Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from the following Board Members: Paul Bentley, Integrated Care Board (ICB) Representative, Jackie Brown, Assistant Director Adult Social Care, Councillor Price and Donna Marriott, Assistant Director Childrens Social Care, Medway Council.

With regards to invited guests, apologies were received from: Jane Howard, Medway Voluntary Action, Kent Local Medical Committee and Adrian Richardson, Director of Partnerships and Transformation, KMPT.

To approve the record of the meeting held on 7 September 2023.

The record of the meeting held on 7 September 2023 was signed by the Chairperson as correct.

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 4.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other significant interests (OSIs)

There were none.

Other interests

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

The Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF) can be used for capital and revenue expenditure to support investment in college facilities and equipment, and to fund the development of new courses and curriculum.

The aim of this presentation is to provide information on the funding application made by the Further Education colleges in Kent to provide training scenarios and showcase the types of assistive technologies that can support the health and social care needs of different client groups.

Discussion:

The Strategic Director, Kent Further Education, the Director of Policy, Policy Connect, the Executive Director for Employer Engagement, East Kent Colleges Group and the Director of Curriculum for Digital and Care, MidKent College presented to the Board details of the Digital Skills and Innovation in Health and Social Care project that the East Kent Colleges Group was leading on.

Members were informed that they had been successful in their bid from the Local Skills Improvement Fund which would enable them to realise their proposed project activities.

Members were informed that the aim of the project was built on a moment where National policy viewed assistive technology as moving forward social care, equipping people that work in health and social care by enabling them to understand the opportunities that exist and assisting people to live the lifestyle they desired outside of a hospital setting.

The project would seek to complement work that was already in existence, and this would be achieved by liaising with several organisations and stakeholders to understand what could be achieved.

The aim was to ensure that the current and incoming workforce could be confident in the use of technology and embrace how it could assist them with their roles. It was important that families and the community be involved in the process in order to achieve holistic care for service users.

Members then made the following comments and suggestions:

• The opportunity to utilise the care training facility was welcomed and it was important to involve the community in the roll out of the scenario rooms where possible.
• Assistive technology should be an integral part of health and social care, but it was currently not being used to its potential due to training and educational gaps.
• In response to concerns that assistive technology could lead to loss of jobs and the costs involved, officers said that the need for care was increasing and there were challenges with recruitment. The development of assistive technology would help to complement the work of staff in post and lessen the burden where there were staff shortages and enable staff to concentrate on tasks that required personal contact.  It was apparent that there was some aversion to technology in the sector and the project would focus on what could be done to build confidence in usage, raise awareness on what could be achieved using technology and how it could complement delivery of services.
• Officers acknowledged that one of the barriers to increased access to technology was cost. Current innovation funding that was readily available was more targeted on projects that were currently lagging behind, however, they were mindful to signpost providers to funding pots that were available nationally. One of the aims of the project was to equip workforces on what they could achieve through funding and to ensure that continuous bids were submitted for ongoing funding.
• In response to comments that families were primary carers, and that it was vital that they be involved and have access to the training  ...  view the full minutes text for item 388.

The purpose of this report is to present the Medway Safeguarding Children Partnership (MSCP) Annual Report 2022-23 to the Health and Wellbeing Board. The report provides an overview of the work carried out by the MSCP in the last year. It sets out the key achievements of the partnership against its key priorities and gives an overview of the learning and improvement role of the MSCP including case reviews that have been undertaken. It also includes a section from the Independent Scrutineer, Rory Patterson.

The report will also be presented to the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Community Safety Partnership in line with the Joint Working Protocol between the boards in Medway.

Discussion:

The Medway Safeguarding Children’s Partnership Business Manager introduced the fourth annual report which detailed the work undertaken by the Partnership over the last year.

The Medway safeguarding threshold guidance had been reviewed and updated. This was done to ensure that practitioners continued to be provided with the right guidance to enable them to fulfil their roles effectively.

There had been a range of transformation in services in the last year and the multiagency training offer, which was critical, continued to receive high uptake. In the last year, 780 delegates attended multiagency training sessions, 360 attended face to face conferences and learning events. Additionally, over 3000 E- Learning activities were accessed over the last year.

An external review of the partnership was commissioned to look at the leadership and identify areas for further development. The review concluded that there was a high level of openness, commitment and engagement of agencies with a good multiagency strategic plan in place. There was also evidence of challenge, and the areas for improvement identified were for the partnership to focus on how to evidence that it was responding to learning from national reviews and improved utilisation of data. An action plan was being developed to respond to the recommendations made.

The Independent Scrutineer added that the partnership continued to work together effectively and on a regular basis. There was evidence of challenge in the system and all the partners welcomed regular scrutiny and being held to account.  The partnership also recognised the need for more impact work and an event was in the process of being planned for this area of work. There were also strong links made with youth services and the community safety partnership.

It was commented that it was encouraging that neglect remained a key area of focus and priority for the partnership, and it was asked what more could be done to address issues. The officer said that the recent audits taken around neglect acknowledged that there had been improvement in the last year, but this was still a key area for development.  This area of priority would continue to be a focus with work undertaken to address issues through an extensive multiagency approach.

Concern was raised that HMP Cookham Wood had the lowest rating in the country and the officer said that there were still ongoing concerns following the inspection in April 2023. The leadership of the institution had produced an action plan to improve conditions and standards.

The Board was informed that the Children and Young people Overview and Scrutiny Committee had a commitment from the leadership at Cookham Wood to attend their meeting of 11 January 2024 to provide a progress update and to be held to account.

Decision:

The Board noted the report.

This report provides a brief update for members of the Health and Wellbeing Board to inform them that the Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy (JLHWS) is on-going and will be brought to the Health and Wellbeing Board at its next meeting.

Discussion:

The Deputy Director of Public Health introduced the update report which summarised the work that had been undertaken to date and informed the Board that this was being updated in parallel with the Integrated Care Strategy. Consultations had taken place over the past six to nine months and since the last meeting of the Board where the key themes were presented, a first draft of the Strategy had been completed. Engagement would take place over the coming weeks with stakeholders to ensure that all details had been captured accurately and the final report would be shared with the Board.

It was asked how, following engagement and consultation, would people be able to remain involved. The officer said that there was a record of people that had participated in workshops and there would be follow up contact to explore whether they felt their views had been accurately represented.

In response to a question on how improvements would be measured, officers said that this would be done through a range of tools such as the use of hard data as well as questionnaires and surveys and reaching out to people in the community.

Decision

The Health and Wellbeing Board noted the report.

This paper presents the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Strategy. The interim strategy was approved by Cabinet in December 2022 and this version is an update that incorporates extensive feedback from consultation.

Discussion:

The Deputy Director of Public Health introduced the item and informed the Board that the key aim of the Strategy was the focus on the wider determinants of health inequality. The strategy recognised the current challenging times and sought to deliver care more efficiently and ultimately improve outcomes.

It was commented that the indicators in the appendix to the report were very clear and Medway welcomed being part of the health determinants research collaboration as the information derived would assist in the approach to tackling health inequality.

In response to a question on when measurable outcomes would start to emerge, the officer said that the Strategy was now complete and finalised, the indicators would be shared with stakeholders to ensure there was a right balance and once implemented, outcomes would start to emerge that could be measured.

Decision

The Health and Wellbeing Board noted the report.

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.

Decision:

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