Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from the following Board Members: Paul Bentley, Integrated Care Board (ICB) Representative, Kelly Cogger, Acting Assistant Director Children’s Social Care, Lee-Anne Farach, Director of People and Deputy Chief Executive, Councillor Peake, Martin Rilley, Managing Director, Medway Community Healthcare, Andrew Stradling Medical Director (interim) Medway & Swale Health & Care Partnership.

Apologies for absence were received from the following invited guests: Adrian Richardson, Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust, and Dr Caroline Rickard, Kent and Medway LMC.

To approve the record of the meeting held on 5 September 2024.

The record of the meeting held on 5 September 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

Councillor Lawrence declared that his wife works for East Kent Hospital Trust and would withdraw from the meeting when/if the interest was closely aligned to any of the business on the agenda for this meeting.

Other significant interests (OSIs)

There were none.

Other interests

There were none.

The purpose of this report is to present the Medway Safeguarding Children Partnership (MSCP) Annual Report 2023-24 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 progress the partnership has made against 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 on scrutiny and assurance, providing details of the independent scrutineer activity in the reporting year.

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 Board received a report which detailed the work undertaken by the MSCP in the last year and sets out the progress made by the partnership against key priorities.

Members then raised the following comments and questions

In response to a comment on how the views of young people were captured and acted upon, the Board was informed that there had been extensive engagement undertaken through Child Friendly Medway as well as good level of participation in the ‘Make your Mark’ consultation which evidenced that young people had their own views and wanted to be heard and taken seriously.

The voice of children and young people, their experiences and impact of services to their lives must remain a focus, and this should be reflected in future reports.

The report was well written and highlighted the work that was being undertaken by partners, but it was important that future reports evidenced clearly the impact of the work undertaken.

It was asked if the grant received from the Department for Education would be ongoing and it was explained that it had been a one off grant to support the work of the partnership.

It was commented that Trauma Informed Practice was not consistent across schools in Medway and the Board was informed that a high proportion of schools had signed up, with 70 schools enrolled on the training programme.

Decision:

The Board noted the report.

This report outlines work on the new Medway Local Plan, reflecting on the consultation carried out in Summer 2024 and next steps. It highlights planning for health infrastructure as part of Medway’s growth, and aspects of the plan that promote the health and wellbeing of Medway’s communities.

Discussion:

The Board received a report on the new Medway Local Pan, including reflection following the consultation that took place in the summer of 2024.The Voluntary Sector and the Public Health Team were thanked for all their support and work during the consultation process. It was important to ensure that the Plan played a role in improvements to air quality, access to open spaces and contribute to securing a good health infrastructure for residents of Medway.

Members then raised the following comments and question:

The Local Plan was not just about housing targets but about the infrastructure targets and with growth in Medway’s population, ensuring that health and wellbeing played a firm role in the Local Plan.

The wider determinants of health were important, the third sector were stretched, needed facilities and infrastructure to deliver services for the communities they served. They had lost use of the community space where they supported charities and had nowhere to run and engage in activities. The third sector was not considered public sector which meant they did not receive certain funding and as a result were unable to deliver services without space or funding to run programmes.

Healthwatch undertook some work on the wider determinants of health, with information gathered and distributed on a monthly basis, reporting highlighted what people valued. This would be shared with officers working on the Local Plan.

The development of the Local Plan had been a priority for the Council in the last year and was on track to be finalised by 2026. There was anticipated growth in Medway of approximately 50 thousand more people by 2041 and it was vital to ensure the right infrastructure would be in place to manage the predicted growth.

There was a multifaceted approach to health infrastructure and all services were working collaboratively, with the interlinking of themes and strategies. The health service continued to ensure that resources were steered by all plans and fed back into the integrated care system. A pragmatic approach was being taken on change and tools had been developed in conjunction with the Integrated Care Board where proposals were run through the systems on the hospital to identify what may be needed financially to meet needs as well as what may be needed in terms of bed uplifts in order to meet future demands.

In response to a question on what the health plan would be for the projected growth, the Board was informed of the ICB’s strategic estates planning, in particular, feeding into the 10 year planning on how the budget increase would be utilised. The NHS capital position was likely to remain strained but there were different areas to explore as part of transformation of the health service, including changes to the estate to meet future needs. Utilisation of existing centres and other alternative sources of funding which could be used alongside the NHS funding to support what was needed in the future and embedding good foundations of partnership working.

It was further commented that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 437.

The vision of the Medway Food Partnership (MFP) is to create an environment that supports sustainable access to affordable healthy food. This is to improve knowledge about nutrition along with cooking and growing skills for all, building healthier communities and better futures for everyone in Medway.

The Medway Food Strategy supports the food partnership by providing a structured framework that align with the goals and objectives.

Discussion:

The Board received a report on the Medway Food Strategy which aspired to create an environment that supports sustainable access to healthy food.

Members then raised the following comments and questions:

The community garden was an innovative idea that provided residents with the opportunities to grow and share food

There was concern that data showed that there was a decline in healthy weight of 4/5 year olds;

 Alongside the development of the Local Plan, it would be beneficial for consideration to be given to making more community spaces available to enable people to have access to fresh produce.

It was asked whether there were any developments on a proposal for a social supermarket model and the Board was informed that there was a small community supermarket called Second Chance Medway.

The Voluntary Sector worked with very disadvantaged people in the community and highlighted that stigma was attached to some communities in attending food banks and more work needed to be undertaken in supporting these communities and breaking the stigma.

Healthy weight training continued to be delivered by the Voluntary Sector, with sessions running for a twelve week period. Feedback from participants was that they would like to have the opportunity during sessions to practice what they had learned at the centre where the training took place.

It was highlighted that many people that attended food banks or were provided with food vouchers were very educated on food and their issues were with the cost and lack affordability of nutritional food which affected the food choices they made.

The message of healthy eating being targeted at young children from Early Years stage was welcomed and it was encouraging that we were concentrating on educating young children, however it was just as important to educate the older generation, in particular grandparents who may be stuck in their ways or view poor food choices as just a harmless treat.

It was vital to note that residents in some parts of Medway were not able to access supermarkets or local markets due to lack of good transportation infrastructure which made them reliant on buying food from their local convenience stores.

Consideration to be given to whether schools and teachers were adequately equipped with the knowledge and confidence to engage in difficult conversations with parents.

Schools and establishments such as hospitals to actively explore whether the food provided was healthy and of good nutritional value.

Decision:

a)    The Board noted the report.

b)    Partners and Board Members to encourage schools, food businesses and any stakeholders involved in food to sign up to the Medway Food Partnership.

c)     Consideration to be given to building in provision for community spaces to enable residents to have more access to fresh produce by being able to grow it themselves.

There is an imminent legal requirement for the Health and Wellbeing Board to produce an updated assessment of pharmaceutical need in Medway. The current Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) for Medway was undertaken in 2021/22 and is due to expire in October 2025. This is a mandatory function that Health and Wellbeing Boards need to deliver every three years in line with obligations stipulated in the Health & Social Care Act 2012. It was agreed by Public Health DMT that this PNA should be undertaken independently, with services procured for this purpose.

This paper proposes an approach to deliver an updated PNA, including the creation of a steering group, for which the Director of Public Health is responsible. This is to ensure the process in developing the PNA is efficient, and that the statutory timeline is met. The proposal includes bringing an early draft of the PNA to the Board in February 2025 and a final draft in September 2025 for sign off.

Discussion:

The Interim Deputy Director Public Health presented the report which set out the approach to deliver an updated Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment, with a draft to be brought to the 13 February Board meeting and a final version to be signed off by the Board at its September 2025 meeting. Agreement was also sought for the establishment of a steering group to oversee the   sought agreement from the Board on the establishments of a steering group to oversee delivery of the PNA.

Decision:

The Board agreed:

a)    To establish the PNA Steering Group, (as set out at section 3 of the report) to oversee the production and completion of the Medway PNA, 2025-2028, on behalf of the Health and Wellbeing Board.

b)    To receive an early draft of the PNA in February 2025 and sign off the updated final version following consultation and requested amendments in September 2025.

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 and the proposals presented on an implementation approach to enable the JLHWS to guide the work of the Health and Wellbeing Board and support the Board to exercise its co-ordination function.

Decision:

a)    The Board agreed the work programme as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

b)    The Board agreed the Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy Implementation Proposal as set out at Appendix 2 to the report.