Agenda item

A report on the previous decisions of Overview and Scrutiny with respect to Health Inequalities Task Group was presented to Members. It was noted that in September 2022, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee agreed to establish a Task Group titled ‘Health Inequalities within the BME Community in Redditch’. This Task Group was never launched, however, as other items around fly tipping and bulky waste were prioritised at the time.

The options that were open to Members with regard to this Health Inequalities review were outlined. It was highlighted that the responsibility over health and social care were the remit of Worcestershire County Council (WCC), therefore, the role of any task group established over this matter by the Borough Council would be advisory in nature, and although the Task Group had the power, via the Executive Committee (following prior endorsement by Overview and Scrutiny Committee), to make recommendations to external bodies, those bodies were not legally obliged to consider those recommendations.

Following the presentation, Members debated the subject and raised the following points:

• There was consensus that this topic should be widened regardless of whether the Committee would be minded to set up a task group review. It was noted that it was more fruitful to focus any investigation on the geography, identifying areas of deprivation across the whole Borough and to focus on identifying demographics suffering from health inequalities rather than ethnicity as stated in the original topic proposal submitted in September 2022. It was noted that data was available to identify which areas of Redditch had high levels of health inequality through County Council’s Public Health and Office of National Statistics (ONS) statistics.

• Some Members highlighted that although health inequalities constituted a serious issue across Redditch, the Council’s powers in this area were limited as health was a function over which the County Council exercised control.

• The Council’s Representative on the Worcestershire County Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) addressed Members and commented that at the meeting of HOSC on 12^th November 2024 issues in relation to public health were discussed. The matters presented at that meeting were county-wide but there was data specific to Redditch which underscored the concern over health inequality in Redditch.

• The Representative commented that female life expectancy in Redditch was one of the lowest in Worcestershire and significantly lower than the national average, whilst female life expectancy in Bromsgrove, Malvern Hills, and Wychavon was significantly higher than the national average. Male life expectancy in Redditch was close to the national average, highlighting a discrepancy between male and female health in Redditch.

• Analysis of Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs), which were geographical areas comprising between 400 to 1,200 households (1,000 to 3,000 persons) and grouped together for statistical reasons, showed that two-thirds of LSOAs with highest number of recorded emergency hospital admissions in Worcestershire were located within Redditch Borough, with LSOA areas in parts of Batchley Brook, Smallwood and Church Hill, Winyates (around Ipsley Middle School) being the areas with highest numbers of emergency admissions. Moreover, these LSOAs had proportions of people in bad or very bad health that far exceeded Worcestershire and England averages.

• The Council’s Representative on the Worcestershire County Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) noted that County Council’s Public Health had begun investigating the possibilities of delivering intensive small area community development in areas (LSOAs) suffering from high health inequality, including those in Redditch. This would begin with exploration of key causes of poor health outcomes in those areas and would involve work with a number of agencies. The Representative reported that a successful small area community development scheme had recently been delivered in the Westlands area of Droitwich. It was highlighted that WCC’s Public Health was looking for assistance of elected members for these schemes.

• Some Members highlighted that the County Council was responsible for public health budget, and Borough Councillors ultimately had no decision-making role in how that budget was spent. The role of Borough Councillors was therefore to raise and highlight specific concerns that required funding intervention to the County Council.

• It was noted that there was a role of Borough Councillors in terms of advising the WCC’s Public Health team about local groups in each of those areas and how any funding that might become available for health interventions might be best spent in those areas. A concern was raised in this regard by some Members about potential inequalities in funding provided by the County Council to Redditch as compared to other areas within the county.

• The Chief Executive Officer addressed the Committee and stated that a meeting with the Director of Public Health at Worcestershire County Council had been arranged to discuss health inequality issues and poor health outcomes in parts of Redditch. It was noted that Members’ observations and concerns raised at tonight’s meeting with respect to health inequalities, and Members’ concerns around potential inequalities of funding for health within Worcestershire would be raised by the Chief Executive Officer at that meeting. It was also highlighted that the subject of health inequalities would be discussed at the next meeting of Redditch District Collaborative.

• It was noted in relation to the Redditch District Collaborative (RDC) that recently the sub-group of lead partners had been meeting as part of this forum rather than the group as a whole. A Member expressed concern about this and queried if there was Member representation on the RDC. It was explained that normal practice for district collaboratives was for there to be no direct elected member representation. At Redditch, it was the Redditch Partnership Manager who represented the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive Officer at meetings of RDC. It was clarified further that through RDC, issues in relation to health matters in Redditch were fed back directly to the County Council. A Member queried whether there should be more regular feedback to the Borough Councillors and it was agreed for Officers to provide a response to this to the Member outside the meeting.

• It was requested that details and notes from the next meeting of Redditch District Collaborative be shared with Members.

• It was agreed as an action, in light of the meeting to take place between the Chief Executive Officer and the Director of Public Health at County Council, that the Director of Public Health be asked to provide a briefing note on health inequalities in Redditch.

• The Committee agreed that any further discussion on the item of health inequalities in Redditch would take place after Members had received the briefing note.

RESOLVED that

That a briefing note on health inequalities in Redditch be provided, following consultation with Worcestershire County Council’s Public Health team