To receive a verbal update from the Leader and Cabinet Member for Traded Services and Health Reform, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Strategic Commissioning and Public Health and the Director of Public Health.
Minutes:
1. The Cabinet Member for Strategic Commissioning and Public Health, Mr P J Oakford, gave a verbal update on the following issues:-
Infant feeding consultation – this had previously been delayed to ensure that the consultation covered fully the contribution of the Health Visiting service to community infant feeding programmes and to reflect the input of focus groups of mothers, with whom Mr Oakford and Mr Scott-Clark, the Director of Public Health, had met recently. Once these groups were happy with the consultation document it would be re-issued and the public consultation would go ahead.
Kent Health and Wellbeing Board – this Board had a role to play in the delivery of the Sustainability Transformation Plan and to ensure that sufficient emphasis was placed on preventative and local care. The establishment of a combined Kent and Medway Health and Wellbeing Board would support this aim and discussion with Medway Council was ongoing.
2. Mr Oakford responded to comments and questions from the committee, including the following:-
a) the importance of good public consultation was emphasised, as starting, suspending and then re-starting a consultation would not help build public confidence in the County Council’s processes. Consultation material should be checked very carefully before being issued.
3. The Director of Public Health, Mr A Scott-Clark, gave a verbal update on the following issues:-
Sustainability Transformation Plan Prevention Work – as Director of Public Health for Kent, he formally chaired, jointly with a representative of NHS England, the partnership which oversaw the emergency planning and assurance role.
NHS Emergency Response Assurance Process – this process ensured that all NHS organisations were ready and able to respond to a public health emergency situation, for example, an epidemic, and would provide public assurance of their ability to do this. A report on these two subjects would be made to a future meeting of the Cabinet Committee.
Foreign Mosquitoes – a mosquito larva and egg had been identified in Kent and had been dealt with promptly by working with NHS England and using a drone operated by the Kent Fire and Rescue Service, the first such recorded use by a local authority. Mr Scott-Clark advised the committee that, although mosquitoes which were not native to the UK could transfer disease between people, they did not carry disease from other countries.
4. Mr Scott-Clark then responded to comments and questions from the committee, including the following:-
b) diseases which could be transferred by non-native mosquitoes were dengue fever and chikungunya, which were endemic in other parts of the world, and albopictus, which was not native to Europe but was now endemic there; and
c) due to the effects of global warming, it was possible that a broader range of diseases could now be carried and transferred to countries in which they had not previously been seen, and this was a concern for public health authorities. Mr Scott-Clark advised the committee that mosquitoes were not able to fly further than about 300 metres but instead had been brought into the UK in luggage and in vehicles.
5. It was RESOLVED that the verbal updates be noted, with thanks.