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

Attendees and apologies

• Michael Kellet (Chair), Director for Population Health, Scottish Government
• Marion Bain, Public Health Advisor, Scottish Government
• Sam Cassels, Place Principle Advisor, Regeneration Unit, Scottish Government
• Jenna Collins (Deputising), Programme Manager, Health Foundation
• Angela Davidson, Deputy Director for Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing, Scottish Government
• Nicola Dickie, Director of People Policy, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities
• Angiolina Foster (Deputising), Pubilc Health Scotland
• Graham Foster (Deputising), NHS Forth Valley
• Diana Hekerem (Deputising), Healthcare Improvement Scotland
• Vicky Irons, Chief Officer, Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership
• Rikke Iversholt (Deputising), Technology Enabled Care & Digital Innovation, Scottish Government
• Heather Knox, Chief Executive, NHS Lanarkshire
• Angela Leitch, Chief Executive, Public Health Scotland
• Lynn MacMillan, Head of Health Inequalities Unit, Scottish Government
• Karen MacNee, Deputy Director for Health Improvement, Scottish Government
• Gerard McCormack, Head of Transformation, Performance and Improvement, Improvement Service
• Susan Paxton, Head of Programme, Scottish Community Development Centre
• Gordon Paterson (Deputising), NHS Education for Scotland
• Carol Potter, Chief Executive, NHS Fife
• Claire Stevens, Chief Executive, Voluntary Health Scotland
• Claire Sweeney, Director of Place and Wellbeing, Public Health Scotlan

Apologies

• Naureen Ahmad, Deputy Director for General Policy, Scottish Government 
• Dominique Allwood, Assistant Director for Improvement, Health Foundation
• Linda Bauld, Chief Social Policy Advisor, Scottish Government
• Lorna Birse-Stewart, Chair, NHS Tayside
• Ruth Glassborow, Director of Improvement, Health Improvement Scotland
• Dona Milne, Vice Chair of the SDPH Group, NHS Lothian
• Jane O’Donnell, Deputy Director for Local Government and Analytical Services, Scottish Government
• Peter Seaman, Associate Director, Glasgow Centre for Population Health
• Karen Reid, Chief Executive, NHS Education for Scotland
• Joy Tomlinson, Director of Public Health, NHS Fife
• Alison White, Convenor, Social Work Scotland
• Margaret Whoriskey, Deputy Director for Technology Enabled Care and Digital Innovation, Scottish Government

Items and actions

Welcome and apologies

Michael Kellet, Director of Population Health with Scottish Government, welcomed attendees and stated the aim of the meeting was to provide an update on the Anchors workstream, particularly in relation to procurement.  

The minutes from the previous meeting were approved with one minor correction. Actions from the previous meeting were reviewed with an update of progress since the last meeting.

Members discussed the benefits of using a “Three Horizons” approach to change theory and reiterated the need for clear indicators.

Scottish Government update

Michael Kellet gave a brief update on recent progress made including a sub-group of the Steering Group meeting on 26 April to discuss the Communities workstream and a successful theory of change workshop for the Anchors workstream. Updates for both these areas will be brought to the Steering Group at a future date.

It was also explained that the Care and Wellbeing Portfolio has been officially stood up with the first meeting of the Portfolio Board taking place on 28 April. Members welcomed comments from Richard Foggo, COVID-19 Director with Scottish Government, about how transformation programmes across Scottish Government are coming together and the link to Community Planning Partnerships was reiterated.

Anchors

Lynn MacMillan, Head of Health Inequalities within Scottish Population Health, presented wider progress of the Anchors workstream and summarised a report on procurement, highlighting a proposed approach for next steps. Heather Knox, Chief Executive for NHS Lanarkshire, and Carol Potter, Chief Executive for NHS Fife, offered to assist with this work and test ideas locally.

It was suggested that the creation of the Community Wealth Building Act has the potential to clarify responsibilities of named partners to participate in community planning around property decisions.

Action 6:

• Programme team to approach Scotland Excel and consider inviting to Steering Group to present their procurement assessment programme and how they have driven changes within local authorities

Members agreed that using tools such as impact assessments and standard governance templates can strengthen the impact of anchors work locally and support sustainability.

It was noted that the voice of local suppliers is currently missing and agreed of equal importance is how procurement can work better for local suppliers. The Supplier Development Programme was referenced as a useful tool and could be used more effectively. A similar gap was identified for explicitly supporting third sector suppliers.

Highlight reports

Úna Bartley, team lead for the Place and Wellbeing Programme, gave an overview of the highlight reports that will be circulated moving forward to give an update of progress between meetings.

Action 7:

• Programme team to develop project plans and share with members, against which the highlight reports can detail progress

It was suggested that the reports could connect themes from across the Programme more explicitly to avoid gaps between workstreams.