Agenda item

25.1     The Board considered an update report on the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA). Darrell Gale, Director of Public Health introduced the report and gave a short presentation covering the content of the report including the work carried out on the JSNA since the last report to the Board and the workplan for 2025.

25.2     Mark Stainton, Director of Adult Social Care and Health thanked Darrell and his Team for the report which reflects the significant amount of work that has been undertaken on the JSNA. The information in the JSNA is really accessible which allows organisations and individuals to use the data to inform their work. In particular, the local profiles on the boundaries of the Integrated Community Teams (ICTs), based upon District and Borough council area profiles, provide important sources of information to support the development of the ICTs. The work plan for 2025 includes an update of the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) and a number of key pieces of work including needs assessments on the Mental Health of Older People and a needs assessment for People with Multiple Compound Needs; a Neurodiversity data briefing; a Climate Change Health Impact Assessment (HIA); and the Director of Public Health Annual Report 2024/25 – Regarding Coastal Community Assets.

25.3     Stephen Lightfoot, Chair of NHS Sussex added his thanks and commented that the JSNA is a valuable resource for health and social care. In regard to cardiovascular disease prevention, he asked whether the JSNA has enough data on cardiovascular needs. Darrell Gale responded that the JSNA does contain some information on cardiovascular disease, especially where it is linked to smoking. Graham Evans, Head of Public Health Intelligence added that there are a number of profiles on cardiovascular disease in the JSNA that compare East Sussex with other areas. He encouraged colleagues to speak to the Public Health team about the data that is available.

25.4     Councillor Ballard commented on the importance of JSNA and work plan and asked if the PNA will cover the priorities that are set out in the Health and Wellbeing Strategy. Darrell Gale responded that the PNA is a standalone piece of work and a statutory requirement. The work plan does match the priorities as well as responding to requests to undertake specific pieces of work from partners. The Public Health team is sometimes asked to undertake extra pieces of work in addition to the work plan, which can mean some pieces of work may not be as in depth as originally planned.

25.5     Ashley Scarff, Director of Joint Commissioning and ICT Development (East Sussex), NHS Sussex commented that the spread of work over the last year and the planned work for the year ahead is welcomed. The work to support the ICTs is really important and some of their work will be on cross-cutting themes through the population footprint of the ICT. He asked if it would be possible for the JSNA to provide cross-cutting data to support this work. Darrell Gale responded that the Public Health team do try and get cross-cutting data for the District and Borough council areas, but sometimes the data does not always provide the best fit for these areas, if data is not collected on a District and Borough basis. Graham Evans added that the neurodiversity data briefing was a request that arose from work with the ICTs and a look at what elements of data might be missing from the current ICT profiles. This also highlighted data gaps relating to housing issues within the ICT footprints, which can also be used to inform the JSNA.

25.6     The Board RESOLVED to approve the JSNA priorities and workplan for 2025.