To agree the Minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 25 May 2022, as a correct record.

Resolved: That the Minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 25 May 2022 be approved and signed as a correct record.

Any interests not already registered.

There were none.

The Chairman introduced and warmly welcomed the newly appointed Health Team Leader to the Council and gave an update on Health related projects in the District.

Since the last meeting the Health & Communities Team and HR had been working hard on the Kent & Medway Health in the Workplace Awards. On 7 October the Council received the Silver award and on 5 January received the Gold Award. The Board asked the Health and Communities Manager to pass on congratulations to the Teams for all the work they had put in. Further information would be circulated to Members following the meeting.

The Council was also hosting an Access all Areas event at White Oak Leisure Centre, on 19 February 2023. This event showcased what the District had to offer residents with disabilities and their families/carers. The Council had also trained over 20 staff as Mental Health Champions and were working with the Men’s Project to set up a men’s mental health drop in. Two events had already been held in October and November 2022. The team had continued work on the 2023-24 Health & Wellbeing Action plan, this followed a workshop in December and a draft partnership plan would be going forward to the Housing and Health Advisory Committee on 7 February 2023.

A Member expressed concern over a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report from 2022 which rated a local GP practice in their ward as requiring improvement. The Member expressed concern over continued long waiting times for GP’s and prescriptions. The Member stressed that this was a priority issue for local residents. There was a pressing need for more GPs in the District which was compounded by rising populations and the Member asked what measures could be taken to enable adequate services locally. Members were informed that the Integrated Care Board (ICB) was looking at the problems that were symptoms of a national shortage of GPs which was having a variable effect over Kent. The long-term plan was to train more GPs locally and encourage Kent-based working through the newly founded Kent and Medway Medical School. The Council was also a Member of the Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) which produced the overarching strategy for healthcare in West Kent and the Member was reassured the concerns were raised at the ICP.

Dr Abraham George will be in attendance to update the Board on the KCC Public Health Strategy.

The Chairman welcomed Dr Abraham George who gave a presentation to the Board. It was clarified that the Kent and Medway Integrated Strategy had incorporated the Public Health Strategy. Further information was available on the NHS website. The Strategy included 6 key goals:

1.    Give children the best start in life and work to make sure they were not disadvantaged by where they live or their background, and are free from fear or discrimination.

2.    Help the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in society to improve their physical and mental health; with a focus on the social determinants of health and preventing people becoming ill in the first place.

3.    Help people to manage their own health and wellbeing and be proactive partners in their care so they can live happy, independent and fulfilling lives; adding years to life and life to years.

4.    Support people with multiple health conditions to be part of a team with health and care professionals working compassionately to improve their health and wellbeing.

5.    Make sure when people need hospital services, most are available from people’s nearest hospital; while providing centres of excellence for specialist care where that improves quality, safety and sustainability.

6.    Make Kent and Medway a great place for our colleagues to live, work and learn.

Members took the opportunity to ask questions focused on data collection and methods of improvement going forward. It was confirmed that the data in the presentation related to the whole Sevenoaks District. Members were advised that further collaboration with the Council could enhance data collection such as Sevenoaks’ Housing data which could be included to understand a fuller picture of District Health. Partnerships with local organisations and authorities could also help to identify the best interventions and the type of data that would be useful to assess if implementation was working and evaluate problems and priorities. This could also advance frontline delivery, patient engagement and workforce planning.

Members discussed the accuracy of data collection. GP opt-out rate was a factor as some patients had opted out of their data being used. The opt-out rate was around 3% in total but varied from practice to practice which reached as high as 50% in some practices. Coding problems were also a factor which meant that some practices did not record their data accurately. It was confirmed that the Primary Care Commissioning Team monitored sampling and data accuracy and sought to combat these problems.

Members suggested setting up more mobile testing units to take the strain off of hospitals and increase testing. It was confirmed that some chemists offered services such as blood pressure and diabetes testing. The Health Team Leader confirmed that these services were advertised via Inshape, the Council’s magazine, on social media and The Council’s website along with local leaflets. Members suggested circulating further information to Parish clerks which would allow them to advertise the services on their social media accounts.

Action – for the Health Team Leader to circulate to Town and Parish Clerks  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

Tara Laybourne, Deputy Chief Nurse, NHS Kent and Medway will be in attendance to update the Board on nursing staffing levels in East Kent.

This item was deferred to a future meeting of the Board, to allow for the Deputy Chief Nurse, NHS Kent and Medway to attend.

Members considered the report and associated appendix which updated Members on the second quarter (1 July 2022 – 30 September 2022) of the Health and Wellbeing action plan. The report set out that over three topics there were 23 actions and 74% were green and on target. Members were advised that the amber targets were now all green and on track as there had been delays in some of the partners starting the projects.

The Health and Communities Manager updated that in relation to the cancer screening centre in Swanley Town Centre this had been set up and had been well received. The centre provided regular breast cancer screening and referred patients to Darent hospital if there were any problems. Members suggested that Officers look into the diagnostic data for the centre to further show its success. Members also commended the introduction of diagnostic hubs and encouraged the Team to look for additional places that centres could be set up.

It was also confirmed that mental health training was delivered in October 2022 by West Kent Mind and further training had been scheduled.

Members thanked Officers for all their hard work.

          Resolved: That the report be noted.

Members noted the Work Plan and the following item were added:

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7 June 2023

·         Age UK services in the Sevenoaks District, Louise McPherson, Chief Executive

·         Kent County Council ‘Universal Wellbeing Support in the Community’ West Kent contract update, Charlotte Osborn-Forde, Chief Executive Officer, Involve Kent

• West Kent Mind update
• Nursing Staffing Levels In West Kent (Tara Laybourne)
• Kent and Medway Integrated Strategy Update

2 January 2024

• Kent and Medway Integrated Strategy Update