Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chairperson of the Health and Wellbeing Board for the forthcoming year.

Councillor Teresa Murray was elected as Chairperson of the Board for the 2023/24 Municipal Year.

To elect a Vice-Chairperson of the Health and Wellbeing Board for the forthcoming year.

Jayne Black Chief Executive, Medway NHS Foundation Trust, was elected as Vice-Chairperson of the Board for the 2023/24 Municipal Year.

Apologies for absence were received from the following Board Members: Paul Bentley, Integrated Care Board (ICB) Representative, Jackie Brown, Assistant Director Adult Social Care, Jayne Black, Chief Executive Medway NHS Trust, Councillor Curry, Lee-Anne Farach, Director of People- Children and Adults’ Services Medway Council, Councillor Price, Martin Riley, Joint Senior Responsible Officer, Medway and Swale Integrated Care Partnership, Andrew Stradling Interim Medical Director, Medway and Swale Health and Care Partnership Medway, Donna Marriott, Assistant Director Child Social Care, Medway Council and Councillor Stamp.

With regards to invited guests, apologies received from: Adrian Richardson, Director of Partnerships and Transformation, KMPT.

To approve the record of the meeting held on 13 April 2023.

The minutes of the previous meeting will be agreed at the next meeting of the Board.

The Chairperson will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. 

There were none.

Members are invited to disclose any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Significant Interests in accordance with the Member Code of Conduct. Guidance on this is set out in agenda item 6.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other significant interests (OSIs)

There were none.

Other interests

Councillor Van-Dyke declared that she was still officially recorded as being a Governor on Medway NHS Foundation Trust Board despite having resigned.

Councillor Hackwell declared that his wife was a Governor on Medway NHS Foundation Trust Board.

This report presents Medway’s draft Better Care Fund plan for 2023-2025, for discussion.

Discussion:

The Better Care Fund (BCF) was a joint fund between NHS Medway CCG and Medway Council, with Medway NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) as a key stakeholder.

In March 2023, new policy and planning guidance was released, requiring a two year plan to be developed by local areas and submitted for national approval by 28 June 2023.The BCF 2023/25 Plan was presented to the Health and Wellbeing Board following submission for regional and national approval on 28 June 2023. Owing to the deadline for submission, the Cabinet would be asked to agree to delegate authority to the Director of People and Deputy Chief Executive in consultation with the Deputy Leader of the Council, to approve the submission of monitoring reports as required in order to meet national reporting deadlines.

The Board was assured that this was an overall interagency plan that sets the priorities and areas for collaboration.

Board Members asked how it could be ensured that the use of assistive technology remained a focus of the plan and was inclusive as the importance of it was clear due to the ability to ensure that people remained independent and maintained responsibility for their own health and care. Officers said that assistive technology was vital and formed the basis of strength based work that continued to take place within health and social care. It was a tool used to reaffirm independence and maintain prevention strategies. There was a digital strategy in place alongside the National Health Service initiative scheme to enable the people of Medway to access equipment and internet provision. There was more to be done to promote the availability of the scheme and to ensure that people that needed it were able to access the support available. As part of the falls prevention workstream there was a greater focus on technology, which would be backed up with use of funding from the Integrated Care Board.

A Member commented that more training was needed for social care staff on use of new assistive technology, and it was encouraging that Medway University had advised that they would allow for one of their rooms to be set up and used as a demonstration room for social care staff on how equipment can and should be used.

Board Members expressed that improvements needed to be made to elderly respite care services and officers agreed that there was a distinct challenge in recruitment of workforce needed to make improvements. This was an area of priority and work was being undertaken on exploration of different ways to provide the increased capacity needed. Collaborative work was being undertaken with all care providers to ensure that the workforce received the training they needed to carry out their duties at the highest standard. It was vital to note that there was a high level of staff shortage nationally in social care due to a disparity in pay and working conditions and the presenting issues and improvements to pathways needed to be addressed in partnership with the NHS.

In  ...  view the full minutes text for item 107.

The report advises the Board of the forward work programme for discussion in the light of latest priorities, issues and circumstances. It gives the Board an opportunity to shape and direct the Board’s activities.

Discussion:

The Chairperson informed the Board that an item would be taken on Mental Health at the meeting of 7 September 2023.

The Board agreed that it was important to manage the number of items taken at each meeting in order to ensure effective use of time and resources.

Mike Gilbert, Executive Director of Corporate Governance NHS Kent and Medway informed the Board that discussions had taken place regarding provision of update on the GP Development Plan and it was suggested that officers attend the 23 November 2023 meeting to provide an update on the plan to date or attend the 15 February 2024 meeting once the Strategy had been signed off.

Matt Capper, Director of Strategy and Partnerships Medway NHS Foundation Trust suggested bringing a report to a meeting of the Board on the Medway NHS Foundation Trust Clinical Strategy.

Decision:

a)    The Board agreed the work programme as set out in appendix A to the report.

b)    The Democratic Services Officer to add the items discussed to the work programme and to liaise with officers to identify a suitable date in the cycle of meetings for the items to be brought forward.

c)    That future meetings contain where possible no more than two items per meeting in order to minimise duplication of work of other Committees, Boards and Partnerships.