The North Yorkshire Health and Wellbeing Board met to discuss a range of issues including pharmaceutical needs, collaborative health initiatives, employment programmes, and health strategies in neighbouring regions. The board approved the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment for publication and received updates on various collaborative projects and strategies.

Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment

The board approved the final North Yorkshire Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) 2025-28 for publication on 1 October 2025. The PNA is a statutory duty of the Health and Wellbeing Board, designed to assess the current and future needs for pharmaceutical services in the area.

Key findings of the assessment included:

• Good pharmaceutical provision in most of North Yorkshire from Monday to Friday.
• Adequate choice and accessibility for the majority of residents, with most able to access a pharmacy within a 20-minute walk.
• Good provision of pharmaceutical services in urban areas on Saturdays and Sundays.
• Gaps in provision in Scarborough and Catterick Garrison due to the closure of two 100-hour pharmacies¹, particularly on weekday evenings, Saturday evenings and Sundays.
• Gaps in provision of the locally commissioned Opiate Substitute Supervised Consumption Service in Catterick Garrison, Scarborough, Tadcaster and Thirsk.
• The need to regularly review proposed future housing developments to identify any significant increases in pharmaceutical need.
• Good uptake of advanced and locally commissioned services, but with room for improvement in awareness and multi-agency working.

The PNA considered feedback from a public survey with 958 respondents and a statutory 60-day consultation. The report noted that a significant proportion of responses originated from the Easingwold area, which raised concerns that are being monitored by the Humber and North Yorkshire ICB and Community Pharmacy North Yorkshire (CPNY).

The report highlighted that North Yorkshire Council's Public Health Team strongly supports the role that community pharmacy plays in promoting health and healthy lifestyles.

Community pharmacy services continue to play an important role in the landscape in supporting the services provided by GP practices/dispensing practices and the PCNs. Community pharmacies offer support to the wider health needs of the population by providing the essential, advanced and locally commissioned services as described in this report.

The PNA included an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) which found that the PNA itself had no implications for equalities, but that potential pharmacy applications to address gaps in provision once published, may improve access to certain groups.

North Yorkshire Health Collaborative

The board received an overview and progress update on the North Yorkshire Health Collaborative (NYHC) from Richard Webb, Corporate Director: Health and Adult Services (North Yorkshire Council), Lisa Pope, Deputy Place Director, North Yorkshire Place (Humber & North Yorkshire Health & Care Partnership) and Matt Sandford, Director of Partnership and Place (Bradford District and Craven ICB).

The NYHC aims to meet population health and care needs by committing to locality-based integration and neighbourhood health, implementing core offers responsive to local needs, maximising shared resources, and reducing duplication.

The key components of the NYHC include:

• A Joint Committee for shared governance.
• Section 75 agreements² to enable pooled funding and joint planning.

The report noted that there are no pooled budgets at this stage, and no decision-making powers delegated.

The report outlined the membership of the Joint Committee, including voting members from the Humber and North Yorkshire ICB and North Yorkshire Council, as well as non-voting members from various NHS Foundation Trusts, primary care, Community First Yorkshire, and the Chief Executive Independent Care Group.

The report also provided an overview of aligned budgets, estimating a total influenceable spend of £589.728 million across various services and funding streams.

The report outlined the principles guiding the NYHC's approach, including working at scale, building on existing good practice, recognising the system's equilibrium, and focusing on collaborative working.

The report also provided an update on the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP), noting that the Bradford and Craven bid and the Morecombe Bay bid (covering Bentham and Ingleton) were accepted to join the programme's first wave.

Get Britain Working Programme

The board received an update on the Get Britain Working (GBW) programme in North Yorkshire from Kate Allanson and Charlotte Rudd. The GBW programme is a government initiative aimed at driving reforms to employment support by integrating skills and health to help more people enter and progress in work.

The programme has key focus areas including:

• People excluded from the labour market, especially those with health issues.
• Young people at risk of becoming NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training).
• Individuals in insecure, poor quality, low-paying work.
• Women carers facing challenges in staying and progressing in work.
• Employers struggling to fill vacancies due to labour and skills shortages.
• Disparities in labour market outcomes across places and groups.

The update covered two complementary programmes: Connect to Work and the Trailblazer Programme.

Connect to Work is a programme with £3,175,800 funding to North Yorkshire and York from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority (YNYCA) to support the government's Connect to Work Scheme. The programme will run from November 2025 to November 2030. The programme is aimed at helping people with disabilities, health conditions, and people facing the most complex barriers to employment, find and sustain work. It is delivered through grants to local authorities, and has two strands: Individual Placement and Support (IPS) and Supported Employment Quality Framework (SEQF).

The Trailblazer Programme has £10 million funding to North Yorkshire and York, from the DWP to the Mayor. The programme has total of £4,171,404 to NYC-led projects, and funding until 31 March 2026. The programme has priorities of engaging and supporting inactive people, good work, and joining up systems and services.

Bradford District and Craven Place Strategy

The board received an update on the strategy for health, care, and wellbeing in Bradford District and Craven from Matt Sandford, Director of Partnership and Place (Bradford District and Craven ICB). The strategy, commissioned by Bradford District and Craven's Health and Care Partnership Board, aims to reduce health inequalities and improve the health, care, and wellbeing of the population.

The plan is informed by work with local people as partners, and is shaped by opportunities made available through new capital investment, the establishment of provider partnerships, and a shared understanding of the population.

The report included a set of population personas, illustrative portraits based on population health segmentation and informed by conversations during the 'Listen in' programme. These personas reflect real people in the communities and are used to connect strategic decisions to people's lived realities.

The report outlined key areas of action to improve the long-term health of the population, including prioritising prevention, designing pathways with consideration of health literacy, shifting pathways into communities, improving appointment processes, targeting specific groups and reducing variation, developing holistic and integrated care approaches, supporting self-management, taking a population health management approach, and targeting inequalities.

The report also highlighted the importance of citizen activation, infrastructure plans, financial plans, and workforce plans in achieving the strategy's goals.