of what will be done locally, where possible and deemed appropriate by the Board, to address needs and improve health and wellbeing in alignment with the One Swindon priorities, outcomes and principles.

• To prepare the Swindon Joint Strategic Needs Assessment which identifies the local health and wellbeing needs of our population ensuring:
  • effective and meaningful engagement and dialogue with local communities and service users
  • joined up intelligence from local partners and stakeholders

o   Inclusion of comprehensive safeguarding data analysis

·         To prepare the Swindon Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

• To promote partnership and integration of commissioning and service delivery across health, social care, public health and other service areas including but not limited to housing, leisure and transport in conjunction with One Swindon and the Swindon Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

• To ensure that the plans of local and regional commissioners, including the NHS Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group commissioning plan, promote the delivery of the Swindon Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy wherever appropriate.

• To monitor, evaluate and annually report on the NHS Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group performance as part of the Clinical Commissioning Groups annual assessment by NHS England.

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• To measure progress against local plans including NHS Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group Plan, the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy and other supporting plans and request action is taken to improve outcomes when monitoring indicators show plans or initiatives are not working.

·         The One Swindon Board will be accountable for ensuring that One Swindon and the One Swindon Delivery Plan support the delivery of the Swindon Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy.  

·         The Board will advise the One Swindon Board on strategic matters of health and wellbeing.

• The Board will refer the Commissioning Plans back to the Clinical Commissioning Group or to NHS England if they do not take sufficient account of the Swindon Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

• Board members are accountable to each other for mobilising and co-ordinating partners and identifying available resources to deliver agreed priorities.

·         To ensure the development and implementation of the National Health Services Act 2006 Section 75 Agreements including the Better Care Fund. Manage these partnership arrangements and in particular:

a.    Make recommendations to Cabinet and the Clinical Commissioning Group Board as to commissioning of services.

b.    Monitor and ensure delivery of and evaluate health, social care, education and other related services for adults, children and young people in Swindon on behalf of Clinical Commissioning Group and Swindon Borough Council and such other relevant services as Clinical Commissioning Group and Swindon Borough Council may from time to time agree.

The work programmes of the Swindon Health and Wellbeing Board, the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and Healthwatch Swindon will be shared and loosely aligned to create pathways for influence, whilst maintaining independence and the role of scrutiny.

5       Role of the board

In order to deliver its responsibilities, the Board may decide to establish a sub-committee and delegate functions to them.

The Board will do the following:

Coordinate partnership working

·         Bring together NHS, public health and social care leaders with members of the local population and democratically elected representatives.

·         Promote integration of business action plans of partner organisations where appropriate.

·         Co-ordinate information sharing across partners.

·         Co-ordinate commissioning decisions to reflect the priorities identified by the Board including the use of joint commissioning and pooled budgets where appropriate.

·         Provide regular reports to the One Swindon Board.

·         Consult with service users and carers about service developments which will affect them.

·         Work with the Local Safeguarding Children and Adult Boards to ensure all partners promote the safety and welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and receive an annual report from the Safeguarding Boards.

·         Monitor the performance of the National Health services Act 2006 Section 75 Agreements including:

a.    overseeing the work of the Joint Commissioning Group by reviewing and monitoring the six monthly performance reports which will be provided to them by the Group.

b.    carrying out an Annual Review which will describe how commissioned services have performed, and include commentary on performance of providers, financial pressures and changes in need or service delivery. It will also set out commissioning intentions for the coming year and agreements for developing joint working.

·         Optimise effective and efficient working to avoid partner organisations duplicating each other’s work.

·         Link with the voluntary and community sector.

Identify local needs

·         Lead the development of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment which identifies local health and wellbeing needs and priorities.

Set strategic direction and prioritise and communicate actions

·         Prioritise actions, based on the agreed strategic direction, joint commissioning strategies and Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, to meet the needs of the current population and avoid compromising the wellbeing of future generations.

·         Communicate actions in publically available action plans.

Performance monitor

·         Evaluate performance against locally agreed priorities.

·         Evaluate performance against nationally set outcomes frameworks for the NHS, public health and social care.

·         Scrutinise any local major service redesign of the NHS.

·         Produce annual reports of progress in relation to above action plans, in order that the Board is publically accountable for delivery of these actions.

6       Membership

The membership will consist of:

The Leader of the Council

Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care

Cabinet Member for Children’s Services

Shadow Member for Health and Social Care or Children

Healthwatch Swindon representative

NHS Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group Accountable Officer

NHS Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group Clinical Chair (Vice-Chair)

NHS Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group Executive Nurse

NHS England Executive representative

Third Sector representative

Police and Crime Commissioner (Wiltshire)

Such Lay Members as the Board may appoint (co-opted and voting)

Chief Executive of Swindon Borough Council (non-voting)

Director of Adult Social Care / Children’s Services (non-voting)

Director of Public Health (non-voting)

All members of the Swindon Health and Wellbeing Board are voting members, except for officers of Swindon Borough Council, and as such will be governed by Swindon Borough Councils Code of Conduct.  

All members or co-opted members must notify the Council’s Monitoring Officer of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and are prohibited from participating in discussion or voting on any matter relating to their interest.

7       Procedures

Meetings of the Board will be chaired by the Leader of the Council (or by the Vice-Chair in their absence) or by a lay member.

 A quorum shall be four members (at least one from NHS Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group and one from Swindon Borough Council). Each member is required to attend at least four of the five scheduled Health and Wellbeing Board meetings per year. Members of the Board will nominate a deputy who will attend in their absence and have delegated authority, wherever possible and appropriate, to make decisions. Nominated deputies will form part of the quorum.

The Board will operate in accordance with the Council’s existing decision-making framework and normal council budget setting processes. A decision to exercise any further local authority functions by the Health and Wellbeing Board would therefore need to be taken by the appropriate decision-making body (e.g. Cabinet or Council), and a further report would be required for this.