The Health & Adult Social Care Select Committee for Buckinghamshire Council scheduled a meeting to discuss several key issues, including the NHS 10-year plan, dementia services, and the Health & Wellbeing portfolio performance. The meeting was also set to include an update from the Chairman, and a discussion of the committee's work programme.

NHS 10 Year Plan and Buckinghamshire Strategies

The committee was scheduled to discuss the NHS's 10 year plan alongside Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust's (BHT) strategy, and the Buckinghamshire Health & Wellbeing Board's strategy. The report pack included a Buckinghamshire Strategic Update, which stated that the Government 10 year plan was published in July 2025, and that in August 2025 Buckinghamshire successfully bid to be on wave one of the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Plan (NNHIP).

The Buckinghamshire Place Strategic Summary stated that to achieve all the ambitious strategies, the council would need to:

Further empower residents to focus on prevention and support their own health and wellbeing for example being a health weight and stopping smoking...

A shift of health care from acute hospital settings into communities...

Prioritise our focus to make these improvements in health outcomes for our population and meeting our financial obligations.

Different levels of focus and resource will be required for different areas based on population needs to ensure overall increase in health outcomes.

Buckinghamshire Place Strategic Summary

The report pack stated that the NHS 10 year plan included three shifts:

• From reactive to proactive care
• From hospital to community
• From top-down to bottom-up

The report pack also stated that Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (INT) are professionals from health, the council, and the voluntary and community sector that work within a specific geographic area to provide coordinated and preventative care, to address the needs of the population and improve health and wellbeing.

Dementia Services

The Health & Adult Social Care Select Committee was scheduled to receive an update on the progress made in implementing recommendations from a 2023 review of dementia services in Buckinghamshire. The 2023 review made 18 recommendations aligned with NHS England's Dementia Well Pathway¹.

The report pack included a table that summarised progress against the recommendations from the 2023 review, and included updates from February 2024 and December 2025.

According to the report pack, as of September 2025, 4,546 adults over 65 in Buckinghamshire had a formal dementia diagnosis, representing a Dementia Diagnostic Rate (DDR) of 58.4%. This was an increase of 382 people since February 2023, but still short of the national target of 66.7%.

The report pack stated that a dementia strategy action plan had been created, which included the HASC recommendations, and that the action plan delivery was monitored through the Dementia Strategy Group (DSG).

The report pack stated that since August 2025 there had been progress with the evolution of the BOB ICB Dementia oversight group, whose priority is to develop a strategy. The work on the strategy has commenced using the Nationally accredited Dementia 100 Pathway Assessment Tool. Buckinghamshire, Oxford and Berkshire West have all been asked to complete the assessment.

The report pack stated that the NHS Health Check specification applied in Buckinghamshire, includes a memory section for individuals over 65, and that in Q1 and Q2 2025/26, quality assurance visits determined that 77% of relevant patients who received their NHS Health Check in this period were given dementia awareness advice.

The report pack stated that Buckinghamshire Council agree that the risk factors for dementia should be more widely communicated and has taken action to ensure opportunities to raise awareness are maximised. For example, cardiovascular disease campaigns now routinely highlight what is good for the heart is good for the brain and the 'Love Your Heart Bucks' and the 'Tobacco Control Strategy' campaigns now explicitly refer to dementia.

The report pack stated that since the 2023 review, Oxford Health Foundation Trust (OHFT) has confirmed that all patients prescribed with dementia medication through the memory clinic, receive information regarding the potential effects and side effects to assist informed decision making, and that contact details are provided for individuals to discuss any issues or access more information from the team.

The report pack stated that the new Dementia Support service, provided by Age UK², now provides Dementia Support Workers to offer post-diagnosis information sessions, and that the Memory Assessment service can refer to this service where required.

The report pack stated that the Memory Assessment Service has taken steps to improve the waiting times, including recruitment of additional staff, and reduce DNA (Did Not Attend) appointments to maximise the impact of the available resource. The diagnosis rate has improved since 2023 from 57.3% to 58.4% (as of September 2025) but we remain some distance away from the national target of 66.7%.

The report pack included the following data from Oxford Health Foundation Trust (September 2025):

The report pack stated that in Primary Care, Buckinghamshire Primary Care Network (PCN) Social Prescribers have had training delivered by the Memory Support Service to conduct memory screening in the community and care home settings, and that PCN and General Practice staff have also had training to support delivering Dementia Annual Reviews.

The report pack stated that Adult Social Care (ASC) staff now receive information on the Dementia Support Service, the Dementia Toolkit and the appropriate referral process via monthly communications, and that representatives from the Dementia Support Service are invited to attend both the ASC Operations Managers' meetings and individual team meetings.

The report pack stated that support for people with YOD has been built into the new Dementia Support Service, including outreach to engage more clients and specialist support tailored to their needs, and that BOB ICB Dementia Oversight Group will be reviewing Young Onset Dementia pathways across BOB as part of the Dementia 100 Pathway Assessment Tool review.

The report pack stated that efforts to better engage with Care homes, including inviting representatives to the join DSG, have been made, but that progress has been limited and representation at the DSG has been sporadic due to the operational demands, and that the strategic commissioning team have now agreed to regularly attend the Buckinghamshire Care Providers Association (BCPA), and this can be used as a platform to secure care home engagement in the dementia work programme going forward.

The report pack stated that Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust (BHT) have advised that the This is Me tool is now used as part of care planning to enhance personalised care for people with dementia, and that BHT apply the principles from John's Campaign for people with admitted to hospital through the use of the 'Carer's Passport'.

The report pack stated that the implementation and expansion of the joy app has achieved significant progress in promoting community opportunities/assets and supporting service users to access these services, alongside other opportunities such as the dementia toolkit and the resources available through Buckinghamshire Info Net.

The report pack stated that Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust (BHT) have committed to revisiting the Big Conversation planned sessions in 2026, and that individuals are reminded to access the Healthy Libraries program at local library services, and that Libraries continue to support Dementia Action Week by offering additional events and the Ready Well for dementia collection.

Health & Wellbeing Portfolio Performance

The committee was scheduled to review the Q2 performance for the Health & Wellbeing portfolio. The report pack included a number of performance indicators, including:

• Percentage of young people whose Adult Social Care Assessment was completed before they turned 18 years old
• Percentage of people who have set a quit smoking date and have successfully quit at 4 weeks
• Percentage of safeguarding enquiries where personal outcomes were fully or partially achieved (where expressed)
• Number of younger people (aged 18-64) admitted to permanent residential or nursing care homes per head of 100,000 population
• Number of older people (65+) admitted to permanent residential or nursing care homes per 100,000 population
• Percentage of service users due an annual review that receive their review
• Number of Carers Assessments
• Percentage of people that live independently after receiving re-ablement
• Percentage of births that receive a face-to-face New Birth Visit within 14 days by a health visitor
• Percentage of adults who have successfully completed alcohol treatment of all those receiving treatment

Other Business

The agenda for the meeting included a Chairman's update on health and social care related scrutiny activities since the last meeting. The committee was also scheduled to discuss and agree the items for its next meeting.