Issue - meetings

This paper highlights to the Board the Kirklees Director of Public Health (DPH) Annual Report 2023/24, entitled ‘Inequalities in the experience of death and dying: What are the assets and opportunities within Kirklees communities?’

The Board will receive a presentation outlining the DPH Annual Report.

Contact:  Rachel Spencer-Henshall, Strategic Director, Corporate Strategy, Commissioning and Public Health, Lucy Wearmouth, Head of Improving Population Health and Owen Richardson, Data and Insight Enablement Lead for Public Health

Rachel Spencer-Henshall, Strategic Director Corporate Strategy, Commissioning and Public Health, introduced the item, advising the Board that this work has been undertaken alongside Kirkwood Hospice, who have been a great ally with this project.

The Board was informed that Public Health annual reports are brought every year to the Board, and it is an opportunity, to consider as a system how to use the information to inform the work going forward. It would be useful to receive feedback on how to take the report further. It is important to thank everyone who has been involved in this because it is an excellent piece of work.

Lucy Wearmouth, Head of Improving Population Health, informed the Board that the Director of Public Health (DPH), chooses what the annual report should focus on, and the 2023/24 annual report focused on death and dying. The aim is to use the report as a vehicle to identify important key issues and gaps and flag up problems and report progress. Last year’s annual report which focused on poverty, has facilitated taking conversations about poverty into areas and organisations where previously this would not have happened. The report is a key resource to inform stakeholders of priorities and recommend actions to improve and protect the health of the communities they serve.

Another important factor regarding the report, is for it to be as accessible as possible, for people to be able to read and access. It will be hosted on the Kirklees Council website, and it is in chapters, enabling people to easily find the information they require.

The focus for the 2023/24 annual report is ‘Inequalities in the experience of death and dying, taking an assets based approach looking at what are the assets and opportunities in Kirklees communities, recognising there are differences between population groups. It was recognised when undertaking this work, that there is already work happening within this space, for example, members will be aware of the Dying Well Board that is in place and there has been recent insight gathered by Kirklees and West Yorkshire Healthwatch teams. The intention was to add value to what has already happened, rather than repeating work, therefore the focus was on understanding inequalities.

The Board was informed that there are many things that can be undertaken universally to support a good death, whilst recognising there are significant inequalities across different population groups, which has been explored within the report. In relation to this, the following was undertaken:

What we did

-      Looked at national evidence, to understand which population groups are most at risk of experiencing inequalities in death and dying

-      Facilitated discussions with a wide range of Kirklees organisations who work with the following population groups, including, people who identify as LGBTQ+, people experiencing homelessness, people with learning disabilities, people with non-malignant (non-cancerous) health conditions, people with serious mental illness or addiction issues, people living in poverty or deprivation, diverse experiences by race, ethnicity or faith and unpaid carers 

What we asked

A series  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9