Any interests not already registered.

No declarations of interest were made.

With the Board’s agreement the Chairman put back consideration of items three and four. 

Minutes of the meeting held on 11 July 2013.

Resolved:  That the meeting of the Health Liaison Board held on 11 July 2013, be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

The Board considered the Kent County Council’s (KCC) consultation document ‘Shaping the Future of Children’s Centres in Kent.  The consultation would run until 4 October. A corporate Council response would be sent to KCC putting together the collected views from Members. The proposal aims were to: deliver savings on at least £1.5 million; protect services which improved health, education and social care; continue to offer parents and expectant parents a choice about which Centre they used; ensure support was given to those children and families who needed it most; and improve co-ordination and access to a range of services for families with children aged 0 -11 where at least one child in the family is under five years old.

There were currently seven centres operating in the Sevenoaks District. KCC would be looking to align the different areas around the Clinical Commissioning Group areas for Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley and for West Kent.

Members were advised that the figures provided within the document were from October 2011 to September 2012. It was felt that the projections provided needed further investigation as they did not correctly forecast population increases for the District.  It was felt that the figures showed the success of the Children’s Centres in this District with relatively high numbers of attendance and working with the correct age ranges, rather than demonstrating evidence for closure or re-aligning centres.

Members were concerned that the figures provided for the use of libraries did not add up to 100% and that there were also inconsistencies with other figures. The Community Planning and Projects Officer advised that the figures were provided by KCC.

Members raised concerns that the figures related to 2011/12 and that no allowance had been made for any new developments. There were particular concerns in respect of population growth in Dunton Green and the restriction of services.  If Children’s Centres were to be linked then this would also affect many parents who travelled on public transport. There would be an increase in time and cost to many parents. Concerns were also raised over the number of primary schools and that there would not be enough places in the existing primary schools for the growing number of children in the District, which also provided evidence of population growth in the District.

Members felt that the Children’s Centres provided the vital skills that children needed to learn before starting at primary school and essential support for new parents. This was particularly important in deprived and isolated areas. Concerns were also raised that links to other centres would be taken though libraries. It was suggested that the CCGs should work with libraries, the HERO service and Sevenoaks District Housing team and the new gateway to include more liaison with Children’s centres.

The Health and Communities Manager brought Members attention to the usage summary of Children’s Centres in the District. It was felt that it the figures in red proved the Children’s centres were effective.

Action 1: The Health and Communities Manger  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Verbal update

The Community Planning and Projects Officer tabled a briefing on the draft organisational structure of the proposed Sevenoaks District Strategic Board.

Local Children’s Trust Boards had been replaced across the County by new children’s Local Operational Groups, which would feed in to the Health and Wellbeing Boards.  This was because it had been considered by County that there was a significant link between children’s issues and health.

Verbal update

The Health and Communities Manager updated the Board on the developments of the Dementia Friendly Communities project in Swanley and other local areas.  An event took place on the 9 August 2013 in Swanley that involved different local bodies and people from the local areas. The event looked at identifying gaps and raising awareness of places to go for sufferers, carers and other organisations.

Meeting notes had been created which provided information of what was preventing Swanley from being a Dementia Friendly Community and what actions could be taken to make it one.

Action 2: The Health and Communities Manager to circulate the meeting notes to Members of the Board.

Members questioned whether it was something that GPs could investigate the creation of a directory for those who received the diagnosis of having Dementia or Alzheimer’s to have a list of all the organisations that can provide help and support. There were bits of information available but it needed to be pulled together.

There was an increase in people who were requesting training for awareness of Alzheimer’s and Dementia and support that could be offered for those who had contact with sufferers. This was not just something that Officers were requesting but also local businesses as they also had a role to play in the Community. Physical changes could be made to help but also training within customer services.

It was agreed that a representative of Carers First be invited to give a presentation to the Health Liaison Board at the January meeting.

Action 3: The Health and Communities Manager to invite a member of Carers First to the January Health Liaison Board meeting.

Ms Yardley, a member of the public was allowed to address the Board and she expressed her interest with the work that was being done around Dementia, particularly in the Swanley area. 

Verbal update

The Health and Communities Manager gave a presentation on the Sevenoaks District Health Inequalities Action Plan, ‘Mind the Gap’. The PowerPoint highlighted areas the District Council would be looking at to address known health inequalities.

Members discussed the ‘Life Expectancy Gap’ and the reasons why the trends varied in different wards. It was questioned why information provided by Ward was missing information for Swanley St Mary’s. The Health and Communities Manager would look into this.

Action 4: The Health Leisure and Tourism Manger to contact KCC to find out why Swanley St Mary’s was excluded from the information provided.

It was agreed that the Housing Policy Manager would be invited to attend the next meeting to discuss the development of an Older People’s Housing Needs Survey.

If Members had any thoughts or comments on the Health Inequalities Plan they were asked to send them to the Health and Communities Manager. The Health Inequalities Plan was still in its draft form but once it had been finalised it would be circulated.

The completed actions were noted.

Cllr Davison informed the Board that he had attended the latest West Kent CCG Board meeting. The information provided in the agenda was a key issue within the CCG. Cllr Davison also brought Members’ attention to the ‘NHS – A call to action’ document. It was agreed that the document should be referred to the Economic and Community Development Advisory Committee. The Board confirmed that they would look at what they felt were important topics for the District and refer these to the Economic and Community Development Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee would then decide where it should be referred to for action.

It was felt that the alternative housing options to traditional nursing homes such as a ‘retirement village ’would be something that could be looked into, as this featured within the ‘Call to Action’ document as good practice.

‘Mapping The Future’ by West Kent CCG was tabled. It was felt that this was a key document for KCC’s Health and Scrutiny Overview. It would be looked at in more detail at the meeting on the 9 January 2014.

Action 5: ‘Mapping The Future’ to be added to the agenda for the 9 January 2014.

Cllr Searles informed Members that the next informal Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley CCG Health and Wellbeing Board would be on 15 October 2013 with the Board looking to go in to public and formal status from November 2013.

Cllr Fittock addressed the Board. He informed the Members that he was aware of the two different CCGs that were to meet the needs of local people and more co-ordination between the two was required. He felt that the information that was discussed at the meetings needed to be fed into the District Council so that the information was known.

It was agreed that a representative of each CCG should be invited to do a presentation.

It was agreed that the following items be added to the meeting of the Board on the 9 January 2014:

·         Older people’s strategy to the meeting

·         Older People Housing Needs Survey

·         Finalised Mind the Gap report

·         Update on Dementia Friendly Communities

·         Mapping the Future

·         Speaker from Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley CCG and West Kent CCG.

It was confirmed that the next meeting would be held on the 9 January 2014. The time of the meeting was to be confirmed. Members felt more meetings were required, possibly six per municipal year, and asked for one to be scheduled in order to feed into the Sevenoaks District ‘Mind the Gap’ Health Inequalities Action Plan before its consideration at the Economic and Community Development advisory Committee.

It was agreed that if a meeting could be scheduled before the 9 January 2014 then the following items would be moved to the next scheduled meeting:

·         Older people’s Housing Needs Survey

·         Mind the Gap

·         Update on Dementia Friendly Communities

·         Mapping the Future.