Agenda item

Report of the Director of Public Health

The Director of Public Health submitted a report (previously circulated) presenting the Annual Public Health Report, an independent report on the health and wellbeing of Darlington.

The submitted report stated that this year’s report focused on the health of children and young people, describing the current position of some key public health outcomes and the range of services and interventions in place locally to support the health and wellbeing of children and young people across key areas of focus.

It was reported that during the development of the report the Director of Public Health visited three primary schools and one secondary school, to talk to some children and young people; and Members were informed that the format of the report is web based with short videos for each section.

The report provided details of the progress made to date on the recommendations of the 2024/25 Annual Public Health Report.

The Director of Public Health gave a presentation to accompany the report, and in doing so, outlined the key issues, services and key performance indicators in relation to the main areas of focus of the report; those being health of our children and young people, pregnancy and birth, best start and early years, school children and young people, healthy lifestyle survey, oral health, substance misuse, mental health and vaccinations; and the recommendations were outlined.

Discussion ensued regarding life expectancy inequalities between wards in the town. Members noted that the work being undertaken would contribute to and have a positive impact however the outcomes would not be evident for a number of years; and in relation to licensing and planning decisions for fast food outlets in Darlington, Members were advised that Public Health worked with planning, providing information regarding obesity rates and proximity to fast food outlets and that local profiles were being developed from data collected, which would help to further inform discussions with planning and licensing.

Members raised concern regarding the statement ‘Efforts continue to increase the numbers of young people with drug or alcohol addictions accessing the service for treatment’ and suggested more context be provided; and Members requested the recommendations from the self-harm audit.

Following a question, members were informed of the work undertaken in relation to alcohol use in children and clarification was sought regarding the definition for new referrals to secondary mental health services for young people.

Discussion ensued regarding oral health, including advice for older people. Members were informed that an oral health strategy was being developed and would be brought to scrutiny for consideration, that additional Integrated Care Board funding had been used to purchase resources and kits for care homes and that the oral health teams work closely with care home settings.

Members also sought clarification regarding the access to perinatal mental health services and were keen to receive and give consideration to the full Annual Director of Public Health report.

RESOLVED – That, to allow adequate time for scrutiny, the Annual Director of Public Health report be brought back to the next meeting of this Scrutiny Committee.