Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence and notification of any substitutes present

Apologies were received from Mrs Allen, Mr Messenger, Mr Daley and Mr Koowaree, for whom Mr Bird was present.

To receive any declarations of interest made by Members in relation to any matter on the agenda.  Members are reminded to specify the agenda item number to which their interest refers and the nature of the interest being declared

Miss Morton declared an interest as she was employed by Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust.

To consider and approve the minutes as a correct record.

It was RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 21 January 2021 are correctly recorded and a paper copy be signed by the Chairman subject to the following being noted:

Minute no. 138 at point 6 should read, “In response to questions from Members, it was noted:

·       Around 300 Armed Forces personnel had been involved with the set-up of symptom-free testing sites in Kent but civilians were to staff sites moving forward.”

There were no matters arising.

1)    The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, Mrs Bell, gave an update on the following issues:

·       All 24 Covid-19 symptom-free testing sites remained open and the full list of sites was available on the website. Some testing sites had reduced their opening hours to reflect demand and to make best use of resources.  As of 5 March, 390,789 symptom-free Covid-19 tests had been conducted. Over 2516 positive cases had been identified, meaning that these asymptomatic individuals were able to self-isolate, reducing the spread of virus to others. It was recommended that people get tested every 2 weeks.

·       Kent Fire and Rescue were launching a new publication as part of their ‘Safe and Well’ home visit service.  The publication would be provided for around 5000 Kent and Medway residents on a twice-yearly basis, many of whom were 70+ years, had disabilities or long-term health conditions. KCC placed an advert for the ‘One You’ Kent service in the first edition of the magazine.  KCC would be sharing a half page with Medway Council for a Public Health theme in future editions.

·       No Smoking Day was on 10 March 2021. KCC was promoting ‘Quit for Covid’ with assistance from ‘One You’ services and the ‘My Quit Route’ app. Rates of smoking in the county had fallen from 15% in 2018 to 13.7% in 2020, a record low. The ‘My Quit Route’ app was available via Google, Apple stores and the ‘One You Kent’ website.

·       KCC was promoting No Smoking Day via its social media channels. KCC was also supporting a local NHS campaign run by Kent and Medway Cancer Alliance to raise awareness around persistent coughs being a sign of cancer as well as for Covid-19.

·       On World Obesity Day on 4 March, the government announced £100million of national funding for healthier weight support services.  £70million was to be invested in weight management support services made available through the NHS and local authorities. £30million would fund initiatives to help people maintain a healthy weight including access to a free NHS 12-week weight loss plan app and continuation of the successful ‘Better Health’ marketing campaign. 62.4% of Kent adults were classified as overweight or obese.  KCC awaited to hear how the national funding would be rolled out locally.

·       Overweight or obese children were more likely to be overweight or obese as adults and increasing their risk of heart disease and some cancers, while more young people than ever were developing type 2 diabetes. The Change4life campaign encouraged parents to make everyday swaps to reduce children’s sugar intake and were encouraged to look for the ‘Change4Life - good choice’ badge in shops, to download the free food scanner app and more information was available on KCC's website: www.kent.gov.uk/change4life

·       Advice and support for lifestyles changes was available on the ‘One You Kent’ service website: https://www.kent.gov.uk/social-care-and-health/health/one-you-kent

·       There was a meeting of the Kent and Medway Health & Wellbeing Board scheduled for 10 March to update on the Covid-19 local outbreak control plan and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 148.

1)    Andrew Scott-Clark, Director for Public Health gave an update on Covid-19 and reported that the infection rates for Kent were in decline at 37.2 cases per 100,000 and there had been a huge reduction in outbreaks. It was emphasised that lockdown measures were still in place and that close attention would be paid to cases in children.

2)    Symptom-free testing sites were to remain open until at least the middle or end of June and assessments were being made about continuation of testing on the sites. Home testing was being used more widely by schools and employers.

3)    The outbreak control plans were being refreshed and there would be enhanced contact tracing.  Where outbreaks were occurring, further analysis would be done looking into the reasons.

4)    The vaccination programme was being rolled out by the NHS and as of the end of February 2021, over 580,000 first doses and over 30,000 second doses had been administered. The record of uptake, particularly in older cohorts had been very good.  Work was to be done looking at uptake across communities in Kent once priority groups 1-9 had been offered vaccinations.

5)    The NHS had published a standard operating network on getting unpaid carers vaccinated.

6)    In response to questions from Members, it was noted:

·       Advice was being given through the Care Cell regarding agency staff working in more than one care home.

·       It was not evident where the so-called Kent variant of Covid-19 had been first discovered.

7)    It was RESOLVED that the update be noted.

1)    Vicky Tovey, Head of Strategic Commissioning - Public Health gave an update to Members regarding the impact of Covid-19 on the mixture of mandated and non-mandated services.  Partnership working and communications had been important during the pandemic. There had been a lot of communications campaigns and additional support provided such has hardship funding for families.

2)    Some services had been stopped during the pandemic such as the national child measurement programme, hearing and vision screening and oral health screening.  Many of these were normally provided within schools and were therefore not able to proceed due to school closures.

3)    Where services could not be continued in person, they continued to offer a service digitally or many services moved to a blended offer based on assessment of risk. The online service offer had been increased and would likely form part of future delivery. Online mental health counselling services for children and young people had been expanded from 9 districts to 12 districts. Support was also being provided to schools through the School Health Service.

4)    In the future, there would be a ‘blended’ offer of in person and digital services.  It had been a key priority for there to be a ‘catch up’ on health visiting services, as later developmental checks had been put on hold during the height of the pandemic in line with national guidance.

5)    It was RESOLVED that the information set out in the report be noted.

1)    Mr Scott-Clark introduced the report regarding risk management.  Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive (CBRNE) risk was ever present but had become more prominent with the Covid-19 pandemic, which KCC had been managing for the last year.

2)    It was RESOLVED that the update be noted.

1)    Jo Allen, Adult Social Care and Public Health Communications Partner gave an update to Members regarding communications and campaigns.  In response to the pandemic a wide range of communications and marketing material needed to be created and delivered, across a wide range of channels.  It had been an extremely busy year as messages were changed and adapted.

2)    Changes to service delivery with the changing restrictions during the pandemic had meant that non-Covid-19 messages going to the public had changed and there had been more focus on digital communications to advise people of changes to services.

3)    A key role going forward would be the management of Covid-19 outbreaks and work had been undertaken with Public Health to identify key priority areas linked to Covid-19. Mental health and wellbeing, smoking and obesity would be prioritised and KCC were awaiting Public Health England’s advice regarding what the focus should be for the coming year.

4)    It was RESOLVED that the update be noted.

1)    Ms Tovey gave an update to Members regarding the performance of Public Health commissioned services. 11 of 15 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were RAG-rated as green, including health visitor developmental reviews which had improved from Quarter 2.

2)    There were some areas where data was not available due to the pandemic, such as sexual health services.

3)    The KPIs rated as red related to the NHS Health Check programme and the “One You” lifestyle services.  NHS Health Checks had not been delivered for much of the year due to the pandemic and capacity to deliver the programme was still limited within GP surgeries and in primary care.

4)    Further outreach work would be undertaken to improve performance with “One You” lifestyles services to engage new clients from quintiles one and two.

5)    It was RESOLVED that the performance of Public Health commissioned services in Q3 of 2020/21 be noted.

1)    Laura Bush, Senior Commissioner – Public Health introduced the report regarding the procurement of bereavement support services in Kent and Medway.

2)    It was RESOLVED that the recommendations set out in the report be noted.

The Committee is asked to note the dates of its meetings for 2021/22

30 June 2021, 8 September 2021, 19 November 2021, 20 January 2022 (2.00 pm), 9 March 2022 and 9 June 2022

All meetings will start at 10am except January 2022.

Members agreed to note the proposed meeting dates for 2021-22.

RESOLVED that the Work Programme for 2020/21 be noted.