Integration: Health and Wellbeing Boards
What is the video about?
This film looks at the establishment of a shadow health and wellbeing board in Birmingham and follows their approach to joint working and providing joined-up services to service users and carers. The film begins with a discussion of why there is a need for more joined up provision. Professor Jon Glasby, Director of the Health Management Services Centre at the University of Birmingham describes the historical division between health and social care, outlining the need for an integrated approach to match the complexities and joined up nature of people’s lives.
Alan Lotinga, Director of Birmingham’s Health and Wellbeing Partnership, describes how the partnership has worked with the University of Birmingham to facilitate and support the formation of their shadow board. Dr Andrew Coward, GP representative for south and central Birmingham, describes how this approach has opened his mind to the importance of working together to tackle public health issues such as obesity.
The film finishes with a reminder that in a time of unprecedented financial pressure, joint working is even more important and that seeing the world in broader terms and finding new ways of working is crucial to people’s health and wellbeing.
Messages for practice
- Health and wellbeing boards strengthen the role of local government in planning and delivering local health services
- They are based in local authorities and bring together clinical commissioning leads, public health, adult social care and children’s services, as well as elected representatives and local HealthWatch representatives.
- Their main functions are to identify local health and social care needs, produce a local health and wellbeing strategy and promote greater integration and partnership, through joint commissioning, integrated provision, and pooled budgets where appropriate.
Who will find this useful?
Health and social care commissioners GP and clinical commissioners Public health commissioners Elected representatives The third sector HealthWatch representatives Service users and carers