Terms of Reference
Purpose
- To provide a focus for public agencies and the voluntary sector in the Arun District to identify local priorities in relation to health and social care matters, and where appropriate to work actively in partnership to achieve agreed outcomes.
- To identify and champion local health and social care inequalities
- To target and drive forward improvements in local service delivery
- To provide a local line of accountability for health and social caring issues in the Arun District Council area.
Membership
- The AWHP is chaired and administered by West Sussex County Council, the Primary Care Trust and Arun District Council on an annual rotating basis. Chairmanship changes in the September cycle. The administration rests with Arun District Council.
- The current membership of the group is:
- West Sussex Primary Care Trust
- West Sussex County Council
- Arun District Council
- Council for Voluntary Service Arunwide
- Carers Liaison West Sussex
- Age Concern West Sussex
- Inspire Leisure
- Plus co-opted members as required
- Members may nominate an adequately briefed substitute to attend in their absence.
- Other agencies may also be invited to participate in sub-group working as appropriate.
Role of Members
- Regular attendance at meetings and active participation in reviews of progress
- Acting as a body of decision-makers as well as a decision-making body
- Taking relevant agreed action back to their organisations and gaining commitment to action
- Including relevant elements of the AWHP’s action plans in their own business plans or equivalent and providing feedback by cascading information about the work of the AWHP to their own memberships.
Accountability
- The AWHP reports to the Arun Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) through an appointed representative who will be identified from the health agencies sitting on the AWHP.
- The Arun LSP looks to the AWHP to deliver the health and social care agenda within the Community Strategy for the Arun district, Our Kind of Place.
- Meetings of the AWHP are held four times a year in public session, alternating between venues in Bognor Regis and Littlehampton.
- The AWHP aims to achieve specific, targeted, monitored and evaluated outcomes by partnership working, usually working through time limited task groups convened to tackle specific issues.
- The AWHP ensures that its priorities (see below) are adequately justified based on local research and needs analysis and reflect the priorities of the High Level Action Programme of the Local Strategic Partnership.
- In agreeing to address a specific issue, the AWHP has to be assured
- That it is a multi-agency issue;
- That it is consistent with other local and national strategies, eg Local Area Agreement (LAA) targets;
- That the action would be supportive of a lead taken by other relevant groups or agencies, eg Children’s Trust, Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnership, Arun Youth Council, West Sussex Youth Offending Team.
Priorities
- The AWHP has identified three key priority areas for health and social care within the Community Strategy for the Arun district, Our Kind of Place. These were verified through public consultation as the three elements which should form the main focus of project development:
- Helping older people live independently
- Supporting vulnerable young people
- Reducing health inequalities and addressing social inclusion
For each of these priorities, the AWHP will identify the issues, where action is needed, strategic links, key identified objectives, outcomes for the year ahead and the process by which action / outcomes will be monitored and evaluated.
Reviewing These Terms of Reference
The AWHP will review these Terms of Reference on an annual basis, aiming to remain flexible so that it can reflect change, respond to new initiatives, learn from mistakes and take advantage of new opportunities.