Given the name of the board I was a little surprised to see our very first meeting was being held at 0800. I chair this board and feel the need to get in an hour early to check the papers and prepare. I didn’t feel healthy or well sat at my desk in Shire Hall at 0700!!!!!! This was an excellent inaugural meeting. I was able to read out a note from the Secretary of State for Health who recognises how far forward we are in creating this important board.

Everyone seemed engaged and contributed. Good input from the district councillor representing all the districts and who will feed back into a network. Board members volunteered to attend local district based panels.

I am excited about public health transferring to the County Council. The freedoms we have, over the NHS, should mean we can transform the service. I was keen to encourage all members of the board to think about money flows. How do we reward good behaviour in one organisation that creates savings elsewhere and then feedback some of those savaging into the first organisation.

Whilst we have some strategic planning work to do we all agreed we wanted a couple of “get on with it” activities to test relationships across our organisations. Domestic Violence was a key one.