Agenda item

To receive the recommendations arising from Healthwatch research in 24/25, including their most recent Black mental health report.

Rhyana Ebanks-Babb, Healthwatch Southwark (HWS) Manager presented the item. The Board were provided with some background as to why Healthwatch undertook this research project which focused on Black African and Caribbean communities and the inequalities they face in accessing mental health care. The projects main aims were to;

§  Develop relationships with residents

§  Provide a platform

§  Find out the key issues so that it can be shared with the decision makers to drive change.

This was a 2-year project undertaken in 2 phases. Part 1 consisted of a survey of people’s experiences and focus groups to address questions collectively. Part 2 focused  on groups and 1:1 interviews to meet participants preferences. The summary and 8 recommendations resulting from this project can be found as an appendix to these minutes.

Healthwatch’s ask of the Board

When planning the following initiatives;

-  Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy action plan 2025-27

-  Partnership  Southwark Health and Care Plan

-  Southwark 2030 goal for “staying well”

that they are assessed through the lens of Black empowerment and Black liberation and that HWS are informed of how their work informs the above initiatives, with recommendations. How the work streams have been influenced so as to enable HWS to not only report back to the communities that have been involved but also help enable them to explore how their work has impacted communities within Southwark.

Next Steps for Healthwatch Southwark

Alongside working and promoting their work, Healthwatch Southwark not only sought formal responses from providers, but they will (i) continue sharing their findings with communities, (ii) present those finding to key decision makers such as the Health and Wellbeing Board and (iii) track the progress of providers at 6 and12 month reviews.

Based on their research HWS found that people do not know what is available in the Borough, therefore they have created a directory of services that are available on their website (Black Mental Health Service Directory | Healthwatch Southwark). They ask that this is shared with staff, service users, partners. The printed versions of this directory will be available in the coming weeks.

Ade Odunlade, Chief Operating Officer, South London & Maudsley (SLAM) NHS Foundation Trust provided a brief overview of the work currently being undertaken by SLAM to address some of the issues highlighted in Healthwatch Southwark’s findings and mental health overall. Recently SLAM became 1 of 6 pilots across the country in terms of integrated health which is one of HWS recommendations.  The pilot is in Lewisham and will be extended to Southwark as well. The aim is to create a neighbourhood service which includes everything ie housing, GPs and all of the services under the same roof, creating one a stop shop.

Rhyana welcomed SLAMs update and proposed that it would be useful for Healthwatch Southwark and SLAM to meet and discuss SLAMs response [ACTION for Healthwatch Southwark and SLAM ]

Councillor Akoto ask of the Board, as a strategic body what can they do to support the issues raised? How can they ensure there are early intervention services available, and that people know about them and are able to utilise them to help alleviate pressures on GP services. What measures can be put in place to address the pressure being experienced by certain services to support residents?

Rhyana clarified that as part of the work they undertook, the GP Federation were contacted but no response back was received and their feedback would be useful in helping HWS. Rhyana requested of the Vice-Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board, Dr Nancy Kuchemann could assist with moving this forward by raising it with the GP Federation and encourage them to work with HWS. This will in part enable HWS to understand the issues in aggregating the data or what the access barriers are and what they can do to help support get that information out [ACTION for HWB Vice-Chair, Dr Nancy Kuchemann]

Peter Babudu, Impact on Urban Health, proposed he would be keen to discuss how the Healthwatch report could inform joint work between Impact on Urban Health, and SEL ICS on transforming Mental Health services for Black residents [ACTION for Impact on Urban Health]

Rebecca Jarvis - Director of Partnership Delivery and Sustainability proposed that the Primary Care Collaborative could support with taking forward this conversation and that she would review the agenda to see if Healthwatch could present there [ACTION for Rebecca Jarvis]

RESOLVED - That the Health and Wellbeing Board noted the recommendations from the Healthwatch Black Mental Health report and considered how they could be addressed through delivery of the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy action plan 2025-27, Partnership Southwark Health and Care Plan, and Southwark 2030 goal for “Staying Well”.