Report attached.

Contact: Rachel Robinson, Director of Public Health, Shropshire Council

The Director of Public Health introduced and amplified her report – copy attached to the signed Minutes – which provided a summary of the content of the Director of Public Health Annual Report. 

The Director of Public Health explained that the overall theme of the report was the County Motto ‘Floreat Salopia’ – may Shropshire Flourish, as although Shropshire had good health and wellbeing outcomes, there were some areas that could be improved.  The report also highlighted that public health and wellbeing were a shared responsibility.

The Director of Public Health gave a presentation – copy of slides attached to the signed Minutes – which covered the following areas:

·         Overview of Annual Report

·         Chapter 1 Patterns of Health and Wellbeing across Shropshire

·         Chapter 2 Areas of focus for 2020 and beyond

·         Chapter 3 Work that Public Health and partners are undertaking to address health concerns

·         Recommendations for Action

·         Health Inequality in England: The Marmot Review 10 years on

·         Case Studies

·         What next?

Referring to the lower level of public health funding per head of population allocated to Shropshire compared to the England figure (set out on page 5 of the Annual Report), the Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care, Public Health and Climate Change felt that what had been achieved within the resources available was nothing short of miraculous.  He drew attention to the Quality and Outcome Framework snapshot of disease prevalence across Shropshire for 2017/18 (page 7 of the Annual Report).  He explained that some of the most rural parts of Shropshire struggled to make an impact and performed unfavourably due to reduced funding, which was the crux of the issue.  He reported that the Council lobbied the Government at every opportunity for an increase in funding based on the cost of delivering services in large rural counties.

The Director of Public Health agreed that funding was a challenge and they had to think very carefully how the collective investment could be best spent.  Concern was raised about the impact of mental health provision for young people on families and whether more could be done.  The Director of Adult Services felt that the importance of digital delivery going forward should not be overlooked.  Concern was also raised in relation to food poverty and lack of funding to support the ongoing work of the Shropshire Food Poverty Alliance.

Tanya Miles, the Head of Social Care, Efficiency and Improvement drew attention to the ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’ set out on the back page of the Annual Report which was a good place to start when looking at good health and wellbeing.  The Chairman agreed and he congratulated the Director of Public Health on her Annual Report which was very accessible and easy to read and would be published as widely as possible.

RESOLVED: To support the recommendations set out on Page 4 of the Director of Public Health Annual Report, which require a joint effort if they were to be achieved to help improve the health and wellbeing of Shropshire people.