Agenda item

10.1.    Darrell Gale introduced the Annual Report of the Director of Public Health -  Postcards from the Coast. Coastal Communities in East Sussex, their health, wellbeing and assets. Darrell noted that this was a statutory report which served as the independent voice of the Director of Public Health and would be published shortly on the East Sussex Joint Strategic Needs Assessment website. The report outlined the health and wellbeing of coastal communities in East Sussex.

10.2.    Councillor Webb thanked Darrell for the report and agreed with the current focus on promoting protection against measles and asked if Public Health had come across communities with a religious opposition to vaccination. Councillor Webb also highlighted recruitment challenges in Hastings, which had been an issue for many years, and the Aspirations scheme linked to addressing this. He additionally enquired about whether the Board would receive a report on social prescribing this year, praising the report considered in the previous year.

10.3.    Darrell Gale responded that, regarding vaccination, there was increasingly a variety of communities living in coastal towns in the county with differing religious and cultural beliefs and this made the vaccination programme more complex. In light of this, there was a need for Public Health to work with partners to re-emphasise its importance and understand barriers to vaccination including non-scientific information impacting people’s decisions.

10.4.    Darrell commented that Aspirations was a long-term approach to growing the medical workforce locally, particularly in areas such as Hastings where fewer people were choosing to enter the profession. There had been several recent events focused on recruitment and Darrell noted that a small number of young people were using care work to develop businesses, taking advantage of the flexibility of this work. He commented that gaps in the workforce could be addressed by promoting this flexibility while enhancing skills in other sectors.

10.5.    Regarding social prescribing, Darrell responded that there had not been the opportunity to provide an update on creative health within this report but that an appendix would be produced on this.

10.6.    Councillor Ungar thanked Darrell for an informative report and commented that messages encouraging parents to vaccinate their children were not strong enough and should focus more on the potential consequences of missed vaccinations.

10.7.    Stephen Lightfoot echoed comments on the importance of vaccination. He added that the report made the case for two systems within the future ICB given that Surrey did not have coastal communities, noting that the report highlighted a significant discrepancy between life expectancies in coastal and non-coastal communities. Stephen added that the report captured the need to follow demographic data as it evolved, as demonstrated by the example that the population in Eastbourne had become younger.

10.8.    Ashley Scarff commented that the report and work of Public Health going forward would have a valuable role in developing Integrated Care Teams. He added that this work presented an opportunity to champion the building blocks of health within the three 10-year development programmes in Eastbourne, Bexhill, and Hastings.

10.9.    The Chair thanked Public Health for the report and commented that it provided a wide range of information with a variety of uses.

10.10.  The Board RESOLVED to review and champion the 2024-25 Annual Report of the Director of Public Health in East Sussex - Postcards from the Coast. Coastal Communities in East Sussex, their health, wellbeing and assets, ahead of wider dissemination and publication.