Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Roger Gough, Dr Elizabeth Lunt, Graham Harris,  Anne Tidmarsh, Andrew Scott - Clark, Melanie Norris, Lesley Bowles, Dr Su Xavier, and Tristan Godfrey.

In the absence of the Chairman, Councillor Gough, it was agreed that Councillor Ann Allen should Chair the meeting.

There were no declarations received.

The Minutes of the Meeting of the Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley Health and Wellbeing Board held on 24 February 2016 are attached for confirmation.

Issues arising from the Minutes not addressed elsewhere on the Agenda can be raised at this item.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 24 February 2016 were agreed as a correct record of that meeting.

The Chairman may wish to report on any issues of relevance to this Board arising from that meeting.

A copy of the Agenda is attached as an “aide memoire”.

It was noted that the Chairman, Councillor Gough nor any other Member who had attended the Kent Health and Wellbeing Board meeting, were present at this meeting of our Board.

Accordingly, it was agreed that consideration of the minutes of the Kent Health and Wellbeing Board held on 16 March 2016 be noted without discussion.

The Chairman will report on any urgent item and determine its place on the Agenda.

It was noted that there were no urgent items for the Board to consider.

The Board received a report on work issues which were outstanding from previous meetings and noted that a number had been added to the Board’s work plan.

Arising from this it was noted that the request for funding from the Violence Reduction Initiative in Dartford and Gravesham had been drawn to the attention of local Community Safety Partnership for consideration and that should funding be withdrawn from the Initiative, Community Safety Partnerships would look provide funding for this.

Karen Sharp of Kent County Council Public Health will make a short presentation on this matter. 

At the meeting of the Board held on 7 October 2015 Karen Sharp, Head of Commissioning, Public Health, reported on a new direction being undertaken in Public Health Commissioning in Kent, which involved a move away from the currently favoured multi track individual specialist treatment approach to an holistic approach where more generically trained staff provided the necessary support and counselling services. 

Following on from that report the Board received an update from Ms Sharp on the progress of the reviews being undertaken into the services which were commissioned from the Public Health Grant.

The Board noted that the services under review were

·         Services for children, including the Health Visiting service,

·         School Public Health (school nursing) service; and,

·         Core public health programmes for adults, including healthy weight, health trainers and smoking cessation services.

It was reported that a number of consultation events and assessments had taken place in the past few months with stakeholders and that currently the tendering of all these services had been halted to allow for reviews of resources and further consultation between with Kent County Council, providers and partners

The Board agreed to note the progress made.

The Board received reports on the Kent Alcohol Strategy, which was launched in April 2014 and the progress which has been achieved in its implementation across Kent to far, together with an update on the progress of the Strategy in the Board area.

Val Miller provided an update on the Kent wide strategy, on behalf of Linda Smith, KCC public health, and highlighted the following headline issues

·         The introduction of multi - agency alcohol plans in all districts in Kent

·         The falling trend for alcohol related hospital admissions amongst under 18 year olds

·         The growth in alcohol advice being given to Kent residents by trained professionals

·         Significant improvements in the quality of alcohol related services resulting from progress in commissioning strategies, policy developments, data sharing agreements between health commissioning bodies and service providers for individuals with both mental health and substance misuse issues.

·         The introduction of “Know Your Score” in January 2016.

·         Acknowledgement of the work of Kent Community Alcohol Partnerships by ministerial visits to relevant areas in north Kent.

·         The inclusion of alcohol screening in several public Health commissioning contracts.

·         The introduction of development of alcohol care pathways and the inclusion of health related data into the licensing process into the work programme for this year.

Additionally Adam Green provided a detailed verbal report on the work undertaken by the commissioned providerhis Company dealing with Alcohol related issues in the Board area.

Having noted the information provided and the verbal report from Mr Green the Board agreed to receive a final report on the Alcohol Strategy in 12 months - time.

A report by Tracey Schneider, Project Officer, Dementia Friendly Communities, KCC.

Tracy Schneider, reported on the progress made by the Dementia Friendly Communities programme which has been operating since May 2013, together with an update on a recent workshop event held at Longfield Academy.  

The Board was informed that three smaller forums have been established:-Swanley and the Northern parishes, Dartford, and Gravesham to consider matters on a more local level and the following work has been undertaken..

Swanley and Northern Parishes: There have been two smaller open information events in Swanley, one at the Orchards academy and one in the Town Council rooms.  Awareness raising and environment have been a large focus in this area and a 3^rd event will be held this May in Hextable during dementia awareness week..

Dartford: An awareness event was held at Temple Hill in 2015 and events are planned for dementia awareness week. Front Line staff from Dartford Borough Council had attended dementia awareness training sessions.  Alterations have been made to the Town Centre Shop Safe scheme to open it to those with dementia, and the scheme will now become a Shop Safe - Stay Safe scheme.

Gravesham: Gravesham has adopted the Dartford Shop Safe - Stay Safe Scheme and now work in Gravesham is looking at encouraging a dementia friendly shopping centre and High Street.  Local schools have also been involved in the dementia work.

The event at Longfield Academy sought to inform local residents regarding Dementia and how it manifested itself, what help was available, and how to deal with specific issues.

The Board thanked Ms Schneider for her presentation and noted the contents of the reports.

Wendy Lakin is to report on this issue.

The Board received a report which provided an overview of the range of initiatives which are currently underway across Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley to help improve access to a timely diagnosis of dementia and to ensure that people affected by dementia, both patients and carers are supported to live well with dementia and avoid unnecessary crisis events.

The report also outlined an initiative that was in progress to develop a dementia/cognitive impairment community hub, which it was hoped, would provide an excellent opportunity for partnership working between health and the voluntary sector to deliver an integrated, local community service to make sure the right services are in place for the local population.

It was noted that there were currently some concerns amongst the voluntary sector regarding the fragmentation of services for those with dementia and the high levels of “churn” amongst social service staff making continuity of care somewhat difficult.

The Board noted the report.

On behalf of KCC, Stephanie Holt is leading on addressing the robustness of the HWB datasets which underpin the Growth and Infrastructure Framework (GIF) locally.  To this end Stephanie will be making a short presentation and inviting Member discussion at the conclusion.

The Board was informed that the Kent Health and Wellbeing Board had recently received a report which provided an overview of the recently launched Kent and Medway Growth and Infrastructure Framework (GIF), and an associated action plan.

The GIF was developed in response to the growing pressure on local authorities to deliver housing and economic growth and the necessity to provide improvements and additions to physical and social infrastructure to support the growth.

The Report sought to obtain the Kent Board’s input to the development of the GIF, with a view to strengthening particularly the health and social care infrastructure evidence base and using it to help shape health infrastructure provision to support housing growth.

The Kent Board recognised, amongst other things, that a sound statistical base was required to allow for informed plans to be formulated and decisions to be taken.

Accordingly our Board received a presentation and report on the GIF and the progress in its implementation from Ms Stephanie Holt, Head of Countryside Leisure and Sport Group of KCC Planning and Enforcement.

It was noted that Mrs Stock was currently working with KCC to ensure that robust accurate data was being provided by the CCG to help with the formulation of the GIF, but that other data sources were required.

Accordingly it was suggested that liaison with planning policy officers from each of the three constituent local authorities would be beneficial and that the help of the CCG Local Estates Forum could be elicited.

The Chairman thanked Ms Holt for her report and presentation and the Board agreed to note the content of each.

Val Miller will update the Board on the work of the Obesity Initiative

A brief update on the work of the Obesity initiative was given to the Board by Val Miller, together with the latest version of the Obesity Plan Mapping Template.

Ms Miller reported that the Obesity Plan Mapping Template was now largely complete but that the follow areas required further attention.

·         Social Care data – further consultation with care providers was necessary

·         Kent County Council Public Health involvement – Input from Andrew Scott – Clarke was required

·         The impact of Type II Diabetes needed to be added to the Template.

The Board noted the Template and the work undertaken so far.

Members were asked to review their diaries and be able to report if they were available to attend a meeting in August this year.

Following enquiries regarding the availability of Members to attend the scheduled Board meeting on 10 August 2016, it became apparent that a significant number of the Board could not attend on that date.

It was therefore agreed that Board Members be canvassed to ascertain their availability on either the 3^rd or 17^th of August 2016 to allow the meeting to be re arranged.

There was no information for dissemination to other Members.

The Board received and noted the schedule of work programmed to be considered at its meetings in the current year together with a list of items still to be scheduled.

It was also agreed that consideration of the Local Childrens’ Partnership Groups be asked to consider the Kent Teenaged Pregnancy Strategy in the course of its work monitoring delivery of the Childrens and Young People’s Plan.