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Agenda item
Introduction
Minutes:
Everyone was welcomed to the meeting.
The chair stressed that given the impact of COVID-19 in Hastings it is crucial that we have leadership from the council and other leaders from across the town. The LSP has a mandate to be able to take forward the strategic overview of the town. The meeting this morning is to see how we can move forward as a town. For Hastings, the impact is going to be profound. We know that the impact for the whole country is going to be significant, but in Hastings we know that we face a number of additional challenges, particularly with vulnerable people, who won’t be able to pick up and take on life in whatever normal looks like, going forward. As an organisation and structure, it is important that we are able to represent all people of the town. We are going to need to work differently, think differently, and it is important that weshare information, retain that overview and look to the future to think in terms of moving forward with a unity and a sense of purpose.
From this perspective, working along side the Town Deal Board, we have slightly different perspectives, the LSP has always had an overview of the town and the Town Deal Board has a very particular purpose, but it is going to be really important that the work of both of these boards come together and that we look to see how the money, the research, the influence and any lobbying can work for Hastings in a united way.
One of the things that we need to do with the LSP is to make sure that business as usual isn’t abandoned and we try to run this alongside the impact of the Covid virus. When we look at health, education, the Town Deal, it is all going to be through the lens of the new world that the Coronavirus has brought about. When we talk about business as usual, it is going to be a very different perspective. And we will be looking at education in the light of closed schools;we will be looking at health in terms of the perspective that the virus brings to us.
We are going to look it in 3 particular areas:
1) the immediate response, which has been significant in Hastings, with people pulling together and doing things they have never donebefore
2) maintenance and support for those impacted by the crisis. Where some will be able to pick up life and work with the new normal, we know a lot of residents in Hastings will need significant support for a long time to come, and particularly as lockdown starts to ease and we move into our new worldand
3) recovery and restart, which nobody knows what this will look likeyet.
Richard Watson needed to leave the meeting early but provided assurance that NHS locally/Hastings and Rother CCG continue to work hard to ensure an adequate response to COVID-19. He thanked partners for their help and support, particularly the voluntary and community sector. The NHS is now expecting to see an increase in demand in community health, primary care and mental health and is preparing for this. The NHS is open for business as usual and want to work collaboratively with partners to ensure that our responses are safe and effective and will continue to work with the borough council and others to communicate safe and effective messages particularly to the most vulnerable in thetown.
In response to a question about the impact of the virus, Richard explained that a review is being carried out on the impact this has had on the most vulnerable population and the BAME community and that the CCG is reporting findings to central government and is keen to explore the issues with the LSP going forward. Richard is happy to answer any questions that partners may have following this meeting.
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