Issue - meetings

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health and the Director of Public Health, and to consider and endorse or make recommendations to the Cabinet Member on the proposed decision to extend the contracts listed in the report to 30 September 2016.

Ms K Sharp, (Head of Public Health Commissioning) was in attendance for this and the following item.

(1)       Ms Sharp introduced the report by saying that it related to previous discussions at the Children’s Social Care and Health Cabinet Committee on 21 April 2015 and to a presentation she had given to the Adult Social Care and Health Cabinet Committee on 10 July 2015.  She said that a review had been undertaken of the current public health grant, the expenditure on children’s services, the performance of commissioned services and of Kent’s performance compared with other areas in relation to public health outcomes for children and young people. Ms Sharp said the review had identified opportunities for more collaborative working with services within KCC’s 0-25 transformation programme and with other partners and that a new approach to public health models of provision for children was needed. She referred to engagement with partners, the need to ensure the right balance between the delivery of universal services and sufficient high quality services and interventions to target families with specific issues.

(2)       Ms Sharp said that the report asked the Cabinet Committee to comment on the proposed decision that the end dates for current public health contracts for children’s services be synchronised and that they be extended to 30 September 2016 to enable a new model of services to be designed and commissioned.

(3)       In response to questions Ms Sharp said:

·         That by aligning the commissioning of Young Healthy Minds, CAMHS and Early Help Services capacity to intervene earlier would be increased overall thereby reducing the demand for services such as the child and adolescent mental health services. She also said that the budget had been managed without impacting on the Young Healthy Minds service;

·         Smoking cessation programmes for pregnant women and others were designed to be supportive and non-judgemental;

·         Ms Sharp had visited Swaleside Prison with the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and discussions with prison staff had included proposals for a healthy living wing at the prison and the recent government announcement that smoking might be banned in prisons.

(4)       Resolved that the proposed decision to extend the current contracts for School Public Health Services and Young People’s Substance Misuse (as well as the Health Visitors contract which was discussed as a separate item on this agenda) to 30 September 2016, be endorsed.