Agenda item

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 2022-23 report focuses on the challenge and benefits that can be gained from investing more effort into community engagement and the development of local networks. It provides examples of successful outcomes in terms of physical and emotional health and wellbeing for local people through this approach. The report evidences the opportunities to improve population outcomes and reduce expenditure on health, social care and related services. The primary recommendation is that more needs to be done to empower communities to build upon, and use, local resources and assets.

Discussion:

The Acting Director of Public Health introduced the “Power of the Crowd”, the Annual Report of Medway’s previous Director of Public Health (DPH) for 2022-23. He explained that DsPH had a statutory duty to produce an annual report setting out their professional view about the health of the local area. This report had focussed on the challenge and benefits of investing more effort into community engagement and developing local networks.

Members then raised a number of questions and comments, which included:

·        Collaborative working – in response to a question about how collaborative working was maximised and advertised across the community and voluntary sector, it was explained that through the Integrated Care Partnership, which includes the Integrated Care Board (ICB), Medway Council and Kent County Council and through the Swale and Medway Integrated Care Partnership, Medway Council worked in partnership to maximise opportunities for collaborative working.

·        Women’s health – reference was made to the menopause in particular and the need for this be explicitly addressed. It was explained that the next meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board would be dedicated to women’s health, bringing together the ICB, Public Health and clinicians to talk about key issues, the National Women’s Health Strategy and how it was implemented locally.

·        Food poverty and food waste – in response to a question about what work was being done to address the imbalance of food wastage and food poverty, it was explained that there were a number pieces of work and research taking place on this issue, which included looking at local people’s perceptions around food and the natural environment and how that could be used to inform the development of Medway’s local food policy.

·        Communication with residents – the Committee were supportive of the report and wanted to know how it was being communicated to the wider population.  It was explained that there was a communication strategy in place and that weekly messaging via various social media opportunities took place, alongside the Better Medway website. New opportunities for engagement and communication were always explored and officers would consider whether there was an opportunity to provide regular briefings to Ward Members to assist them in disseminating information to their constituents.

·        Involvement of people with lived experiences – in response to a question about how engagement and collaboration took place with those with lived experience, it was explained that as part of the development of the Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy, engagement with people had taken place. This had included online surveys as well as focus group discussions to ensure views were gathered from people that were less often heard. In addition, reference was made to the Heath Determinants Research Collaboration with the University of Kent, which had set up a Public Advisory Group to look at how Public Health were communicating and how this could be improved. Emerging trends from findings of engagement were continuously considered in order to stay current and relevant in meeting the needs of Medway.

·        Gamification model – a question was raised about how Medway could use a gamification model to incentivise people to eat better, be more active and place a more positive focus on their health and wellbeing.  In response it was explained that there had been some app development to support services, but this had not included gamification at this stage.

·        Using intelligence gained from others – it was asked if intelligence from others, such as hospital admissions or volunteers, was gathered to use as live data. It was confirmed that intelligence across the system was used quickly to identify and address emerging trends promptly.

·        Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD) – reference was made to national FASD awareness day/month in September and whether there would be any events during this period to help raise awareness.  Officers undertook to explore this further.

·        Weekend campaigning – reference was made to the need for some public health awareness work to take place at weekends in order to widen reach and it was confirmed that the team did cover some weekend events to help reach more people.

Decision:

The Committee noted the Annual Public Health Report for 2022/23 and requested officers to explore the possibility of recognising FASD awareness month in September 2024