Agenda item

The report asks the Board to consider the final report of the in-depth Task Group review on ‘How far Medway has gone in becoming a Dementia Friendly Community.’ The Board is asked to consider the findings and recommendations of the Task Group ahead of it being considered by the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 16 March and by the Regeneration, Culture and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 28 March.

The recommendations aim to complement the wide variety of work already being undertaken by the Council and partners to implement the Council’s Dementia Strategy. The review has had a particular focus on how Medway Council and its partners can lead by example to help make Medway a Dementia Friendly Community. This includes services that the Council directly controls and those, which while not directly under the control of the Council, it could influence through partnership working.

Discussion

The Head of Adults’ (25+) Partnership Commissioning and the Better Care Fund introduced the report of the Dementia Task Group. The Councillor Members of the Task Group had undertaken external visits and participated in a number of evidence sessions. The report summarised the outcomes and recommendations arising from this work.

The key conclusions of the Task Group included the need for the Council to lead by example to ensure that its staff and services are dementia friendly. There was also support for the Test for Change Pilot in Rainham and the development of the Council’s existing Dementia Strategy. The importance of the Medway Dementia Action Alliance had also been recognised, including the need to work with the Alliance to ensure that the anticipated submission of an application for Medway to be recognised as a Dementia Friendly Community was a success. The review had also recognised the constraints on financial resources.

The Risk Management section of the covering report stated that there were no risks arising from the report. There had been discussions between system leaders to ensure that, in the event that there were specific changes to services, these would be incorporated within service development.

The Board raised a number of points and questions as follows:

Role of the Council in promoting a dementia friendly community: A Member considered that the Council had a key role to play in encouraging staff, Members and external organisations to be dementia friendly. It was suggested that contractors should also have a responsibility in this area and that this could be made a condition of contracts awarded by the Council. It was requested that further work be undertaken in this area.

A Board Member, who was also Chairman of the Procurement Board, said that he would ensure that the matters raised in relation to procurement were considered by the Procurement Board. He advised that Council suppliers had already been encouraged to sign up to the White Ribbon campaign that worked to stop violence against women. The Board Member was also Chairman of the Transformation Board and it was suggested that how to make digital transformation work for people with dementia could be considered.

Communications and Engagement: A Board Member said that the report was excellent. In relation to communications and engagement, he suggested that there should be a focus on effective communication with people living with dementia as well as on communication with carers.

Wording of Recommendation: It was requested that the word “diagnostic” be removed from recommendation 22. This was due to the fact that dementia could not be accurately diagnosed through a scan. Scanning was part of the process used to diagnose dementia and was used to rule out other causes of particular symptoms. The revised recommendation would read as follows:

“That the Partnership Commissioning Teams should work with Medway NHS Clinical Commissioning Group and Medway NHS Foundation Trust to seek to reduce waiting times for scans.”

The Healthwatch Medway representative on the Board advised that the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and Healthwatch had secured external funding for dementia action.

The Director of Children and Adults welcomed the news that the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and Healthwatch had secured dementia funding. He acknowledged that there was a risk that the Task Group’s recommendations would not be implemented effectively by all the constituent members of the Health and Wellbeing Board. A key aspect of the Task Group’s work was the focus on the impact of dementia on the wider community, rather than solely from a health and social care perspective. There was a need to ensure that people with dementia were able to lead full and valued lives for as long as possible and that they were able to be included in all aspects of their local community. One example of improving community provision was that bus operator, Arriva, the company having contributed to the Task Group, would be putting measures in place to ensure that their services became more dementia friendly.

The Chairman of the Board said that dementia provision was becoming increasingly important given that there were nearly 2,900 people living with dementia in Medway in 2015 and that this number was expected to increase in time. The Chairman referenced the case of the Chair of the Medway Dementia Action Alliance, who was herself living with dementia. She had developed strategies to cope with having dementia which had enabled her raise dementia awareness in the local community. The Chairman considered this contribution to be inspiring.

Decision

The Board:

i)     Considered the recommendations of the Dementia Task Group and provided comments ahead of it being presented to the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the Regeneration, Culture and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Cabinet.

ii)    Members committed to encouraging their respective organisations to ensure that they support Medway becoming a Dementia Friendly Community and subject, to approval of the Council’s Cabinet, support implementation of the Task Group’s recommendations.

iii)  Recommend that recommendation 22 of the Task Group report should be amended to remove the word “diagnostic”.