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 information on the additional blood pressure and diabetes services provided by local clinics in the District.

Members were also advised that the Council had contacted their Warm Spaces directory to encourage updates around recurring problems so that the Council could provide drop-ins services. Members were advised the Council would also provide phone-backs and have agency partners contact patients and residents should this be required.

          Resolved: That the update be noted.