Meeting documents

To receive and discuss the report

The Board had a report and presentation on the performance measures and actions proposed in relation to the Improving Lives Action Planning document and an indication of their status, either as a progress update or as a comparison to performance in other areas. There are 53 metrics, and each has been RAG rated against comparators. Some key areas were highlighted for discussion, including the Carer’s Survey, Children’s Health, and Health, Climate and Housing.

The Board discussed the report, and the following points were made:

·         There is a danger that the Covid pandemic will for the short term have a negative impact on the data and this must be tracked over the longer term to make any significant statistical changes,

·         The Carers report noted above is an historic report and there have been some recent changes following a Carers workshop last year.

·         The high proportion of Somerset residents living in fuel poverty is of great concern.

The Somerset Health and Wellbeing Board :-

·         Considered the report and

·         Approved the format of the Scorecard – As the Board was not quorate at this point this will have to go to the next meeting.

The Board had a report and presentation on the performance measures and actions proposed in relation to the Improving Lives Action Planning document and an indication of their status, either as a progress update or as a comparison to performance in other areas. There are 53 metrics, and each has been RAG rated against comparators. Some key areas were highlighted for discussion. They were:

·         Carer’s Survey - The biennial Carers survey suggested a decline in outcomes for carers in Somerset. Carer reported quality of life dropped from 8.2 to 7.1 out of 12. The proportion of carers reporting that they had as much social contact as they would like has fallen from 45.4% to 25.1%. Overall satisfaction with social services has dropped from 40.4% to 31.1%.  This is in line with the South West and England figures which have also shown drops in Carer reported quality of life (7.7 to 7.5 in England), a drop in proportion of carers reporting they had as much social contact as they would like (32.3% to 28.9% in the South West and 35.5% to 31.2% in England).

·          Children’s Health - The percentage of children in reception, and in year 6, who are overweight or obese has increased in 2020 Somerset.  For Reception this increase was seen across the South West but to a greater extent in Somerset moving from 22.0% in 2019 to 23.4% in 2020, the highest since 2014. This put Somerset above the South West average, the average of statistical neighbours and the England Average where Somerset were below comparators from 2016 to 2019.  By year 6 the percentage overweight or obese was 31.8% in 2020, this is very similar to the South West and Statistical Neighbour averages. It is also the highest since 2014 but with a smaller range of difference to the reception figures. Interestingly the England average is much higher at 35.2%, this puts Somerset in the most positive quartile for the measure.  Another point to highlight in Children’s Health is the increase in Mental Health Admissions for 0 to 17-year olds. From 2016 Somerset has been above the averages for the South West, England and Statistical neighbours. The 2020 figures for Somerset show 139.4 per 100,000 admissions which although lower than the 153.6 figure the previous year, is still much higher than the South West at 114.7, Statistical Neighbours at 107.8 and England at 89.5.

·         Health, Climate and Housing - Somerset’s CO2 emissions estimates from 2005 to 2018 show a reduction of 31.5% for the period. Whilst positive, this is a slightly lower reduction than the national average of 34.5% for the same period. The main drivers for this reduction in Somerset come from electricity generation where use of renewable energy sources is increasing, whilst coal and gas are decreasing. Looking at fuel poverty statistics shows Somerset as having 10.8% of families living in Fuel Poverty, the same as recorded in 2018 this is roughly equivalent with the South West average of 10.6% but better than the England average of 13.4%.

The Board discussed the report, and the following points were made:

·         There is a danger that the Covid pandemic will for the short term have a negative impact on the data and this must be tracked over the longer term to make any significant statistical changes,

·         The Carers report noted above is an historic report and there have ben some recent changes following a Carers workshop last year.

·         The high proportion of Somerset residents living in fuel poverty is of great concern.

The Somerset Health and Wellbeing Board :-

·         Considered the report and

·         Approved the format od the Scorecard – As the Board was not quorate at this point this will have to go to the next meeting.