HEALTHY REGION FORUM

The Assembly first convened the Healthy Region Forum in December 2000; it has met four times since then. This Bulletin describes the work of the Forum and summarises the proceedings of the last meeting in June 2002. The Forum will meet again in the autumn.

ROLE OF THE REGIONAL ASSEMBLY IN HEALTH ISSUES
Health is a vital dimension of the quality of life in the South East. We are generally a 'wealthy and healthy' region compared to the rest of the UK. There are however wide variations across the region. In addition, in spite of these generally good health outcomes, health service performance in the South East is actually lower than other regions. Good health cannot be the responsibility of the NHS to deliver alone. Health is determined by a wide range of factors, and the policies of the Assembly and other regional bodies - SEEDA, the Environment Agency, the Government Office - can have an important influence on health and well-being in the South East. For example, unemployment and deprivation are key determinants of health, as are access to services and environmental quality. The Assembly created the Healthy Region Forum not only therefore to consider health service policies for the region but also to engage a wider range of regional partners in the public health agenda. The Regional Governance White Paper published in May 2002 endorses this approach and sees a developing role for assemblies in co-ordinating regional policies to promote public health and well-being.

PURPOSE OF THE FORUM

The purpose of the Healthy Region Forum is to promote dialogue on approaches to health improvement and social exclusion in the South East amongst regional organisations with an interest in, and an impact on, the health and well-being of the region.The Forum considers the implications for health and social inclusion of regional policies and makes recommendations accordingly through the Assembly and its committees.

HOW THE FORUM WORKS

The Forum receives and debates reports which monitor the region's health and the delivery, by health agencies and others, of health strategies against targets set. In future, it will also receive and debate reports monitoring social exclusion in the region and delivery, by regional agencies and others, of social inclusion strategies against targets set. Case studies and specifically commissioned reports will also assist in the development of policy proposals on health improvement and social inclusion to support a reduction of health inequalities across the region.Since April 2002, the Assembly has employed on secondment a full-time policy officer, Mary Amos, whose role includes taking forward the work of the Healthy Region Forum. This post is supported by the Health Development Agency.

MEMBERSHIP OF THE FORUM

Forum meetings are open to all Assembly members, and to colleagues from regional and local bodies who are interested in contributing. In order to ensure continuity there is a core membership of Assembly delegates. For 2002-2003, they are:
Cllr Mrs Alison Cook (Conservative)
Cllr Mrs Elizabeth Cartwright (C)
Cllr Mrs Christine Field (C)
Cllr Mrs Anne Milton (C)
Cllr Maureen Holding (C)
Cllr Felicity Hindson MBE (C)
Cllr Don Phillips (C)
Cllr Richard Williams (Labour)
Cllr Douglas Murdoch (L)
Cllr Judith Ost (Liberal Democrat)
Cllr Mrs Rosie Sharpley (LD)
Cllr Brian Gurden (LD)
Cllr Martin Vye (LD)
Cllr Mrs Ruth Lyon (LD)
Mrs Faith Matyszak MBE (Economic Partners)
Professor Alisdair Smith (EP)
Dr Michael Thrower (EP)
Mr Ram Appadoo (Social/Environmental Partners)
Ms Jacqui Bremner (SEP) Chair for 2001-2002
Mr Robert Jones (SEP)
Cllr Geoff Hill (Town & Parish Councils)
Mr Peter Bingham (Health Sector)

The Chair for 2002-2003 will be elected at the next meeting.

ISSUES DISCUSSED AT THE JUNE MEETING

Health in the South East: Its economic and social context
Alison Hill, Co-director of the South East Regional Public Health Observatory (SEPHO), gave a short presentation on the first Annual Report from Dr Mike Gill, Regional Director of Public Health in the South East Region. The reports highlights that in spite of the South East being generally wealthy and healthy within the UK context, its mortality rates are worse than the national figures for Italy, France and Sweden.

The report looks at various elements of health in the South East including Parenthood and Families, Working and Living in the Region, Maintaining Good Health and Independence into Older Age. It looks at the key factors influencing each of these topics, current policy and practice and proposed actions to tackle inequalities.

The report can be accessed via the SEPHO web site (www.sepho.org.uk).

Update on Changes to the NHS
Peter Bingham, Chairman of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Strategic Health Authority, and health sector delegate to the Regional Assembly, updated the Forum on the changes in the NHS arising from the "Shifting the Balance of Power" reforms. Since April 2002, the region's four strategic health authorities have been established and all the Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in the region have come on line.

The role of Workforce Confederations
Maggie Deacon, Chief Executive of the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Workforce Development Confederation, gave a brief presentation to the Forum about the new Confederations and their role in the health sector. There are three Confederations in the region - Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and the Thames Valley are the other two. The Confederations are not only aimed at the traditional health sector but also include employers from the voluntary sector, prison services and armed forces. They will adopt a holistic approach to workforce planning for the health and social care sector, so that training and development is not necessarily segregated occupationally.

Health implications of the Regional Economic Strategy (RES)
Alison Frater, Head of Health Impact Assessment at the South East Public Health Group (based at GOSE) presented the Group's response to the RES consultation. The response has been developed by the Group with input from the Assembly and the Health Development Agency. The Group's conclusions were that economic well-being is a vital determinant of health. Therefore, the RES should explicitly aim to narrow health differentials and inequalities by setting out clear targets for health and well-being. A healthy workforce is vital to economic prosperity; more for example needs to be done to stem days lost through sickness in the South East -the highest of all the English regions.

A constructive exchange on these issues has taken place since the meeting between Jacqui Bremner, Chair of the Forum, and the Chief Executive of SEEDA, with the result that the draft RES when published will have a much stronger health dimension.

Developing the Forum's Forward Agenda
Mary Amos, the Regional Assembly's Policy Officer, ended the day with a short paper reviewing the Forum's achievements to date and suggesting a work programme for the forthcoming year. The Forum agreed that there is a need for its work to cover both health service policy and performance issues for the region as well as offering a key place where the "joining up" of regional governance in respect to the public health agenda can be discussed.

The Forum also agreed that since social exclusion has a strong influence on health, it should receive regular progress reports from the newly established task group that will be implementing the Regional Social Inclusion Statement.

Agendas, papers and minutes from the Healthy Region Forum can be found in the Health section of this web site.

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Last updated: 21 August 2007