Agenda and minutes

Venue: Conference Room, Argyle Road, Sevenoaks

Contact: Democratic Services 01732 227165  Email: democratic.services@sevenoaks.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

8.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 40 KB

To agree the Minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 8 July 2015, as a correct record

 

Minutes:

Resolved: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 8 July 2015, be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

9.

Declarations of Interest

Any interests not already registered.

Minutes:

There were no additional declarations of interest.

10.

Actions From Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 12 KB

Minutes:

The action from the previous meeting was noted.

11.

Updates from Members

Minutes:

 Cllr. Brookbank informed the Board that at the Kent County Council (KCC) Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) a report had been presented on Emotional Wellbeing Strategy for Children, Young People and Young Adults. West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) was the lead for Kent on mental health.  A further report at the end of the year would provide the direction for the new children’s mental health contract which KCC would be commissioning. Adult Mental Health Services were provided by the Maudsley NHS Trust. There was also an update on Stroke Services in West Kent. Members were informed that the critical time period was 4 hours after the stroke occurred for the best recovery.

 

He also advised that The Ambulance Service for Medway Hospitals could be diverted to Darent Valley, Maidstone or Pembury Hospitals to elevate pressures on Accident and Emergency services, although this could then affect the other hospitals.

 

Cllr. Mrs. Parkin advised that she was taking forward a Governance structure at Darent Valley Age Concern for the Care Centre which was moving ahead.

 

Cllr. McArthur reported that following the closure of the residential care home facility in Edenbridge, all of the residents were moved into alternative accommodation. She advised that Abbeyfield, the care home provider, had been invited to attend an Edenbridge Town Council meeting but did not attend. It was understood that Abbeyfield were working to keep this site as a older persons care facility. 

 

Cllr. Dyball advised that she had attended the Dementia Friendly Café in Swanley and there was a high number in attendance and an excellent initiative. She also advised that she would be volunteering there in the future.

 

Cllr. Clark informed Members that there had been an event in New Ash Green on 5 September 2015 which was well attended.  He congratulated Age Concern for the successful event in New Ash Green with the Jubilee Medical Practice and Sheltered Accommodation. He also advised the Board that Arriva had cut the number of buses to New Ash Green and this issue was trying to be addressed. The reduction in buses also affected Hartley and transport to Darent Valley Hospital. There were no buses before 9.50am and although the service was intended to be every 2 hours on many occasions it could be up to a 3.5 hour wait.  Members discussed the implications this would have on residents trying to access the hospital service, especially with the lack of parking facilities at the Hospital. It was reported that the Director of the Darent Valley Hospital Trust and the Parish Council had been lobbying Arriva but to date, no information had been received. Cllr. Clark advised that pressure needed to be put on Arriva for the service which would in turn reduce the pressures of parking at the Hospital. Gareth Johnson MP had also written to Arriva. The Health and Communities Manager informed Members there was also a wider issue around employment as unfortunately due to the intermittent service a restaurant owner in Bluewater had to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

12.

Children's Centres Progress pdf icon PDF 244 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board welcomed Stuart Collins, Head of Early Help and Preventative Services North Kent who gave a presentation on the Early Help and Preventative Services (0–25) and Christine Kiely District Manager (Sevenoaks) Early Help and Preventative Services who gave a presentation on the Children’s Centres in the Sevenoaks District.

 

The Head of Early Help and Preventative Services advised the Board of the new structure and the priority areas. Targeted work continued with families who were under the threshold for Social Care.  Work was being carried out with the Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) with exclusions and their families to ensure access to services.  Targeted work and universal services were two programmes that helped vulnerable young people and their families through targeted support and guidance. The Troubled Families programme had over 100% success rate for phase 1.

 

In response to questions, he advised that PRU were working with children who were referred by schools. The aim was not to move a child from school to school but to help them from being permanently excluded. Parenting workshops were provided to help those with signs of early problems. In comparison to the number of children that were in schools, the number of exclusions was low.  Members were advised that Broomhill Bank School had taken over the Furness School site in Hextable for children who were on the Asperger Syndrome Spectrum. 

 

The District Manager (Sevenoaks) reported on the core purposes of the Children’s Centres which was to improve outcomes for young children and their families and reduce inequalities between those in the greatest need and their peers in:

  • child development and school readiness,
  • parenting aspiration and parenting skills, and
  • child and family health and life chances.

 

Children’s Centres worked in partnership with many different organisations which was critical for the outcomes to be achieved. They were inspected by Ofsted for their overall effectiveness which was assessed under three criteria’s: Access to services by young children and families; quality and impact of practices and services; effectiveness of leadership and governance and management; and to achieve outstanding. Each of the three criteria’s, local priorities needed to be achieved. 

 

She advised that registration at Children Centre’s was at 69.6% however only 40.2% of those registered were using the services and the ‘Children in Need’ and ‘Child Protection’ families were a particular area that needed to be reached. Other areas that improvements were needed were obesity and accident rates which crossed paths with the work of the West Kent Health and Well Being Board. Members were informed ‘Free for 2’ was 15 hours of free early education for 2 year olds.  In response to questions, Members were advised that there were enough places for 2 year olds but in some areas there were more spaces than need. Ofsted registered Childminders could also be used for ‘Free for 2’, but there was more work that could be done to promote this. Members were advised that more outreach work needed to be done to encourage those who register to use the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

13.

Sevenoaks District Health Inequalities Action Plan - End of Year Summary Report and Draft 2015 - 18 Plan pdf icon PDF 42 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Health and Communities Manager presented the 2014/15 annual summary report of the Sevenoaks District ‘Mind the Gap’ Health Inequalities Action Plan and the draft 2015 – 2018 Sevenoaks District Health Inequalities Action Plan. She advised the Action Plan was set for over 80% on target and 82% had been achieved. Only 2% of the actions were red and these were identified as being outside the Council’s control, causing a number of housing schemes to be delayed. The summary showed 9% of the actions had some data missing; however work was still ongoing to collect data for those actions.

 

The Health Inequalities Annual Report provided a summary of the data collected and case studies of the successful health programmes that had been run over the last year. In response to questions, the NHS Health Checks were for those aged between 40 and 74 years who had not seen their GP within 5 years, this criteria was set at a national level. This was a service commissioned by Kent Community Health Trust.

 

The SDC contract to deliver health improvement programmes with KCC had been extended until September 2016; however a 10% in-year saving needed to be found to contribute to the Public Health funding cuts being introduced nationally.

 

The Health and Communities Manager summarised the outcomes since the action plan in 2012 and the 2015 – 18 priorities. There were many achievements in 2012–15 but there were also some negative increases. It was emphasised that these increases were minimal but something that needed to be a priority to prevent further increases. The six new priorities were:

  • Promoting healthy weight for children
  • Support older people to keep them safe, independent and leading fulfilling lives
  • Support businesses to have healthy workplaces
  • Meet the housing needs of people living in the District including affordable and appropriate housing
  • Sustain and support healthy communities and
  • Reduce the gap in health inequalities across the social gradient.

 

The action plan sets out the work that would be carried out to address the priorities and actions would be monitored quarterly through the Health Action Team partnership to monitor partner and Council’s actions to contribute to improving health and wellbeing of residents and reducing health inequalities.

 

Members thanked Officers for the achievements reached.

 

Resolved: That the report be noted.

14.

Work Plan pdf icon PDF 15 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

An updated work plan was tabled. The Older People’s Housing Survey and Update from the LSP Older people’s Sub Group would be moved to the March 2016 meeting. The Dementia Friendly Communities update would be a specific focus on Swanley. Healthwatch Kent would be attending the November meeting and the Council’s Health Priorities would also be discussed. It was agreed that there should be an Early Help and Prevention update at the April 2016 meeting.

 

 

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