The last NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin (STW) Board meeting in public took place in January and covered a great deal of ground as health and care leaders from across the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin system came together to discuss a number of issues.

The January meeting was held at Shrewsbury Town Football Club and was attended by board members as well as members of the public and other interested parties.

The agenda and papers from the meeting along with the full recording can be found here – the minutes will be published shortly.

Among matters discussed were:

• STW Director of Emergency Planning Resilience and Response (EPRR), Sam Tilley, provided an overview of the EPRR report which sets out a comprehensive description of the EPRR work that has taken place over the period 2022/23, in particular the outcome of NHS England’s annual EPRR assessment and key areas of work going forward which will contribute to the mitigation of organisational risks.
• Our CEO Simon Whitehouse’s update report (p37) contains lots of useful information, updates and highlights, amongst other things, the joint forward planning for 24/25 update, the joined-up response to recent Industrial Action and winter pressures, as well as an update on Integrated Neighbourhood Teams, and shaping the ICB with the Management of Change starting on the 6 February 2024. The report also covers the Core20 Plus Ambassadors, STW’s Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT) visit and the Hospital Transformation Programme.
• Nick White, Chief Medical Officer, provided an update on the Delegation of Specialised Services commissioning which will begin with the delegation of 59 Acute Specialised Commissioning Service lines from NHS England to the Midlands region (which includes 6 ICBs) in April 2024. The Delegation Agreement and Collaboration Agreement is currently being co-produced by ICBs and NHS England and needs to be approved by the NHS STW ICB Board by the end of March. This is part of a phased approach to delegate commissioning responsibilities across England for selected services by April 2025.
• Director of Strategy & Partnerships, Nigel Lee, provided a brief overview of his report, Advancing Provider Collaboratives Across STW, which highlights the 4 agreed priorities: Urgency and Emergency Care, Children and Young People (MH, LD&A), MSK and Workforce activity. Board then went on to have a more detailed discussion on the MSK programme of work.
• Director of Health and Wellbeing, Liz Noakes and the ICB’s Lead for Health Inequalities, Tracey Jones, presented their paper on Tackling Inequalities, in Access, Experience and Outcomes. A core aim of the ICB is narrowing health inequalities. This report is a first for the ICB and demonstrates its commitment to tackling health inequalities against key programmes of work within the NHS operational guidance, Long Term Plan and Core 20 programme. A system wide Prevention and Health Inequalities Board has now been established, met twice and held a workshop. The workshop has identified 4 key areas of focus to enhance collaborative working and make an impact in 24/25. Read the full report on p67.
• Our Chief Finance Officer, Claire Skidmore, presented the Integrated Performance Report. Claire noted that Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) and finance are two key pressures and went on to discuss some significant areas of focus and areas of improvement.
• Vanessa Whately, Chief Nursing Officer updated on measles in STW, as part of her Chief Medical Officer & Chief Nursing Officer Update Report. Across the country we are seeing increased cases of measles amongst unvaccinated children, noting we had now had our first case in STW. Our preparedness has been done as a system with Public Health to encourage uptake of vaccination, particularly among schools and GPs. On average the vaccination rate is over 85%, with a target of 95% to be met to reach herd immunity. Also, working with the acute trust a post-exposure prophylaxis pathway for measles has been developed.
• Reports from all the ICB Committee Chairs were also published.

The next public NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Board will be held on Wednesday, 27 March.