Agenda item

Social isolation is a key priority of the Medway Health and Wellbeing Board and the strategy has been developed to tackle the issue across Medway.  A draft of the strategy is being brought to Medway Health and Wellbeing Board for approval prior to being sent to the Cabinet.

Discussion:

The Consultant in Public Health introduced this report which provided details of the Strategy to Reduce Social Isolation 2014/2018. He informed Board Members that this was an opportunity to provide any final views on the draft Strategy prior to consideration and final approval at Cabinet on 25 November 2014.

He provided details as to the background to the issue of social isolation and how this was different to loneliness and could be measured objectively. He referred Board Members to page 7 of the draft Strategy which set out two maps that showed an index of relative social isolation per household at lower super output area level of persons aged under 65 and over 65 which had been developed to identify areas where residents may be more likely to be socially isolated.

He informed Board Members of the consultation that had been carried out on the draft Strategy including focus groups and key stakeholders. He stated that three key strategic themes had been identified: raising awareness, action for individuals and community action. It was noted that there would be a range of targeted actions for each of the themes and he gave some examples of pilot projects in support of the issue.

Board Members welcomed the strategy and discussed a number of issues including:

• The extent to which geographical and financial factors could have an impact on social isolation with Board Members providing examples of potential geographical factors in Rainham and Gillingham/Chatham.
• The need to raise awareness of front line staff and the community about social isolation and to find ways of engaging people with the range of opportunities available in Medway.
• The need to improve communication channels to better highlight the availability of resources/services.
• The need to promote and increase volunteering to assist in reducing social isolation
• The “men in sheds” pilot scheme was seen as an excellent initiative to tackle social isolation and Board Members were keen to see this programme extended. It was confirmed that this scheme would be delivered by the Sunlight Development Trust, however, the number of schemes would be subject to the level of available funding.
• The need to develop an Action Plan to ensure that the Strategy would be delivered and to report back to the Board on key actions. The Director of Public Health informed Board Members that she would need to identify an officer to undertake this work because the current Consultant would shortly be leaving the Council’s employment.
• To ensure appropriate reference was made to the De Jong loneliness scale.

It was confirmed that the NHS Medway Clinical Commissioning Group would also be considering the Strategy at its November Governing Body meeting to consider its role in taking the Strategy forward.

Decision:

a)     The Health and Wellbeing Board noted the draft Strategy and noted that the Strategy would be submitted to Cabinet for formal approval and adoption on 25 November 2014.

b)     The Health and Wellbeing Board agreed that an Action Plan be referred back to the Board for consideration in due course.