Agenda item

This annual report provides an account of the role of the Deputy Leader of the Council who has responsibility for Adult Social Care and Public Health. It details their ambitions for their areas of responsibility, how they have and will undertake political challenge and leadership and what their priorities and ambitions are for the year ahead.

Discussion:

Members considered a report which provided an account of the role of the Deputy Leader of the Council, who had responsibility for Adult Social Care and Public Health.

The following issues were discussed:

·       Recruitment of social workers and agencystaff – noting the recent recruitment of seven newly qualified social workers, whether recruitment would continue with the aim of replacing agency staff was queried. How long agency staff remained with the Council was also questioned. The Deputy Leader commented that the intention was to recruit as many newly qualified social workers as possible, noting that they needed supervision. Staff had been asked to bear with the Council while efforts were made to improve the budgetary situation and review the MedPay scheme. By showing staff they were supported and valued, this was a way to reduce the number of agency staff. However, agency staff were also seen as a valued part of the workforce.

The Deputy Leader commented a reorganisation in 2019 had led to a reduction in staffing and resources. The aim was to return to the allocated model of care so someone would see the same social worker. Some agency staff had converted to permanent staff, and it was important to continue to highlight the benefits of this. Any agency staff who did not work to an acceptable standard were asked to leave early on in their employment. In response to a question about how many permanent staff had been lost compared to agency staff, an undertaking was given to provide this information to Members.

·       Increase in the over 65 population – a point was made that the document had conflicting figures for the estimated growth in the over 65 population by 2025 and what figure was used for budgeting was queried. The Assistant Director – Adult Social Care commented that the discrepancy was due to the local account document relating to a different time period to the holding to account paper. This was being rectified for the future. Budgeting was not based on these demographic figures but rather the number of people currently supported and the projected increase in the coming years.

·       Hypertension Heroes programme – the possibility of the team carrying out wider health checks was suggested, such as BMI and cholesterol. The Deputy Leader commented that wider health checks were provided through the Council, and this needed to be encouraged and widened. The Director of Public Health advised that training would be needed if the Hypertension Heroes were to carry out additional health checks. Whilst the suggestion could be looked at, he did not want to dilute the impact of NHS health checks, where data collected was sent straight to GP database. The Hypertension heroes signposted people to other services, which was probably the safest option. He undertook to look at whether the specialist NHS Health Checks team could offer further support to community events.

·       Working with the Integrated Care Board – a point was made that the ICB had made decisions that could be interpreted as being detrimental to the delivery of local NHS services for the population Medway. The Deputy Leader commented that it was important to be part of the ICB in order to argue the case for Medway, which needed more resources, and she did not feel the ICB was yet prioritising Medway.  The ICB was still in an early stage of development and was having to reduce its budget by 30%.

·       GPs in Medway – the importance of making a case to the ICB for more GPs in Medway was emphasised and reference was made to the recent GP Task Group and a point was made that the Task Group should have continued its work, which was prevented as Cabinet had decided to adopt the recommendations from the Interim report. The Deputy Leader considered the Task Group’s report to be good and the fact that more GPs had not been met with did not diminish its impact. Taking the report to Cabinet in June 2023 was the appropriate thing to do and it meant work could start on actioning the recommendations. Regarding her attendance at Task Group meetings, the Deputy Leader commented she had been unable, for good reasons, to attend two of the meetings.

A Member queried what progress had been made on the strategy to address the shortfall of GPs in Medway. The Deputy Leader commented the ICB recognised more work needed to be done and that GP numbers were increasing. The Primary Care Strategy was also addressing the need to have a variety of different practitioners available in GP practices and for practices to work together. There was a focus on training GPs, including working with the medical school. At the Government level there was a need to review how GPs were contracted and funded, with many wanting to move to a salaried position.

·       Social prescribing – the Deputy Leader agreed with a comment that social prescribing was not a substitute for appropriate medical intervention.

·       Digital inclusion – suggestions were made about how to ensure people were not digitally excluded, including drop-in sessions, the use of hubs and libraries and support through volunteers in GP surgeries. In terms of the number of people without access to the internet, a digital and accessibility policy was being developed which would look at this.

·       Health and Wellbeing Board – the Deputy Leader advised work was underway to change the focus of the Board from what had become a scrutiny function in some ways to ensuring everyone present could focus on how their organisation could contribute to an issue.

·       Number of carers – in response to whether the Council knew the total number of carers in Medway, the Deputy Leader advised the real number was not known. The Council only supported people who requested a carer’s allowance but encouraged people to come forward for support.

·       Women’s health – in response to a comment welcoming the focus on this, the Deputy Leader commented this issue had not received any prominence in the past. She outlined the action that was being taken to develop a women’s health strategy. She detailed the recent focus on Menopause, with Medway hosting a joint ICB and Medway Council world Menopause event that was very well attended.

·       Digital tools and mental health – a Member commented on the focus placed on people self-managing their mental health. A client may only see a support worker one hour per month. There were a lot of mental health apps on market, but the data was not fed back to the NHS. A suggestion was made that the Council’s digital strategy should identify the most useful mental health apps and how to signpost people to services. The Deputy Leader agreed this was something worth looking at.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to note the report and thanked the Deputy Leader for her attendance.