Agenda item

This report details the areas covered by the Portfolio Holder for Adult Services which fall within the remit of this Committee.

Discussion

The Portfolio Holder for Adult Services attended to answer questions on the service areas that he was responsible for that fell within the remit of the Committee. The questions raised were responded to as follows:

Hospital discharge– The issue of inappropriate discharge from hospital had been raised with Medway Foundation Trust (MFT) and a Council team was supporting this work to ensure that vulnerable patients were only discharged when appropriate post discharge plans were in place. The Portfolio Holder had visited the hospital a few times to see what staff were doing to ensure timely discharge and that patients were discharged into an appropriate environment.

Availability of Community Beds – A Member was concerned that there were insufficient beds available to meet winter demand and suggested that the Council should have some community beds within its control in order to help meet this demand. The Portfolio Holder explained that extra bed capacity had been identified but that it was not financially viable for there to significant numbers of beds that were used for only a few months of the year. Appropriate bed capacity had been identified in the community for patients who could not be discharged to their own homes. The situation was being managed and the Council was working with MFT to ensure capacity was used most effectively.

Staff training – The Portfolio Holder provided assurance that Council staff would be given appropriate training to enable them to undertake changing roles, that they would be given the support required and that they would have the opportunity to speak up if they felt that they did not have the training and support needed. There was not considered to be a blame culture at the Council.

Mental Health provision – The Portfolio Holder considered it regrettable that Medway residents had to go to Maidstone or Dartford to access mental health provision. There had been significant improvements locally with people no longer having to travel up to several hundred miles for treatment, but there was a need for acute services to be provided in Medway and the Portfolio Holder would continue to make the case for this. The Portfolio Holder considered the Council’s non-acute mental health provision to be good.

Social Isolation – The Portfolio Holder was pleased that a Minister for Loneliness had been appointed and that this was a local MP but felt that it was an area that also needed to be tackled locally from the ‘bottom up’. The availability of public transport played a role in social isolation. A local case was noted where Arriva had removed a bus services which had led to social isolation. The Council had been partially successful in lobbying for the service to be reinstated. The Committee was informed about the Developing and Empowering Resources in Communities projects taking place in

Walderslade (WALT) and on theHoo Peninsula (wHoo Cares). These included work to help address social isolation. One example of this was WALT providing lunch for forty people on Christmas Day, who would otherwise have been alone at home. A Committee Member noted that it was not just elderly people who were isolated.

Decision

The Committee thanked the Portfolio Holder for attending the meeting and for the update provided.