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Minutes from the twentieth meeting of the Public Health Wales BoardDate of meeting:25 October 2012
Venue for meeting: Boardroom, Llandough Hospital, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, Penarth
Version: 1
Present:
Professor Sir Mansel Aylward CB / ChairDr Peter Bradley / Executive Director of Public Health Development
Mr Mark Dickinson / Executive Director of Planning and Performance
Dr Quentin Sandifer / Executive Director of Public Health Services
Mr Huw George / Executive Director of Finance
Dr Carl Clowes / Non Executive Director
Mr Terry Rose / Non Executive Director
Professor Simon Smail CBE / Non Executive Director
Mr John Spence / Non Executive Director
Professor Gareth Williams / Non Executive Director
In attendance:
Mr Keith Cox / Board SecretaryMrs Ruth Davies / Director of Workforce and Professional Development
Dr Sharon Hopkins / Executive Director of Public Health, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
Dr Aideen Naughton / Designated Doctor Safeguarding Children, Public Health Wales
Dr Sarah Jones / Consultant in Environmental Health Protection, Public Health Wales
Mrs Sue Mably / Consultant in Public Health, Public Health Wales
Mrs Julie Lake / Executive Assistant
Miss Emma Carey / Personal Assistant to the Board Secretary
Apologies
Mr Bob Hudson / Chief ExecutiveMr Chris Lines / Director of Communications
Ms Eleanor Higgins / Executive Administrative Manager
PART A
1. / Welcome andapologies for absenceThe Chair welcomed all in attendance to the twentieth meeting of the Public Health Wales Board.
Apologies were received from Mr Bob Hudson, Mr Chris Lines and Ms Eleanor Higgins.
The Chair welcomed Dr Quentin Sandifer who was attending his first Formal Board meeting as Executive Director of Public Health Services.
2. / Declarations of interest
No declarations of interest were received.
3. / Minutes from Public Health Wales Board meeting held on 5 September 2012
a)Matters arising
Sir Mansel Aylward reported that he was still waiting for nominees from the Chief Executive of the WLGA for the local government post on the Board. It was the Minister’s expressed desire that three people be nominated for the post and not all should be elected Councillors.
It was noted that last time Public Health Wales sought nominations from SOLACE. Consideration will be given as to whether we could go back to SOLACE again.
Action: Chase WLGA with regards to nominations for the local government post on the Board.
Sir Mansel also advised that the response to The People’s NHS consultation had been sent to Welsh Government.
b)Approval of minutes
The minutes were approved as an accurate record of the meeting.
c)Actions arising
Mr Keith Cox provided the Board with anupdate on each of the action points.
Sir Mansel provided an update on action 19.02 Chair to discuss the introduction of folic acid into flour used in bread in order to reduce neural tube defects. Mr John Spence asked for a copy of a report to be circulated. The report was produced by Dr Judith John, Consultant Dietician for Public Health Wales and outlined the recommendations for the use of folic acid in flour for bread. There may be an opportunity to discuss this topic further at the next Formal Board meeting on 20 December which Dr Ruth Hussey, CMO has been invited to attend.
Action: Circulate copy of report written by Dr Judith John.
4. / Chair / Vice Chair Report
Sir Mansel Aylward and Mr John Spence provided the Board with a written report (paper 20.02) which included information on a number of strategic developments and issues.
Sir Manselmentioned that the Minister was pleased with the progress Public Health Wales is making. In particular the efforts of Mr Huw George and his team were recognised for how well the finances had been managed.
Sir Mansel extended an invitation to the Board members to visit the new Health Park in Merthyr Tydfil. The Health Park opens officially in the first week of January.
Mr Spence added that he had recently undertaken a tour of the new mental health building located on the grounds of Llandough Hospital. He also expressed how encouraged he was with the progress that had been made in mental health over the past twenty years.
5. / Chief Executive Report
Mr Huw George presented a report (Paper 20.03) to the Board, on behalf of Mr Bob Hudson, which included information on a number of strategic developments and issues.
Mr George advised the Board members that the presentation Mr Hudson gave at the meeting with NLIAH staff on 11 October was well received by NLIAH staff and that no concerns were expressed by those who had been identified as joining Public Health Wales.
Sir Mansel added that the Chief Executive had been invited by Carl Sergeant AM to chair the AcademiWales Advisory Board.
6. / Safeguarding Children Services - Review
Sir Mansel welcomed Dr Aideen Naughton, Designated Doctor Safeguarding Children, Public Health Wales, to the meeting.
Dr Naughton gave a presentation on the Safeguarding Children Service, providing an overview of the service and outlining what the service does.
Sir Mansel informed the Board he had received a letter from the Deputy Minister for Children and Social Care with regards to Safeguarding and Protection of People at Risk. Copies of the letter and statement will be circulated to the Board members shortly.
Action: Circulate letter received from the deputy Minister for Children and Social Care with regards to Safeguarding and Protection of People at Risk to the Board.
During the presentation, the Board were informed that one of the designated nurses had been awarded a Florence Nightingale Travel Scholarship. Sir Mansel expressed wishes to write to the Designated Nurse congratulating her on the Scholarship.
Action: Chair to write to Designated Nurse congratulating her on receiving the Florence Nightingale Travel Scholarship.
The Board was impressed with the work which had been carried out thus far by the Service. The Board noted that a huge piece of work still needed to be carried out and expressed concern as to how it is reasonable to carry out the work required with such a small team.The Safeguarding Children Services team consists of 5 designated nurses, 3 designated doctors and 2 training and development officers.
Various options were explored including working closer with the All Wales NHS Child Protection and Safeguarding Network.
Dr Naughton informed the Board that she was a member of the National Safeguarding Board.
Sir Mansel thanked Dr Naughton for attending and providing such an informative presentation.
7. / Cardiff and Vale University Health Board Report
Sir Mansel welcomed Dr Sharon Hopkins, Executive Director of Public Health, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, to the meeting and took the opportunity to thank her for allowing Public Health Wales to hold our Board meeting at Cardiff and Vale premises.
Dr Sharon Hopkins gave a presentation on the work she and her team have been doing in Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, outlining some of the achievements that have taken place in the last two and a half years and challenges the Health Board face going forward.
The Board discussed a number of topics relating to the disparities between the more affluent and more deprived areas of Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan. Dr Sharon Hopkins explained the advantages of only having to work with two local authorities and considered their workforces as potential advocates of public health.
Sir Mansel expressed the appreciation of the Board to Dr Hopkins for her very helpful and informative presentation.
8. / Board Secretary Report
Mr Keith Cox provided the Board with a written report (papers20.05a-j) on Public Health Wales’ key governance issues, which includes Board, Committees and Audit reports.
a)Producer of official statistics – ratification of Chair’s action
The Board ratified the earlier Chair’s action to approve the proposal that Public Health Wales becomes a producer of official statistics.
b)Register of gifts, hospitality, interests and common seal
The register of gifts and hospitality is a record of all gifts and hospitality received by members of staff in the organisation. It was noted that the Non Executive Directorshadn’t declared any receipt of gifts or hospitality. It was agreed that Non Executive Directors would provide information to Mr Cox if they receive any gifts or hospitality.
The Non Executive Directors would also update their Declarations of Interest.
The registers would be updated and reviewed by Audit Committee on 19 December 2012.
Action: Registers to be updated and reviewed by Audit Committee on 19 December 2012.
The provisional dates for next year’s Board meetings were noted and it was agreed to continue with the same patterns of formal and informal Board meetings with up to three formal Board meetings being held in local Health Board areas. Discussions are ongoing to finalise venues and locations for the formal Board meetings to be held on Health Board premises next year.
9. / Finance Performance Report
Mr Huw George provided the Board with a written report (paper 20.06) on the financial position of Public Health Wales as at 30 September 2012 (month 6).
The Board offered their congratulations to Huw and his team for maintaining the targets that had been set and for all the work they had done towards the stock take review that was commissioned by David Sissling from Welsh Government.
10. / Executive Team Reports
Each of the Executive Team reports were provided for information and background.
a)Executive Director of Public Health Services
Dr Quentin Sandifer presented a report (paper 20.07a) on the Public Health Services Directorate and the Medical Director role.
The Board noted that the digitalisation of Breast Test Wales in North Wales should hopefully be completed by Christmas and that this would have an impact on the frequency at which women are called for screening. It was agreed that this should be discussed further at the informal Board meeting in January 2013.
Action: Report back on digitalisation of Breast Test Wales in North Wales at informal Board meeting in January 2013.
The latest headlines performance data for screening in Wales indicated Wales was doing well.
Screening Programme / Rate of take-up / Target rate of take-up
Bowel Screening / 52.7 % / 60%
Cervical Screening / 76.5 % (20-24 age group)
79.7% (25-64 age group) / 80%
Breast Screening / 75.2% / 80% (aspirational)
The Board heard that although Wales was not meeting all targets, the programmes were achieving better results than most regions in England.
The CMO has asked Public Health Wales to provide her with an assessment on the different options available for the storage and use of genetic material obtained through the newborn bloodspot screening programme.
Dr Sandifer informed the Board that Wales was in line with England, Scotland and Northern Ireland with regard to the temporary pertussis vaccinations in pregnant women. This is to be reviewed in March/April next year as to whether the vaccination should continue.
Professor Simon Smail asked that the Board be kept up to date with the legionella outbreak in Carmarthen. This was discussed in detail later in the meeting.
b)Executive Director of Public Health Development
Dr Peter Bradley presented a report (paper 20.07b) on his Directorate.
Dr Bradley advised the Board that the Early Years Pathfinder was at implementation phase following the workshop that took place on 25 September 2012.
The Board were also informed that following on from the findings from the smoking in pregnancy report, work was underway on four pilot schemes addressing different models to deliver smoking cessation to pregnant women.
The Chair queried whether the Board had seen Public Health Wales’ response to the White Paper for Better Lives and Communities which was mentioned under paragraph 2.10.1.
Action:Circulate Public Health Wales response to the White Paper for Better Lives and Communities
Dr Carl Clowes enquired if there is anything of interest in the Older people’s indicators mentioned under paragraph 3.1.1. The Board asked to see the final indicators once published.
Action: Circulate final version of older people’s indicatorsfor Health Board Areas to Board members once published.
c)Executive Director of Planning and Performance
Mr Mark Dickinson tabled an additional paper which provided information on the upcoming Joint Executive Team meeting with the Welsh Government.The Board noted that the on 31 October would be the first since Dr Ruth Hussey took over as Chief Medical Officer in the Welsh Government.
d)Director of Corporate Services
Mr Keith Cox presented a report (paper 20.07d) to the Board, which included information on key governance issues, which include corporate incidences, concerns and audit reports.
A typographical error was noted on page 6 of the report in relation to the name of the Health Park in Merthyr. It was agreed to amend this to the ‘Keir Hardie Health Park’.
e)Director of Workforce and Organisational Development
Mrs Ruth Davies presented a report to the Board, which included information on key workforce and organisational development issues (paper 20.07e).
The Board noted that several of the Stakeholder Events “Have Your Say” had taken place; three were still to take place in North Wales. These workshops enabled staff to give feedback on how Public Health Wales can be a better place to work. The workshops are due to be completed by the end of December. The Board requested that Mrs Davies report back on the outcomes from the workshops.
Mrs Davies informed the Board that a Statutory and Mandatory training Audit was due to be implemented shortly to assess compliance rates for Statutory and Mandatory training for staff.
f)Director of Communications
Mr Mark Dickinson presented a report to the Board, on behalf of Mr Chris Lines, which included information on; internal communications, stakeholder communications and public communications (paper 20.07f).
11. / Health Improvement Review Update
Dr Peter Bradley provided the Board with an oral update on the Health Improvement Review.
Work was progressing well on the review. An interim report would be available in December with the final report scheduled to be completed by March 2013. The report will look at the level of spend on the lifespan approach and the reasoning behind Public Health Wales’ work plans.
The Board agreed that there are enormous opportunities to improve Public Health in Wales and were informed that Welsh Government were happy to take the broader approach.
The Board discussed what other areas of work could be looked at in the future. The Board were pleased with progress and recognised the review was a good opportunity to identify and consolidate future health improvement priorities.
12. / Research and Development / Collaboration
Dr Peter Bradley presented a report (paper 20.08) to the Board. An earlier iteration of the paper was discussed at the informal Board meeting on 27 September 2012and was updated following discussions at the meeting.The Board was asked to endorse the recommendations in the updated paper.
The Board agreed that there was a need to get the membership of the core partnership right.
Professor Smail highlighted that the representative from the third sector may need to be considered further. A discussion also took place with regards to the name of the Collaboration Board.
The Board endorsed the recommendations in the report.
13. / Burden of injuries in Wales report
Sir Mansel welcomed Dr Sarah Jones, Consultant in Environmental Health, Public Health Wales, to the meeting.
Dr Jones gave a presentation on the Burden of Injuries in Wales report. The presentation provided an overview of the main points of the report that was included in the papers (paper 20.09).
The Board congratulated Dr Jones and also the Public Health Wales Observatory Team on the work that had gone in to the report, which was prepared in collaboration with Swansea University.
Professor Gareth Williams enquired why there was no reference to the sociology of accidents, for example, young men driving at night.
The Board also raised the issue of lack of evidence for accidents/injuries on farms and in rural areas. It was agreed there was a definite need to tackle this area of injuries and that this was an area that needed more attention given to it in the future – Dr Jones informed the Board that this was the first of a series of biennial reports.
Some recommendations as to what Public Health Wales could do to improve the burden of injury are:
- advocate legislative action where appropriate,
- take a stronger role in injury prevention
- support Emergency Department data collection.
Mr Terry Rose enquired if the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had been invited to the seminar. Dr Jones agreed she would check if invites had been sent to the HSE.
Sir Mansel thanked Dr Jones for attending and giving an informative presentation.
14. / Sustainable Communities Pathfinder- update
Sir Mansel welcomed Mrs Su Mably, Consultant in Public Health, Public Health Wales, to the meeting.
Mrs Mably gave a presentation on the Sustainable Communities Pathfinder.The presentation gave an overview of the report that was included in the meeting papers (paper 20.10), providing a brief background of what the Sustainable Communities Pathfinder is, what it would consider and the proposed outputs for the Pathfinder.
The presentation also looked at where to start with the implementation of the pathfinder in local communities.
Mrs Mably informed the Board that a visit to Scotland, where they have completed a lot of work in this area ,was being organised by NLIAH.
Dr Clowes expressed his keenness for the pathfinder to move forward but was also keen to ensure that the pathfinder did not focus on South Wales and urban areas as there are the same inequalities in rural areas.
Mrs Mably also provided an update on the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI) annual meeting she attended in Mexico. Public Health Wales was accepted as an associate member of IANPHI on 2 October 2012.
Moving forward, IANPHI membership will enable Public Health Wales to establish links with a number of nations, an example being the establishment of communication links with Uganda.
15. / Committee Meeting Reports
a)Audit Committee
Mr Terry Rose provided the Board with an oral update on the Audit Committee meeting which had taken place on 13 September 2012. The Board noted that this was the first Audit Committee meeting that Mr Rose had chaired.
The Board were informed that time was spent discussing the Audit Action Plan and the Risk Register, which is due to be reviewed and re-written by the Executive Team. Mr Rose asked that realistic timescales for any work outstanding be incorporated into the Audit Action Log and new Risk Register.
Mr Rose informed the Board that one and a half hours was not sufficient time for the Audit Committee meetings – two hours would be more realistic – the Wales Audit Office (WAO) were happy for meetings to be extended to two hours.
The minutes from the meeting held on 6 June were included as a paper to note (paper 20.13).
b)Information Governance Committee
Mr Rose provided the Board with an oral update on the information Governance Committee meeting which had taken place on 13 September 2012.
The following items were discussed in the meeting:
- data protection – sending wrong data
- use of cookies
c)Quality and Safety Committee
Professor Simon Smail provided the Board with an oral update on the Quality and Safety meeting which had taken place on 18 October 2012.
The Committee received a presentation on Patient Stories and an initial overview of work required within health and safety.
The Committee received a report which collated the lessons learned from incidents from the Bowel Screening programme.
The Committee approved three policy areas:
- Risk Management Terms of Reference
- DSE Policy
- Asbestos Policy
16. / Non Executive Directors Reports
Dr Carl Clowes informed the Board that he had carried out several interviews for TV and radio on the relationship between the viability/development of confidence in communities and the health of the population, following on fromthe 30th anniversary celebrations of Nant Gwrtheyrn.
Professor Simon Smail noted the Staff Conference that took place in Llandrindod Wells on 8 October. The general atmosphere was very good and there were positive contributions from staff.
Mr John Spence had spent the previous two days in York in his role with the Food Standards Agency. One topic discussed was the DEFRA Handbook of Food Statistics, Mr Spence will send the web link for the Handbook to the Board members.
Action: Circulate DEFRA handbook of food statistics.
17. / Quality and Safety Committee Annual Report
Professor Simon Smail presented the Board with the Quality and Safety Committee Annual Report (paper 20.11).
The Board noted and approved the report.
18. / Audit Committee Annual Report
Mr Huw George presented the Board with the Audit Committee Annual Report (paper 20.12).
The Board noted and approved the report.
19. / Any Other Business
There was no further business to discuss.
20. / Papers for information
The Board noted the following papers for information:
a)Audit Committee Minutes (paper 20.13)
b)Information Governance Committee minutes (paper 20.14)
c)Quality and Safety Committee minutes (paper 20.15)
d)International Association of National Public Health Institutes AGM (paper 20.16)
PART B (in private)
1. / HR Issues Update
Mrs Ruth Davies provided an update on a number of HR issues.
Dr Quentin Sandifer provided an update on a number of Public Health Services issues.
Date: 31.12.12 / Version:1 / Page: 1 of 17
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