Health inequalities: Place and Wellbeing Programme Steering Group minutes - February 2022

Attendees and apologies

• Karen MacNee (Chair), Deputy Director for Health Improvement, Scottish Government
• Naureen Ahmad, Deputy Director for General Policy, Scottish Government 
• Dominque Allwood, Assistant Director for Improvement, Health Foundation
• Marion Bain, Public Health Advisor, Scottish Government
• Linda Bauld, Chief Social Policy Advisor, Scottish Government
• Sam Cassels, Place Principle Advisor, Regeneration Unit, Scottish Government
• Angela Davidson, Deputy Director for Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing, Scottish Government
• Nicola Dickie, Director of People Policy, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities
• Diana Hekerem (Deputising), Healthcare Improvement Scotland
• Vicky Irons, Chief Officer, Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership
• Heather Knox, Chief Executive, NHS Lanarkshire
• Lynn MacMillan, Head of Health Inequalities Unit, Scottish Government
• Gerard McCormack, Head of Transformation, Performance and Improvement, Improvement Service
• Dona Milne, Vice Chair of the SDPH Group, NHS Lothian
• David Milne (Deputising), Scottish Government
• Susan Paxton, Head of Programme, Scottish Community Development Centre
• Karen Reid, Chief Executive, NHS Education for Scotland
• Peter Seaman, Glasgow Centre for Population Health, Associate Director
• Kimberley Somerside (Deputising), Policy Engagement Officer, Voluntary Health Scotland
• Joy Tomlinson, Director of Public Health, NHS Fife

Apologies

• Michael Kellet, Director for Population Health, Scottish Government
• Lorna Birse-Stewart, Chair, NHS Tayside
• Ruth Glassborow, Director of Improvement, Health Improvement Scotland
• Angela Leitch, Chief Executive, Public Health Scotland
• Jane O’Donnell, Deputy Director for Local Government and Analytical Services, Scottish Government
• Carol Potter, Chief Executive, NHS Fife
• Claire Stevens, Chief Executive, Voluntary Health Scotland
• Claire Sweeney, Director of Place and Wellbeing, Public Health Scotland

Items and actions

Welcome and apologies

Karen MacNee, Deputy Director of Health Improvement with Scottish Government passed on Michael Kellet’s apologies, Director of Population Health with Scottish Government, and deputised as Chair of the meeting. Karen MacNee welcomed attendees to the meeting and stated the aim was to consider the Anchors and Communities workstreams and a proposed Equality and Inclusion Framework.

The minutes from the previous meeting were approved and an update on progress since the last meeting was given.

Targeted improvement 1: Anchors

Lynn MacMillan, Head of Health Inequalities Unit, gave an overview of the Anchors workstream. Lorna Renwick, Health Improvement Programme Manager at Public Health Scotland, provided an update on engagement with health boards to date. Nadia Alnasser, Senior Research Officer at the Scottish Government, proposed an analytical approach for the workstream.

Members questioned whether the workstream will make a significant difference. The omission of education and training for the workforce was also raised.

Action 1:

• Programme team to engage with NHS Education for Scotland and consider workforce elements within the Programme

There was agreement that this work should align with the COVID-19 Recovery Strategy and that there is a need to explore and engage with existing projects, including pathfinders in Dundee and Glasgow.

Members generally agreed with the proposed analytical approach for developing metrics at a national level before adapting locally.

Action 2:

• Programme team to source feedback from Health Foundation regarding dashboards and metrics on anchors

Targeted improvement 2: Communities

Lynn MacMillan described the suggested approach for the Communities workstream and invited members to provide comment.

It was agreed there is a need to look at existing work in this area, including by scrutiny bodies such as the Care Inspectorate. Healthcare Improvement Scotland also noted their Collaborative Communities project and flagged the importance of giving attention to how a community-led health model was created rather than the model itself.

It was noted that this workstream does not give full consideration of spatial elements and unhealthy commodities.

Again, there was agreement that the Programme needs to align with the COVID-19 Recovery Strategy and other pieces of work, for example the development of the National Care Service, Public Health Reform and the Community Planning Improvement Board.

Several members expressed interest in participating in a smaller group to look at this further.

Equality framework

Lois White, Programme Equalities Lead, presented a draft Equality and Inclusion Framework and invited comment. Healthcare Improvement Scotland noted interest in engaging further.

Terms of reference

New members from Social Work Scotland and Health Foundation were introduced.

Members were invited to send comments on the terms of reference ahead of final approval.

Any other business

An update was requested on the status of the NHS Property Transaction Handbook review.

Action 3:

• the Chair to follow up on the progress of the NHS Property Transaction Handbook review