Tim Davies joined us for the ‘Meet Peta’ Drop In and was keen to impart his knowledge and his wisdom about his role on the Health and Wellbeing Board, whilst enjoying some tea and treats in the process!
Tim Davies, the Deputy VCS representative on the Health and Wellbeing Board for Milton Keynes, stepped in for Peta at the drop in Community Action:MK hosted at Acorn House on Wednesday 25th September.
We got some visits from a couple of local groups, interested to learn about what the Health and Wellbeing Board do within the voluntary and community sector, whilst promoting themselves to Tim to make him aware of what is out there at a grassroots level.
Some groups are still growing, developing and learning about the sector they are involved in, such as DAFS (Drugs Alcohol Family Support), a family support group run by other parents/partners of addicted loved ones, offering a weekly support meeting in a welcoming/safe/confidential and non-judgemental environment. They met Tim and were impressed with the strategic priorities of the HWB to affect change at grass roots level for the voluntary and community sector and the new and developing groups working with and operating within the health and social care system.
What is the Health and Wellbeing Board?
Health and Wellbeing Boards are a key element of the new health and social care system. The boards bring together commissioners of services across the NHS, public health, social care and children’s services, and build on the current strong local partnerships and joint working across health and social care within Milton Keynes. Milton Keynes Council has provided strategic leadership in developing a Health and Wellbeing Board for Milton Keynes.
The Health and Social Care Act 2012 gives health and wellbeing boards specific functions which include the preparation of Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs) and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies (JHWSs), these are duties of local authorities and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).
The overarching strategic priorities of the Milton Keynes Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2018 – 2028 (PDF, 2.4MB) are:
Staying Well
- a strong focus on prevention
Closing the Gap
- reducing inequalities in life chances
One MK
- an integrated, innovative approach to health and wellbeing
This is achieved through Starting Well, Living Well and Ageing Well.
For more information about how the Health and Wellbeing board in Milton Keynes is being run and what it is about, click here.
If you would like to learn more about how you can start, support or develop a group within the voluntary and community sector, please contact us at support@communityactionmk.org or call us on 01908 661623.