The Cheshire East Health and Wellbeing Board convened to discuss several key issues, including the approval of the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment, support for the East Timorese community, an update on the Healthier Futures Programme, and the Neighbourhood Health Service Implementation Programme.

This article summarises the topics that were listed for discussion, based on the documents provided to the board members prior to the meeting. As an AI assistant, I do not have access to information about what actually happened in the meeting.

Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment

The board was scheduled to consider the final version of the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) 2022-2025 report for approval. The report, written by Sara Deakin, Head of Health Intelligence, and Dr Susan Roberts, Consultant in Public Health, was presented to the Health & Wellbeing Board by Dr Rod Thomson, Interim Director of Public Health.

The PNA is a statement of the needs for pharmaceutical services of the population in the area, and Health and Wellbeing Boards have a statutory responsibility to publish and keep it up to date every three years.

The report pack stated that the PNA identifies:

…which NHS funded services need to be provided by local community pharmacies. These services are part of local health care and public health and affect NHS budgets.

The report pack also stated that the PNA is relevant when deciding if new pharmacies are needed, in response to applications by businesses.

The report pack noted that the draft PNA underwent public consultation between 1 April 2025 and 10 June 2025, and that feedback from this consultation was incorporated into the final version of the PNA.

The report pack recommended that:

The Health and Wellbeing Board approves the final version of the PNA for publication on the Cheshire East Council website for 2025-2028.

The report pack stated that the production of the PNA supports all four outcomes from the Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy for the population of Cheshire East 2023-2028.

The report pack also noted that updated population projections were released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 24 June 2025, after the PNA public consultation, and that this new data had been incorporated and considered in the final draft.

The Steering Group examined this revised population information, together with all the consultation responses received, and concluded that:

…the original statement remains valid, that there is adequate provision when location, number and distribution of pharmacies providing essential and advance services during standard core hours to meet the needs of the Cheshire East population.

Supporting the East Timorese community

The board was scheduled to receive a report on supporting the East Timorese community. The report pack stated that the aim was to improve access to health and care for East Timorese people by responding to the barriers raised by the community. The report pack listed four actions for Cheshire East:

• Look at ways to make the GP surgery more accessible by building trust among the community members
• Increase understanding of the barriers the community face with services and support locally
• Raise awareness and remove stigma about TB prevalence among the East Timorese community leading to increased testing
• Increase integration with the wider community in Crewe including social determinants of health overall

The report pack also listed activities and outcomes supported by the steering group up to July 2025, including pre-pandemic activity and engagement, a health needs assessment, a community lunch, East Timor Independence Day celebrations, a partnership workshop, community meetings and events, and relationship building with the community.

The report pack noted that the East Timorese population is not a single cohesive community, that many have managed to register at a GP surgery but some are not sure when to access GP or other services and when to go to A&E, that the stigma of TB is that it is a condition associated with poverty, and that translation at events and in clinical settings has been a barrier.

The report pack also noted that the community are facing challenges with employment rights, benefits and hate crime, and that Independence Day celebrations were male-oriented, and children and families helped to break the ice.

The report pack stated that successful engagement happened when a trusted council officer instigated the gathering in partnership with East Timor community leaders, taking place over a weekend, where translation was possible, meeting the community at church, and being a part of Independence Day celebrations.

The report pack listed next steps as:

• Continue meeting as a group (every 6 months) with task and finish groups for specific projects
• Engage with the East Timorese community through football events
• Connect with local schools
• Explore providing free ESOL language courses
• Improving data collection 'Asian other' isn't good enough
• Support other organisations and services to be aware of the East Timorese community and how best to support them

Healthier Futures Update

The board was scheduled to receive an update on progress with the Mid Cheshire Trust Healthier Futures Programme (the new Leighton Hospital).

The report pack described the scheme as a whole hospital replacement at Leighton, with c. 105,000sqm including c.3,800sqm of retained estate, 600+ IP beds, and significant investment in digital technologies to support patient care and system working.

The report pack stated that the strategy aims to establish clear physical separation between the existing hospital and construction areas, structured into three indicative zones.

The report pack described the design as a 6-storey plus plant main build, 2 retained estate buildings (rehab wards and an existing ED converted to a Training & Education Building), space for a multi-storey car park, an ambulatory cancer centre, a separate service & facilities yard, and a new energy centre.

The report pack noted that the Strategic Outline Case (SOC) had been approved by the Trust Board in June and the NHP investment Committee in July, that the maximum allowable area (105,000 sq m) and budget (£1.3bn) had been agreed with the NHP, and that the scheme master plan had been agreed by the Trust Board.

The report pack also noted that the scheme prospectus had been completed for Tier 1 contractor engagement as part of the H2.0 Alliance Framework, that an Inclusive Design Strategy had been approved for the new building, and that electrical capacity upgrade works had been agreed.

The report pack stated that Mid Cheshire was playing a more active role as a pathfinder, and that the Trust was actively engaging with the NHP to ensure that H2.0 compliance is achieved wherever possible.

The report pack also noted that a falls reduction pilot study using digital technology was underway, supported by the NHP innovation fund.

The report pack described the definition of the new technologies required in the hospital, and the Healthier Futures 5-Year Transformation Road Map from now to 2031.

The report pack listed activities in the next 6 months as:

• 1:200 Design (RIBA 2) in December 2025
• Digital Roadshow in March 2026
• Contractor Engagement in Feb 2026
• Benefits Workshops in Sept 2025
• Planning Application in Dec 2025
• Agreement on cancer unit in Nov 2025

The report pack described the RIBA 1 – Future Masterplan (post demolition) as a Health & Care Neighbourhood approach, sympathetic to the local environment, with enhanced green travel links, central to the local residential development plans, with additional routes to Middlewich Road & Flowers Lane, and enhanced Biodiversity opportunities.

The report pack included an updated timetable and timeline, and described the approach to social value, focusing efforts on four themes developed in collaboration with local partners, with 10% of the procurement weighting, and priority local communities of Crewe, Alsager, Winsford and Northwich.

The report pack listed targets as:

• 20,000 young people engaged
• 2,000 young people inspired to follow a career in science, technology (Inc. digital), engineering and maths
• 300 new employment opportunities (45 from our priority communities)
• 350 hours of training hours to support MSMEs and VCSEs within the supply chain
• Spend directed to local businesses, including MSMEs and VCSEs

The report pack described the Dream Big Programme, to develop and pilot a flagship programme to engage and inspire primary students in STEM subjects, and the Dream Big rollout, to evaluate, refine, and fund the programme, roll it out to Crewe primary schools, and roll it out to primary schools Northwich.

The report pack also described active travel, to create a collaborative working group & baseline, research a white paper, host a strategic roundtable, and follow up meetings to agree next steps.

Neighbourhood Health Service Implementation Programme

The board was scheduled to receive an update on the Neighbourhood Health Service Implementation Programme.

The report pack stated that there was a national priority to move care closer to home to improve access, experience and outcomes, and that increasing complexity of need requires an integrated response from the health and social care system.

The report pack listed the three key shifts as:

• Hospital → Community
• Treatment → Prevention
• Analogue → Digital

The report pack described the national ambition as:

Create healthier communities, helping people of all ages live healthy, active and independent lives for as long as possible while improving their experience of health and social care, and increasing their agency to manage their own care.

The report pack listed six core components of an effective neighbourhood service:

• Population Health Management¹
• Modern General Practice
• Standardising Community Health Services
• Neighbourhood Multi-Disciplinary Teams
• Integrated intermediate care with a 'Home First' approach
• Urgent neighbourhood services

The report pack stated that the priority for 2025/26 for these components is standardising the six core components, bringing together different components into an integrated offer, scaling up, and rigorously evaluating the impact of these actions.

The report pack described the vision for Neighbourhood Health in Cheshire and Merseyside as making healthcare better by bringing it closer to where people live, health and care providers working together to help people before they get really sick and make it easier for everyone to get care, and integrated neighbourhood health teams working with local people and other organisations so everyone can be healthier and have the same chance to stay well.

The report pack defined neighbourhoods as a specific geographical area or community that resonates with residents, that local services, organisations and communities can coalesce around to address needs and improve outcomes.

The report pack defined Integrated Neighbourhood Teams as developing Integrated Neighbourhood Teams will be part of how we deliver care at a neighbourhood level more broadly to both children and young people and adults.

The report pack defined multi-disciplinary working as representatives from different disciplines coming together to share expertise, coordinate care, and contribute their specific skills to address the needs of an individual/family or group.

The report pack included a logic model, and listed next steps as:

• Establishing the governance for neighbourhood health
• Building a shared understanding of what neighbourhood health is
• Outcome of the national implementation bids – 42 Places will be selected
• Delivering the initial focus - Supporting adults, children and young people with complex health and social care needs who require support from multiple services and organisations (high intensity users and complex households)
• Building on the current position recognising some areas are more developed than others

The report pack also stated that NHSE has set out some key metrics to measure the impact of neighbourhood health, and that as a Cheshire and Merseyside system, the council will need to consider how they evolve and translate these national metric into outcome focused neighbourhood dashboards.