Agenda item

To note the Verbal Updates by the Cabinet Member of Adult Social Care and the Corporate Director of Adult Social Care and Health.

1.    Mr Gibbens gave a verbal update on the following issues:

APPG for Housing and Older People – Rural Housing inquiry – the all-party parliamentary group for housing and care for older people took place in West Minster and investigated a range of issues specifically around the need to have appropriate housing in rural communities for older people, there were witnesses from a variety of sectors highlighting the issue and they said that many older people living in rural communities can feel isolated.

Place-based models of care – facilitated support module (LGA event) – the Health Improvement programme which focused on place-based models of care would be launched by LGA in the New Year.

Autism and Enablement – the Autism and Enablement update had taken place on 21 November 2017. Anne Tidmarsh (Director - Older People and Physical Disability) briefly discussed the successful publication of a book about an enablement pilot that had been carried out in the autism service and said that the pilot had been very successful.

World Mental Health day Event – the event was celebrated on 10 October 2017 and was held in County Hall, Sessions House. The event focused on how support could be provided to people suffering with Mental Health issues, the provision of Mental Health champions in offices and the importance in having these services available. He thanked Diane Marsh for organising the event.

LGA Annual Social Care conference – the event took place in Bournemouth in October 2017 and there had been a lot of focus on delayed transfers of care. There were a lot of authorities with concerns around the way in which the Government would address areas where delayed transfers of care were at an unacceptable level.

2.    Anu Singh gave a verbal update on the following issues:

Sustainability Transformation Plan update– The work had been completed for the Sustainability Transformation Plan and partner organisations had signed up. This meant that Kent would move on an international level as money would move from secondary and tertiary care into primary care. Very significant developments had been made and local care was moving rapidly. It was important to understand localities, geographies and communities and ensure that needs were being met at a local level to provide a sustainable care system financially. 

Induction Visits – A lot of time had been spent with other teams across the county in different office/workbases to see how they work and how each team owned their local problems. Anu Singh said that all of the offices she had visited made her feel welcome and were friendly.

Esther Inspiration Day – The Esther model was a model that was introduced in Sweden and was used in Kent to ensure that staff have a better understanding of an individual’s needs and also what matters to the staff as professionals. The Esther model was engaging for everybody and could be understood quickly and easily. It was important to reframe conversations with clients and communities and ensure that the public sector and the Health and Care sector were working together providing support to different service users. The Esther inspiration event was held on 7 November 2017; over 100 people attended the event to celebrate different ways of working to support others. Champions had been put in place and there were over 32 Esther coaches available and a further 16 in training. Anu Sign said that this was a social movement and would make a big difference to us as a county.

a)    In response a question, Anu Singh said that a Sustainability Transformation Plan (STP) meant that local organisations and communities had the opportunity to come together and discuss new ways of working, but the STP needed to be introduced to these organisations and communities in a way that was not perceived as damaging.

3.    RESOLVED that the verbal updates be noted.