Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Curry, Councillor Lawrence, Councillor Price, Jackie Brown and Martin Rilley.

Apologies for absence was received from the following invited guest: Jane Howard MVA.

To approve the record of the meeting held on 27 June 2024.

The record of the meeting held on 27 June 2024 was agreed and 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

There were none.

This report updates the Board on the impact and challenges partners and services face in Medway by having many children and young people placed in Medway by other local authorities. It also provides an update on changes in regulations to Supported Accommodation, which will come into effect from October 2024.

Discussion:

The Board received an update report on the impact and challenges faced through placement of Looked After Children by other local authorities in Medway. The volume of children placed in Medway continued to increase and this had a notable impact on many services including Schools, GPs and Dentists. Officers highlighted concerns and a need for a more robust system and partnership working to ensure safety of the placements.

Members raised the following comments and questions:

There was concern regarding the placement of children in Medway and it was evident that there was a need for improved partnership working and communication by placing authorities, to address the needs of the children in their care.

Discussions took place regarding the need for leaders of Local Authorities to come together to discuss organisation of a protocol to ensure high standards of provisions as some of the provision being used by placing authorities may not be suitable for the needs of the young person. Regulation of supported accommodation remained a challenge and the changes to national regulations, which would come into effect in October 2024, were welcomed.

Despite this, there would be a backlog of Ofsted inspections which would take time to process, and, in the meantime, an agreement was needed to communicate unsuitability of supported accommodations between local authorities.

In response to a question on the National Transfer Scheme and the impact on Medway, the Board was advised  that since the commencement of the scheme, Medway had accepted 38 children. Medway continued to take note of actions by comparative authorities such as Blackpool who had drawn up regulations to prevent increased allocation of numbers of children through the scheme.

In response to a question on monitoring of the placements, the officer said that Medway monitored the placements of all its children placed in and out of Medway, similarly, placing authorities held statutory responsibility for the monitoring of their children placed in Medway.

It was suggested and agreed that the Board write to leaders of placing authorities expressing concerns and the need to foster strong partnership working and improve communication and engagement on this matter.

Decision:

a)    The Board noted the report.

b)     The Board agreed to write to Local Authorities to express a need to strengthen partnership, communication and engagement regarding the safety of children placed in supported accommodation in Medway.

This report and accompanying presentation invites the Health and Wellbeing Board to discuss the Primary Care Strategy 2024 and Sustainable Local Care Five Year Plan and proposals for community pharmacy and dental services and impact on Medway health and wellbeing.

Discussion:

The Board received a presentation which provided an update on the Primary Care Strategy 2024 and Sustainable Local Care Five Year Plan and proposals for Community Pharmacy and Dental Services.

Members then raised a number of questions and comments, which included:

Concern was raised regarding the closure of pharmacies in areas of Medway where there were small numbers of pharmacies and lack of late night services in growing population areas.

Residents continued to highlight issues with the ability to access National Health Service (NHS) dental services. The public health team worked extensively on raising awareness on the need to access dental services form a young age, but this was an issue that had to be addressed collectively. Increased focus was needed on improving engagement and raising awareness of eligibility for free service.

There was increased need for support for pharmacies to join the pharmacy first programme and support to address limitations such as training and availability of technology. Maritime Health Partnership had been used as a case study to highlight what could be achieved through the extensive use of technology. Other services needed the support and ability to be able to fund technology to achieve the same outcomes. This could be a barrier for pharmacies, who had to fund their own technology infrastructure, to join the pharmacies first programme. It was confirmed that 49 pharmacies had signed up to the programme.

In response to a question on what strategy was in place for public engagement, the Board was informed that all work undertaken to date was centred around patients’ abilities to access services in accordance with their needs.

It was commented that that there was apparent an over reliance on the NHS and it would be beneficial in the longer term to explore alternative measures that decreased the reliance on the NHS, as not exploring other means of service provision was limiting.

It was commented that roles of services had changed and evolved over the last 10 years. and from a training and educational perspective of higher educational institutions, it was vital to determine local need in order to assist institutions in recruiting onto programmes. This could then assist to address issues with future maintenance of a sustainable workforce.

The officer agreed that it would be prudent to build on knowledge of needs and utilising that to drive measures to grow a sustainable workforce.

Members of the Board from various partnerships and invited guests extended opportunities to work with officers through various aspects of the work of their organisations, in order to foster and strengthen relationships to help drive forward the aspirations of the strategy.

It was added that the Pharmacy First programme was a sizeable change on delivery of health care and there must be some level of caution erred. There was also a challenge to ensure appropriate training for all pharmacies involved in the programme.

In response to a comment that GPs were trusted in the community, and it was vital that they felt comfortable with pharmacies  ...  view the full minutes text for item 274.

At the last meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board on 27 June 2024, it considered the Women’s Health Strategy, Women’s Hubs, health data, women’s community health matters and menopause care in Primary Care and looked at how these are implemented locally. This report provides an update on some issues relating to the topic

Discussion:

The Board received an update on some of the actions to date following the meeting on 27 June 2024 on Women’s Health.

A meeting had taken place at Clover Street Clinic to discuss some of the issues presented. The Board was informed that a bid had now been resubmitted for a Medway Women’s Health Hub.

Discussions took place regarding the impact that the Hub would have on services such as GP’s and the sexual health clinic. Concerns were raised regarding non recurrent funding and sustainability of the hubs and it was agreed that this needed to be made clear to the Integrated Care Board (ICB) due to destabilisation that would occur on what was available to women.

Decision:

a)    The Board noted the update

b)    The Chairperson to write to the ICB on behalf of the Board regarding concerns with tariffs for Long Acting Reversible Contraception and non-recurrent funding of the Women’s Health Hubs.

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:

Members considered a report regarding the Board’s work programme.

The Democratic Services Officer requested that suggestions be sent to her on what Board Members would like covered in the Local Plan report that was due to be presented at the next meeting.

Decision:

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