Agenda

To approve the record of the meeting held on 4 September 2025.  

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. 

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.

This report provides an overview of the current status and recent developments in Active Travel across Medway, with a particular focus on the indicator 'Percentage of adults walking for travel at least three days per week'. Medway continues to underperform on this indicator compared to national and regional averages, highlighting a critical area for improvement. The report outlines the strategic role of the Active Travel Group, recent delivery successes including Local Cycling and Walking Improvement Plan (LCWIP) approval and school engagement and identifies opportunities for further collaboration to improve health and wellbeing outcomes through sustainable transport.

The purpose of this report is to present the Medway Safeguarding Children Partnership (MSCP) Annual Report 2024-25 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.

The Suicide Prevention Programme plans to bring the draft new Suicide & Self-Harm Prevention Strategy for Kent & Medway (2026-2030) to the Medway Health & Wellbeing Board.

The new Strategy was drafted in summer 2025 following more than a year of stakeholder engagement. The strategy went out to formal public consultation from 23 July to 6 October 2025.

A report which summarises the key findings from the consultation (the consultation report) is currently being prepared. When complete, this will help to determine what changes need to be made to the draft strategy.  As the consultation report has not yet been finalised, a draft Executive Summary is included in the board papers for discussion.

This report provides an update on the position of, and progress made to date on GP and Neighbourhood Health in Medway. This report is accompanied by a presentation, of which is attached at Appendix A to the report.

Directors of Public Health (DsPH) have a statutory requirement to produce an annual public health report (APHR). These reports are the DsPH’s professional statement about the health of the local community.

The 2025 report explores the role that sleep plays in health and wellbeing and the impact that it has on a range of factors that influence the health, both direct impacts such as making it harder to engage in healthy behaviours, to indirect impacts through employment and productivity.

It provides initial findings of work to understand sleep in Medway and potential impact in health inequalities. It also outlines some ways to improve sleep and reduce the adverse effects of poor sleep and sets out how simple measures can be added to existing public health interventions to address the problem.

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.