Agenda item

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health and the Director of Public Health, setting out a review of recent campaign activity and details the future plans for Release the Pressure. The committee is asked to note progress and suggest ways to strengthen future delivery.

Ms J Mookherjee, Public Health Consultant, was in attendance for this item.

1.            Ms Mookherjee introduced the report and responded to comments and questions from the committee, including the following:-

a)    asked how Release the Pressure compared to the service offered by the Samaritans, Ms Mookherjee advised that the latter were trained to listen but not offer advice or seek to intervene, whereas Release the Pressure would actively link callers to sources of further help.  Both services, however, shared the key principal of being non-judgemental;

b)    asked what support the County Council offered its own staff to cope with mental health problems, Ms Mookherjee advised that online training and e.learning were available. This training was provided free to users and was available also to district and borough councils.  Mr Scott-Clark added that discussion was going on with Corporate Directors to address mental health issues;

c)    work was going on among a number of agencies to find ways of encouraging discussion of mental health issues and ways of directing people to find help, for example, patients visiting their GP with mental health issues would need to have a co-ordinated programme of follow-up counselling and medication;

d)    the promotional material for Release the Pressure was praised, and had been noticed in a variety of locations, including the foyer of Sessions House;

e)    any contact made with Release the Pressure would remain confidential, in common with any frontline service, unless the patient was judged to be at direct risk of harming themselves or others. This was good clinical practice and was standard for any mental health service. Links and referrals made to other services would be made with the patient’s permission and only after they had had the purpose of the referral clearly explained to them;

f)     it was suggested that a link be made to housing associations and to the armed forces, to reach ex-servicemen and women re-entering civilian life, and Ms Mookherjee advised that good links were already in place with the armed forces and would shortly be established with district council homelessness teams. The police force was also very supportive of work to promote and protect good mental health;

g)    it was suggested that promotional material be displayed in all shopping centres, and the logo and a contact number could also be displayed on vehicles used by highways staff and community wardens, who visited every part of the county.  Ms Mookherjee added that discussions were going on to display promotional material in libraries, and also to promote it to the many contractors who visited council premises;

h)    a comment was made that the telephone number for Release the Pressure - 0800 107 0160 - wasn’t as easy to remember as the Samaritans’ number - 116 123 – but, like the Samaritans’, was free to call;

i)     a view was expressed that some people making their first contact with the service might prefer to do this by text rather than by having a conversation, while others would prefer to hear a human voice. It was important that people had options and felt able to make a choice;

j)     the campaign was praised and a question asked about the service available to prisoners, prison staff and ex-offenders.  Ms Mookherjee advised that public health services in prisons were commissioned by Public Health England rather than the County Council, although the two worked closely together. However, she advised the committee that those serving a sentence in a Kent prison tended to stay in the county after release, and could then engage with the County Council’s public health team. Mr Scott-Clark added that it was known that many people taking their own lives had not made contact with Tier 2 services.  The regime in a prison was important, with exercise and time out of cells being vital for prisoners’ mental wellbeing;  

k)    a suicide prevention conference was due to take place on 14 May, at which the Release the Pressure promotional materials could be displayed.  Members needed to be advised of how they could promote the campaign at events and at venues in their local areas. It was suggested that, by liaising with district councils, promotional material could be included in council tax bills when these were sent out.  Ms Mookherjee advised that some district councils had already offered to do this. To reduce paper use, the logo could be printed on the outside of the envelope and would then be seen by postal workers as mail passed through the postal system; and

l)     it was pointed out that many people living with depression and other mental ill health became very skilled at masking this with humour. On so many occasions, when a suicide had been reported, friends, neighbours and co-workers had said that they had simply not been aware that there had been any problem. 

2.         It was noted that an update on public health campaigns would in future be reported to the committee every six months rather than to alternate meetings.

3.            It was RESOLVED that:-

a)    the progress relating to Release the Pressure, and Members’ comments and suggestions of ways to strengthen future delivery, be noted; and

b)   update reports on the progress of public health campaigns be made to the committee every six months.