Agenda item

This report provides an update on the work of the Access to Food Partnership, which helps to support residents experiencing food insecurity across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. It shares the Partnership’s vision, strategy and desired outcomes in order to seek advice and constructive feedback from the Health & Wellbeing Board.  Whilst this issue existed pre Covid, the report highlights how the scale of the problem has been exacerbated due to the pandemic. The Partnership wishes to discuss how it can better engage and connect with the Board as part of the wider systems approach and work on this priority theme.

The Board received a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The report provided an update on the work of the Access to Food Partnership, which helps to support residents experiencing food insecurity across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. It shared the Partnership’s vision, strategy and desired outcomes and sought advice and constructive feedback from the Health & Wellbeing Board.  Whilst this issue existed pre Covid, the report highlighted how the scale of the problem had been exacerbated due to the pandemic. The Partnership wished to discuss how it can better engage and connect with the Board as part of the wider systems approach and work on this priority theme.

Alistair Doxat-Purser the Chair of Access to Food Partnership gave a presentationon how the Board can support the programme, a copy of the presentation was attached to the report.  He introduced Amy Gallagher from the BCP Council Communities team and Michelle Smith from the Public Health Team and referred to Daisy Carr, who was BCP Council’s Community Food Network Co-ordinator and thanked her for the huge amount of work that she had undertaken over the past year on the project. 

The Board was referred to the summary report in the agenda pack which set out the activities which had been undertaken in year one together with an outline action plan for the coming year.  The Board was advised that the aim of the presentation was to provide the headlines in respect of the journey so far and to highlight five areas where the Board’s support was sought on the programme and to work with the Board on eliminating food insecurity.

Alistair Doxat-Purser reported that the Dorset Hidden Hunger Conference was held in 2019 which had been sponsored by the sustainable food city network and Public Health Dorset. He explained that one of the key findings was that 46% of people in Dorset were not spending enough to eat a healthy diet and a quarter of people were in food crisis or unable to afford healthy food.  The Board was advised that in 2020 there was a massive upscale of need as the Covid-19 pandemic hit and there was some fantastic grass roots creativity including communities providing hot meals for those in most need, food banks developed a range of other options including access to kitchen equipment, new community pantries, allotments and schools were linked in with food settings and there was a WhatsApp group sharing excess food so it was not going to waste.  Mr Doxat-Purser reported on the development of the Access to Food Map which was now public and had received 6,500 hits.

Alistair Doxat-Purser outlined the key issues which the Partnership was asking for the Board’s support as detailed below:

• Championing the issue
• Crisis and Recovery Pathways
• Joint Approach to Prevention
• Capacity building
• Keep the momentum 

Mr Doxat-Purser referred to the proposal for a champion and that a report be submitted every six months to the Board on progress with the action plan. The Board was advised of a success story which had started by supporting an individual who a year ago had been in crisis and had gone to a food setting for support which ultimately resulted in him finding accommodation and employment and he was now supporting the community that had helped him out of crisis. 

The Chairman introduced Councillor Jane Kelly who was the Council’s lead member for community engagement. Councillor Kelly commented on the approach outlined by Alistair Doxat-Purser which was exactly how ABCD Asset Based Community Development operated.  She explained that this approach was about building community resilience.  In referring to the Access to Food Programme it was about building capability, confidence and capacity in people across all communities to enable them to move forward, help themselves and understand how food can be less expensive than they thought and passing knowledge and skills to their Children.

The Vice-Chairman highlighted the importance of getting the basics right with food and nutrition.  He suggested that the Partnership do a similar presentation to the GPs.  Sally Sandcraft, CCG, welcomed the connection that had been made with the social prescribers working in the Primary Care Networks which was a key point of contact in terms of raising awareness within the networks but equally the social prescribers know how to access the assets in terms of supporting people that they come into contact with.  She encouraged that continued engagement with those individuals which would help to build capacity within the Networks on an ongoing basis.  She also offered further support from her team on engagement with the community and voluntary sector. Sally also referred to the work on inequalities which would raise the profile of eliminating food insecurities in terms of the Dorset Integrated Care System and at a network level.  Debbie Fleming welcomed the presentation and highlighted the passion in both the presentation and the paper.  She referred to the numerous links in many areas out in the community and commented on what the hospitals might be able to offer.  This could include understanding cases which come into A&E Departments because of food challenges and making connections with the specialist gastroenterology services or dietetic services.  Debbie also referred to the catering departments where there was an opportunity for a number of links and connections, the approach on buying local food and what the hospitals do with food waste.  In addition, she emphasised the number of employees and the challenges that were being faced. She also offered to make introductions within the hospitals if that had not already been done. The Chairman also commented on discharges from hospitals and potential vulnerabilities which could be explored. 

Sam Crowe, Director of Public Health, thanked the partnership and explained the he had been reflecting on how this initiative started.  He explained the link between tackling inequality and ABCD was really important because there was a risk that it could be a theoretical concept but this was a real example of how the power of people can be used to genuinely make a difference.  He paid testament to the work and how far it had developed highlighting the need for more vocal leadership on this issue. Paul Iggulden reported on recent discussions with Dorset County Hospital who had linked up with a local food bank with a view to having a collection point in the hospital and the poignancy of keeping the issue to the fore of peoples’ minds raising awareness and helping others to contribute.  He asked if it would be useful to the partnership for other organisations locally to make a similar offer.

Jan Thurgood, Corporate Director, BCP Council reported that in terms of Adult Social Care it was good to see that the Partnership was involved with the Crisis Services, which is  run by Adult Social Care and provides responses to people who find themselves with no access to finance and other resources in an emergency. She invited the team to attend a broader management team to have a wider discussion about the points of connection in terms of adult social care. 

Marc House reported that there was a strong synergy with much of the work of the Fire and Rescue Service and one of the Service’s key priorities was about making safer and heathier choices.  He reported on the extensive network of safe and well advisers who go into residents’ homes to discuss issues particularly fire safety but also looking at the wider health agenda as well as a wide range of issues.  He emphasised that advisers can signpost people to the right agencies and there was an opportunity to work with the food partnership to raise awareness and communicate as appropriate.

Eugene Yafele reported on the opportunities around life skills and being more conscious and sustainable about collecting food, supporting communities and the role that community hospitals and centres have to support this approach.  He highlighted the need to make every contact count in raising awareness. 

Amy Gallagher thanked the Board for its support and feedback with the project and emphasised the need to connect across the system at a strategic level and broaden relationships and conversations.  Michelle Smith reported on the engagement with GPs and Primary Care Networks and their feedback indicated that they do have patients presenting with low level anxiety and stress and frequently refer to the fact that they worry about food. She reported on the connections with the hospitals from a workforce perspective and having access to the assets including the food map to support members of staff who may be experiencing food insecurity, but to have wider engagement at a senior level and on food procurement would be welcomed. Alistair in summing up was encouraged by the session and the feedback from the Board.  He commented on partners being the ‘eyes and ears’, with the provision of easy road maps and key messages within relevant contexts and the creativity of ideas was a welcome approach.

The Chairman highlighted the importance of having the conversation and that it was acceptable to talk openly about food insecurity.  She emphasised that the partnership that exists within the Board provided many opportunities to take forward the project. The Chairman emphasised the benefit of agreeing to run the two themes of food insecurity and mental health concurrently which was clearly linked. The Chairman reported on the need to also focus the conversation on children whilst acknowledging the work that was ongoing in schools and the associated communications in particular with the upcoming Easter Holidays.

The Board was advised that it was also crucial for the partnership to link with other Council services including planning, licensing and transport.

The Chairman thanked Alistair Doxat-Purser, Amy Gallacher and Michelle Smith for the presentation.

RESOLVED that:-

(a)  The Board agrees the approach as outlined in the report and above on how to engage and support the work of the partnership.

(b)  Councillor Nicole Greene, as Chairman of the Board undertakes the role of Champion to help drive forward change for eliminating food insecurity.

(c)  The Access to Food Partnership report progress and seeks advice from the Board at least every 6 months.

Voting: Unanimous.