The Health and Wellbeing Board of Durham County Council met on Monday 22 September 2025, to discuss several public health issues affecting County Durham. The agenda included discussion of healthy weight strategies, an update from Healthwatch County Durham, an overview of the Better Care Fund, and a review of pharmaceutical needs in the region. The board was also scheduled to hear about the recent Ofsted inspection of local children's services and to consider upcoming health and wellbeing campaigns.

Enabling Healthy Weight

The Health and Wellbeing Board were scheduled to receive an update on the 'enabling healthy weight' priority within the County Durham Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The report noted that while adult data indicated a positive trend with a decrease in the proportion of adults living with overweight, adult obesity in County Durham remained a concern. The report also included an update on the Moving Together in County Durham physical activity strategy.

The Healthy Weight Alliance, a subgroup of the Health and Wellbeing Board, was reported to co-ordinate and lead local work to improve population level healthy weight. The report stated that Durham County Council had signed the Food Active Healthy Weight Declaration, marking a step towards enabling healthy lives for those in County Durham. The report also noted that Durham County Council's advertising and sponsorship policy now restricts the advertising of food and drinks high in fat, sugar and salt.

Priorities for 2025/26 from the Healthy Weight action plan and Healthy Weight Declaration included:

• embedding a 'health in all policies' approach
• a Durham County Council Workplace Health Pilot programme at Meadowfield and Heighington sites
• procurement and implementation of a County Durham Family Weight Management Service
• scoping development and delivery of 'out of home' food advice and guidance / standards for food providers
• a review of the County Durham Plan and Health Impact Assessment¹
• improving availability of affordable, healthy food
• collaboration with Rise² to obtain national funding to expand place-based, physical activity-related work
• working with regional colleagues to ensure that Public Health work complements / supports roll out of weight loss injection programmes in GP surgeries.

The report mentioned that Tirzepatide (Mounjaro) had been made available for the treatment of obesity in primary care settings. It also noted that this medication is available through private prescription, and that there was a risk of unfair access to treatment according to ability to pay.

Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment 2025-28

The Health and Wellbeing Board were scheduled to consider the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) 2025-28. The report stated that under the Health and Social Care Act 2012³, the Health and Wellbeing Board is responsible for the production of a PNA every 3 years. The report stated that the key conclusion of the draft PNA 2025-28 is that there are still sufficient pharmaceutical services across County Durham.

The report stated that the pharmaceutical services that the Health and Wellbeing Board has identified as services that are necessary to meet the need for pharmaceutical services are:

Essential services which are provided by all pharmacies.

The report stated that the other relevant pharmaceutical services that the Health and Wellbeing Board has identified as not being necessary to meet the need for pharmaceutical services but will secure improvements or better access are:

The following advanced services:

• New Medicine Service
• Flu Vaccination Service
• Pharmacy First Service, Hypertension Case Finding Service, Pharmacy Contraception Service

The following local enhanced service:

• Think Pharmacy First Service

The report stated that the pharmaceutical services that have been identified as services that the Health and Wellbeing Board is satisfied need to be provided to meet a current or future need for pharmaceutical services are:

Current need: The provision of all essential services in County Durham are adequate to meet the needs for pharmaceutical services.

To meet a future need: The provision of all essential services in County Durham are adequate to meet the future needs for pharmaceutical services.

The report stated that the pharmaceutical services that have been identified as services that would secure improvements or better access to pharmaceutical services, either now or in the future are:

Current improvements or better access: The provision of the other relevant advanced services and the local enhanced service are adequate.

In specified future circumstances to secure improvements or better access: The provision of the other relevant advanced services and the local enhanced service are adequate and should continue to be encouraged.

The report noted that the statutory 60-day public consultation ran from 19 May to 17 July 2025 at Let's Talk County Durham⁴.

Healthwatch Annual Update

The Health and Wellbeing Board were scheduled to receive the Healthwatch Annual Update. The report stated that 1838 people contacted Healthwatch to provide or request information about health and social care services. The report stated that Healthwatch's 23 volunteers contributed almost 239 working days, which included involvement in 5 Enter and View visits⁵.

The report stated that Healthwatch's key areas of work included:

• GP access for farming communities
• Pharmacy First reviewing impact and effectiveness
• Mental Health evaluating the effectiveness of the Community mental health transformation programme
• Mental Health hearing the experiences of young people
• Maternity Services reviewing the provision for miscarriage support

The report stated that Healthwatch continue to be an integral part of the North East and North Cumbria Healthwatch Network⁶ – a partnership of 14 Local Healthwatch across the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board footprint with representation on the Integrated Care Board.

Better Care Fund: Quarter One Report 2025-26

The Health and Wellbeing Board were scheduled to receive a summary of the Better Care Fund (BCF) 2025-26 Quarter 1 Report. The report stated that the BCF is the only mandatory policy which aims to facilitate integration across health, social care and housing. The report stated that the BCF plan includes the following metrics which are measured against planned targets:

• Emergency admission to hospital for people aged 65+ per 100,000 population.
• Average number of days from Discharge Ready Date to discharge (all adult acute patients).
• Admissions to long term residential and nursing care homes for people aged 65+ per 100,000 population.

The report stated that positive performance is indicated in relation to emergency admissions to hospital and Discharge Ready where both metrics are on track to meet target.

Ofsted ILACS Inspection

The Health and Wellbeing Board were scheduled to receive a presentation on the recent Ofsted⁷ Inspecting Local Authority Children's Services (ILACS) inspection. The presentation stated that during the inspection, the accuracy of the self-evaluation was triangulated using performance audit and on-site information to make a judgement of how well leaders know the quality of services.

The presentation stated that the inspection took place between 24-28 March 2025, and the overall effectiveness was judged to be outstanding. The presentation noted that early intervention and family support services are located in accessible family hubs across the county and provide an impressive range of preventative and individually tailored services for children, young people and families. The presentation stated that Durham has a mental health prevention and support service, which has been developed with health partners to provide crisis support with the aim of preventing Tier 4 mental health hospital admissions. The presentation stated that Durham's innovative prison drop-in sessions are successful in helping to re-engage care leavers in custody.

The presentation noted areas for improvement including contingency planning in child-in-need and child protection plans, and the inclusion of children's needs as young carers in child-in-need and child protection plans.

Health and Wellbeing Campaigns

The Health and Wellbeing Board were scheduled to receive a presentation on upcoming health and wellbeing campaigns. The presentation stated that key campaigns between April and June 2025 included FRESH Smoking Survivors, Smoke Free County Durham pilot clinics, a single use vapes ban, Cancer Prevention Week, Balance: Alcohol is Toxic, What's the Harm, Mental Health Awareness Week, suicide prevention webpages, breastfeeding, a whole school approach to food, the Healthy Weight Declaration, and Moving More. The presentation stated that key campaigns from July 2025 onwards included Smoke free County Durham, Stoptober, Tobacco smoke is poison, Alcohol is Toxic, Suicide Prevention, World Suicide Prevention Day, social marketing, breastfeeding, and Activate with Joe Wicks.