The Sandwell Health and Wellbeing Board is scheduled to meet to discuss Healthwatch Sandwell's annual report, integrated neighbourhood health, the director of public health's annual report, the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA), and the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The board will also be asked to approve the content and method of consultation to prepare the next Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Sandwell.

Director of Public Health Report

The board is scheduled to receive the Director of Public Health Report 2024, which focuses on childhood obesity in Sandwell. The report notes that in 2023–2024, 73.5% of children in Reception in Sandwell were a healthy weight, slightly below the national figure of 76.8%. By Year 6, the proportion of children at a healthy weight in Sandwell falls to 53.0%, which is 9.5 percentage points lower than the national average of 62.5%. The report also notes that a growing number of children are underweight, creating a dual challenge.

The report includes the following recommendations:

• System governance and accountability
• First 1001 days and family hubs
• Whole school and college approach
• Healthy food environments
• Active places and everyday movement
• Targeted weight management and clinical pathways

The report calls for collective action across the whole system, from schools and planning to leisure, housing, and community groups, to ensure that Sandwell becomes a place where all children have the opportunity to grow up healthy, active and well.

The report also highlights the importance of addressing health inequalities, noting that children from more deprived wards experience higher rates of unhealthy weight.

The board will be asked to note the recommendations set out in the report and reconsider them at a future meeting once the Health and Wellbeing Strategy and its priorities are approved.

Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy

The board will be asked to consider and approve the content and method of consultation to prepare the next Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Sandwell.

The board papers state that producing a Joint Health and Well-being Strategy is a statutory duty of both the Local Authority and the Integrated Care Board (ICB). The strategy will explain the priorities that the Health and Well-being Board has set in order to tackle the needs identified in their Joint Strategic Needs Assessment.

The consultation will focus on:

• core principles
• criteria for identifying priorities
• priorities themselves
• next steps in turning strategy to action

Methods of consultation will include an online survey, outreach focus groups, and paper copies of the survey. The consultation documents will be available in four languages other than English.

The board will also be asked to actively promote and circulate the consultation within their own organisations.

The consultation will seek views on a set of core principles that will underpin the Health and Wellbeing Strategy:

• keeping prevention at the heart of what we do
• narrowing health inequalities in all that we do
• strengthening partnership between public, private, and voluntary organisations
• strengthening partnership with local people, empowering them and their communities
• basing our work on evidence of what we know works or is likely to work locally
• being clear strategically and translating that clarity into accountable action

The consultation will also seek views on the criteria for consideration of a topic as a possible priority, suggesting that a topic should meet the following criteria:

• Issue that affects large numbers of people
• Issue that has a significant impact on health and well-being
• Issue where Sandwell outcomes are worse than they are in other parts of the country
• Issue where outcomes have not shown significant improvement over time
• Issue that needs a new approach, working together across the whole system
• Issue where there is an evidence base about what can work
• Issue where health inequalities are clear

Sandwell Joint Strategic Needs Assessment

The board is scheduled to receive an update on the development of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA). The JSNA is a joint responsibility of health and local authorities, and assesses the current and future health and social needs of the local community.

The board papers state that reviewing the JSNA was one of the key themes identified in the recent LGA Review of the Health and Well-being Board. Feedback from the Review indicated a need for a fuller, richer and more accessible dataset to facilitate its use and application in practice. It was also felt by stakeholders that the 'joint' aspect of the JSNA should be strengthened so that all partner organisations have equal ownership of the JSNA and can bring whole system knowledge to its development.

A JSNA Task & Finish Group has been convened, consisting of representatives from Healthwatch Sandwell and other board member organisations, to review the process and content of the JSNA.

The current JSNA is hosted on the Sandwell Trends website, which includes interactive pages as well as PDF content. The JSNA comprises:

• Core JSNA - a series of chapters focusing on key issues and indicators across the life course
• Sandwell in Focus - 'deep dive' needs assessments into specific topic areas
• Town and borough profiles - summaries of demographics and key issues by town and for Sandwell overall
• Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment - a statutory document that sets out pharmaceutical provision and need across the Borough, and recommendations for addressing unmet need
• A ward level dashboard bringing together key indicators by ward

Sandwell's Approach to Neighbourhood Health

The board is scheduled to receive an update on the work being undertaken through the Sandwell Health & Care Partnership on the approach and development of Integrated Neighbourhood Health.

The NHS Neighbourhood Health Plan is a strategic initiative designed to improve population health and reduce health inequalities by delivering more integrated, localised care. It focuses on neighbourhoods of around 30,000–50,000 people, enabling Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and partners to work collaboratively with communities to address their specific health and wellbeing needs.

The key objectives of integrated neighbourhood health are as follows:

• Shift from reactive care to proactive, preventative, and personalised care
• Strengthen multi-disciplinary, community-based teams led by primary care
• Tackle wider determinants of health, including housing, employment, and education
• Support health equity by targeting underserved populations

Sandwell's six towns each has an established Integrated Neighbourhood Team that has developed over the past 12 months. Teams include representatives from:

• SWBT Community Matron (Neighbourhood Team Clinical Lead)
• District Nursing Team
• Community Therapies
• Mental Health Services
• Social Care and Social Workers
• Social Prescribers
• Public Health Development Workers (linked to voluntary/community sector)

The board papers also note that Sandwell has submitted an application for the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme, but was not selected to be one of the 42 areas for the first wave.

Healthwatch Sandwell Annual Report

The board is scheduled to receive and consider the annual report of Healthwatch Sandwell for 2025.

The report highlights Healthwatch Sandwell's work over the past year, including:

• Supporting more than 24,000 people to have their say and get information about their care
• Publishing 20 reports about the improvements people would like to see in areas like digital access, SEND support, specialist eye care, and support for foster parents
• Reaching 24,117 people through face to face, outreach and digital engagement
• Gathering experiences from 3,192 people about their experiences of health and social care services

The report also includes case studies and examples of how Healthwatch Sandwell has made a difference in the community.

One example is Healthwatch Sandwell's work on accessible information standards. The report states:

Their insight brought to light to barriers faced by people with communication needs - including service inequity due to variation in local contracts, inconsistent booking processes, and a lack of accessible formats. Their findings highlighted how such disparities disproportionately affect people with hearing loss, those who use British Sign Language, individuals with learning disabilities or autism, and those with multiple communication needs. Healthwatch Sandwell revealed how digital exclusion, interpreter shortages, limited-service quality, and a lack of awareness compound health inequalities.

The report also mentions the launch of Sandwell's first ever place-based 'Co-production Charter', which sets out a common and consistent approach to co-production for provider organisations across the borough. Councillor Jackie Taylor, Cabinet Member for Adult Services, Health and Wellbeing, is quoted in the report as saying:

Sandwell's place - based Co - production Charter firms up expectations around co production by setting out agreed principles for involving people in decision making. It was insightful to talk to people with first - hand experience of using our services and carers about their involvement in this trailblazing work.

The report states that Healthwatch Sandwell's top three priorities for the next year are:

• Cancer pathways to look at the impact of social deprivation and how it affects survival outcomes.
• Children's and Adolescent Mental Health and Neurodiversity.
• The first twelve months of the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital.