Agenda item

The Chairman welcomed the guests to the Committee and reminded the Committee of the Terms of Reference. A short introduction was given by Members and officers.

Q – Please introduce yourself and provide an overview of the roles and responsibilities that your post involves.

Mrs Southern introduced herself as the newly appointed Corporate Director of Adult Social Care and Health and said that she had been in-post for 6 months and had worked in Social Care for over 32 years. She said that she had worked in partnership with the local Clinical Commissioning Groups across Adult Social Care and Health, discharged the statutory obligations of the Director of Adult Social Services and was a Member of ADASS (Directors of Adult Social Services) in the south east region. She referred to the Social Isolation Select Committee and said that although the Committee focused on social isolation, it was important to recognise all of the implications in the individuals’ living circumstances when tackling social isolation.

Mrs Southern said she was passionate in ensuring that the services provided by Adult Social Care and Health in Kent focused on being approachable to everyone that used the services, as well as ensuring that Kent’s statutory responsibilities were adhered to to ensure that appropriate connections were made. She said that a report had been taken to the Adult Social Care Cabinet Committee on 9^th March 2018 which focused on Commissioned Services for Adult Carers of Vulnerable Adults. She said that Medway Council had produced a useful strategy to reduce social isolation and Kent were not looking to follow in their footsteps by creating a similar strategy because there was a clear strategy for Adult Social Care and Health in Kent, which was regularly monitored, updated and shaped.

Q – Do Kent County Council have a Social Isolation Strategy?

Mrs Southern said that there was a strategy for Adult Social Care and Health called ‘your life, your wellbeing’ which covered all elements for individuals experiencing social isolation and loneliness. She said that if social isolation and loneliness was tackled in the right way and sufficient strategies were delivered, the issue would improve. She said that Adult Social Care and Health in Kent felt very comfortable with the current ‘your life, your wellbeing’ strategy, and if the strategy needed to be refreshed, officers would work towards ensuring that the strategy was up to date and provided relevant information.

Q – Who is impacted by Social Isolation and why?

Mrs Southern said that from an Adult Social Care and Health perspective in Kent, it was important to recognise that all individuals were impacted by Social Isolation in some way. Although she added that there were particular contributing factors which influenced social isolation and loneliness in relation to older people and those factors were listed in the ‘your life, your wellbeing’ strategy. The main contribution to social isolation and loneliness was ill-health. She said that she sensed a lack of confidence due to the way generations were developing with social media which therefore could lead to individuals experiencing social isolation and loneliness. She said that although many older people struggled to use technology and social media, it was important to remain positive about social media as it enhanced many parts of day-today life and there are a significant number of older people that embrace technology.

Two other factors which contributed to individuals feeling isolated and lonely was bereavement in friends and family members and working as a carer. She talked about a personal experience and said that a family member had cared for her step father when he was unwell, and they had felt very isolated as the caring was constant. She said that it was important to balance intergenerational issues such as technology and said that individuals with grandchildren and children were more likely to be taught how to use technology such as FaceTime and WhatsApp. She said that there were also individuals that would never use the technology through fear of change, and therefore the response to this particular group of individuals would have to be different.

Q – How can we, if at all, help individuals who are experiencing Social Isolation and Loneliness in person?

Mrs Southern said that whilst it was possible to help many individuals who were experiencing social isolation and loneliness reach out to their communities, some individuals did not reach out nor could we be aware of everyone and this made it difficult to help them. She said that social isolation and loneliness was addressed face-to-face through Kent County Council’s Carers Contract which was a carers network which made connections locally in communities across Kent and made connections with groups of people who ordinarily would not use the services that Kent County Council provided. She said that with the integrated teams that Adult Social Care and Health within Kent County Council worked with, advice and signposting would be given to individuals receiving provision.

Q – What if individuals experiencing Social Isolation and Loneliness cannot afford technology to keep in contact with family and friends?

Mrs Southern said that technology was not offered as a statutory service to individuals experiencing social isolation or loneliness. She said that it was vital that appropriate connections were made for socially isolated individuals to ensure that they engaged with their community and were taking part in communal activities if they wanted to. She talked about a personal experience and said that she had helped her Mother to join sewing groups by looking through parish council magazines because she enjoyed sewing.

Q – In relation to the death of individual’s pets, can we make connections with veterinary provisions?

Mrs Southern said that whilst the death of an individual’s pet can be a crucial contributing factor to social isolation and loneliness, there were no specific schemes in place which focused on the bereavement of a pet, but there were many voluntary groups that could look at that as a separate issue. She said that unfortunately, it was impossible to resolve all of the issues relating to isolation and said that the statutory responsibilities within Adult Social Care and Health were the main priority, and that some services would be looked provided if there was capacity to do so. She said that as the Adult Social Care and Health budget became increasingly tighter each year, the statutory services that Kent County Council provided needed to be prioritised.

Q – What work have you carried out as a ‘befriender’ and what are the different ways of communicating?

Mrs Southern shared her experience as a Befriender and informed the Committee about Befriender Services. She said that she took on the role of a befriender when she was appointed as the Director of Adult Social Care and Health to regain contact with the residents in Kent that needed to be supported and said that she needed to understand the types of people that Kent County Council provided services to. She said that she applied to become a befriender through a friend and said that a befriender could contact individuals through telephoning, or visiting, and she chose to visit the lady she was matched with face-to-face. She said that the lady she was matched with was 92 years old and was an amazing person who had achieved many great things in her life. She visited the lady every fortnight and would spend a lot of time with her and take her to the shops. She said that it was a wonderful, and very valuable experience and was a befriender for one year.

Q – What interventions could be made for vulnerable adults before the critical stage of becoming socially isolated or lonely?

Mrs Southern said that in relation to prevention work, basic social work skills such as listening and understanding the individuals needs were needed. She talked about a personal experience and said that although her Mother lived far away, she could sense that her Mother was lonely and felt isolated and therefore made sure she visited her regularly and spent time with her. She said that it was important to ensure that experiences were person-centred and all staff within Adult Social Care and Health were being trained to ensure that they were sensitive to the specific needs of individuals.

Q – Have Kent County Council got the type of workforce that could help individuals who are socially isolated to join certain clubs or groups based on their interests?

Mrs Southern talked about the type of workforce within Adult Social Care and Health in Kent County Council and said that there was a continuum of staff whose rates of pay differed, based on experience. She said that when Kent County Council connected with the wider workforce sector, organisations would work with Kent County Council to ensure that the Adult Social Care and Health staff were supported and trained to a sufficient level, she added that Adult Social Care and Health in Kent had had great success around apprenticeships. She said that she would be able to provide Adult Social Care and Health’s workforce figures to Members of the Committee outside the meeting.

Q – Do Kent County Council’s Adult Social Care and Health services reach rural areas where it is harder for individuals to get out of social isolation?

Mrs Southern said that more work could be undertaken in order to reach the socially isolated individuals who were living in rural areas, but the services that Kent County Council provided did reach rural areas. She said that social isolation and loneliness was worse for individuals living in rural areas because there was no link from friends and family, and therefore these individuals did not know how to access Kent’s services. She said that whilst Adult Social Care and Health in Kent did not have the money to resolve all issues in Kent, Adult Social Care and Health focused on the areas where there was a particular problem.

Q – Is the prevention of Social Isolation and Loneliness is a statutory responsibility?

Mrs Southern said that in order to meet Kent County Council’s statutory responsibility to look after the wellbeing of Kent’s residents, there were certain services that Adult Social Care and Health needed to deliver on which would focus on improving the innovative areas of Adult Social Care. In relation to GP surgeries, she said that it was important to collectively explore partnership opportunities. She said that Adult Social Care and Health alone could not prescribe what GP’s delivered and had no jurisdiction in relation to how GP’s worked. She said that GP’s connected most of Kent’s residents, and that some clarity of the expectation of GP’s needed to arise from that. She said that everyone should be aware of what their responsibilities were in relation to loneliness and isolation, and partners needed to deliver services to prevent loneliness and social isolation and support Kent County Council’s services. She said that it was important to ensure that all of Kent County Council’s Adult Social Care and Health services had a purpose and a benefit to the users. She said that it was difficult to understand where the resources would be best put unless measures and impacts could be recognised. She said that Kent County Council needed to review outcomes and ensure that services are being provided to residents in an innovative way.

Q – What more can Kent County Council do in order to combat Social Isolation and Loneliness?

Mrs Southern said that within Adult Social Care and Health, combatting social isolation and loneliness was a priority. She said whenever services were commissioned, outcomes were always considered, and Adult Social Care and Health ensured that interventions were meeting service user’s needs. She discussed the interesting measures that had been taken in relation to Adult Social Care and Health’s ‘younger adults with learning disabilities’ through the pathway and enablement services to see how the group moved onto local groups. The outcome of the services was to support individuals until they felt ready to undertake activities and clubs on their own without support.

Q – Are there any other issues, in relation to the review, that you wish to raise with the Committee?

Mrs Southern said that she valued the Loneliness and Social Isolation Select Committee and said that it was important to explore all options in relation to how social isolation and loneliness could be measured. She reminded the Committee that it was important that Members understood their own role and responsibilities in relation to preventing social isolation.