Agenda item

1. The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, Mrs Clair Bell, gave a verbal update on the following.

National Awareness Weeks Update – Mrs Bell gave an overview of awareness weeks that had taken place in June and July. 

• Carers Week took place from 5-11 June and raised awareness of caring, unpaid care challenges and carers' contributions to families and communities. Events took place to celebrate the work carers do and how others could identify  carers and access support. 
• Learning Disability Week took place from 19-25 June, the Council joined Mencap by encouraging people to share stories of what it is like to live with a learning disability. Mrs Bell said that they supported the week by speaking on the matter and drawing attention to how people can support those with a learning disability and build a more inclusive future. 
• Shared Lives Week took place from 26 June to 2 July, Shared Lives allowed those with difficulty with day-to-day living the chance to move in with their carer and live an ordinary life in a safe environment. The Council's  Shared Lives program provides the carers short breaks, day support and longer-term support for adults in social care. Carers receive a weekly allowance, tax breaks, full training and ongoing support. Residents were being encouraged to open their homes to adults who needed extra care and support. Further information could be found on the Council website here: Sharing a home - Shared Lives scheme - Kent County Council  
• Alcohol Awareness Week took place 2-9 July, to mark this the Council and partners were encouraging residents to take the ‘Know Your Score’ test, an online quiz which would help show how drinking was affecting yourself and others, depending on the score it would offer appropriate advice on where to find help from experts. Specialist help was available for dependent drinkers. Mrs Bell said that last year Council support services provided help to over 5000 people to cut down their drinking or break the cycle of alcoholism. More advice and support can be found on the KCC website: Alcohol and drug support - Kent County Council

Kent and Medway Integrated Care Strategy Focus Group - Mrs Bell thanked

Members of the committee for their attendance at the focus group on 13 June 2023 and welcomed any further feedback on the 6 priorities of the interim strategy. The feedback would be reported back and would contribute to the engagement activities that would take place across the summer along with the results from a survey that was open to the public, which could be found on the Lets Talk Page of the KCC website and here: Kent and Medway Integrated Care Strategy | Have Your Say In Kent and Medway.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Visit to Kent – Mrs Bell said that on 26 May 2023 one of the three deputy Chief Medical Officers for England, Dr Jeanelle de Gruchy, visited Kent to see first-hand Public Health funded initiatives across the county. Mrs Bell, Public Health officers, local Members and KCC Leader Mr Roger Gough accompanied Dr Jeanelle de Gruchy to services in Gravesend, Sheerness and Maidstone. Services visited included: Hypertension Heroes, a voluntary organisation that goes into the community to get those at risk to get blood pressure readings, Sheppey Matters, a healthy living centre one of four in Kent, which supported healthy living and well-being and supporting tackling the wider determinants of health. Change, Grow Live Maidstone, funded by the Public Health Grant provided community substance misuse treatment, recovery services and an inpatient detox centre for those with alcohol addiction issues in West Kent. Mrs Bell noted that Dr de Gruchy was very interested in the facilities visited and they spoke on health inequality and wider determinants of health challenges.

2. A Member asked about the Kent Care Summit and what pledges had the Council made and how could the committee follow up on these. Mrs Bell said the summit was not mentioned today as they were still following up on the outcomes but would report back in due course. 

3. The Corporate Director of Adult Social Care and Health, Mr Richard Smith, then gave a verbal update on the following. 

Director of Integrated Commissioning - It was noted that the service was mid-appointment for the director of integrated commissioning and was expected to be completed by mid-July 2023. This would mean that there was a complete director and management team.

Anniversaries – Mr Smith noted two important anniversaries that had been marked recently. On the 75th anniversary of Windrush, Mr Smith had attended a day at County Council where a flag was raised to celebrate the contribution of the Windrush generation. It was noted that the 10 July 2023 marked the 75th anniversary of the NHS.