Minutes:
1. Mr Watkins, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, gave a verbal update on the following:
a. There was no budget item on the agenda, due to there being no substantive update since the budget was last presented to the Committee.
b. The Department for Education (DfE) had confirmed a further year of family hub funding, an additional £69 million, details of the specific amount awarded to KCC were anticipated. It was expected that the grant funding would be split across the same strands of activity as previously specified by the DfE.
c. Mr Watkins highlighted the ONE YOU Service, which aimed to help residents make positive lifestyle changes, further information was available on the KCC website.
d. Smoke free spaces had been rolled out throughout Kent to promote stopping smoking, as well as at three of the Healthy Living Centres in Kent, which has been financed by the ‘Stopping the Start’ fund. The Smoke Free Kent website was promoting the new the Allen-Carr Method and warning of the dangers of second-hand smoke.
e. Mr Watkins highlighted Everyday Active Kent, adding that the service was taking on volunteers.
f. There had been a Postural Stability Consultation which received 141 responses, a report was to come to the Committee in Summer 2025.
g. The Children and Young People Emotional Wellbeing Service Consultation received 382 responses; a report was to come to the Committee in March.
h. Mr Watkins congratulated the recipients of the staff awards for services to the people of Kent, Tim Woodhouse received a special achievement award.
2. Dr Ghosh, Director of Public Health, gave a verbal update on the following:
a. There were three areas of priority in 2024: the Integrated Care Delivery Plan, Public Health Service Transformation Plan and prevention. There was a specific focus on adult social care prevention in collaboration with public health, continued work with family hubs, for which funding continues, especially for the start for life section. New funding of around £1.9 million for the stop smoking services, additionally, Kent had become the country’s first marmot costal region
b. A pharmaceutical needs assessment was underway, there was a public consultation completed on this which received over 1000 responses.
c. Public Health had helped in developing the Kent and Medway Housing Strategy.
d. There was a low uptake in immunisations and vaccinations for healthcare workers, there had been a consistent decline post pandemic. There had been no incentive of healthcare workers to get vaccinated, vaccine ambassadors had been created to aid in combatting this. The NHS had launched a targeted campaign for those aged over 65 and healthcare workers.
e. The COVID-19 spring vaccine programme had been approved and the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccination programme was continuing having started in September 2024.
f. Data suggested that the peak for Influenza had been reached and COVID-19 activity remained stable at a low baseline, RSV activity had decreased across most indicators. In Kent there were 16 outbreaks between 16th December 2024 to 9th January 2025 in care homes, 11 of which were Influenza, 3 were RSV and 2 were COVID-19. Kent residents were reminded that vaccination offered the best protection against serious illness and hospitalisation, the national booking system for flu vaccination had closed 19th December, eligible groups were still able to book.
g. Public Health was working closely with the Children and Young People directorate, especially on family hubs and the Start for Life programme. Part of the design of the services was to embed elements of the Start for Life programme and family hubs within general business, with the aim of still being able to manage and maintain services in alternative ways potentially without funding beyond the next year. Dr Ghosh and members of his team attended a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) workshop in January with researchers which discussed research programmes relating to children and young people’s mental health interventions and programmes, which helped understanding of what could work locally to create maximum impact.
h. The Suicide Prevention Strategies final year was 2025 in Kent and Medway. Suicide rates in Kent were falling, there was free access to suicide prevention training as well as ‘Release the Pressure’ social marketing campaigns, the Batton of Hope was due to stop in Kent in September 2025.
i. Norovirus cases had remained high, up to week 52 in the 2024/25 season, the cumulative number of positive cases in England were more than double the five-year season average. In Kent there were 14 outbreaks of Norovirus between 16 December 2024 to 9th January 2025 reported by UK Health Security Agency (UK HSA).
j. In March 2025 KCC was to host an alcohol related brain damage conference to raise awareness among commissioners, practitioners and clinicians on risk and damages of alcohol. Additionally, funding for the alcohol related brain damage service in Kent had been confirmed for the next year.
k. In terms substance misuse, data indicated a slight reduction in alcohol and drug related deaths, although alcohol remained the largest cause of deaths from substances, opiate and non-opiate related deaths increased. In patient detox between April 2023 and March 2024 out of 5480 adults receiving substance misuse treatment, 1.84 persons were using the service which was higher than the national average. There was an aim to get more people into structured treatment, especially those with those using heroin, cocaine and crack, there had been a 7.7% increase through the efforts done in that area. There was work done to improve treatment and recovery for those with co-operating conditions, which was on top of substance misuse.
l. There was work done with the Children and Young People directorate on family hubs and the Start for Life Programme in order to maintain these services in case of a lack of funding next year.
3. In response to comments and questions it was said:
a. A Member questioned whether the decline in flu vaccines were due to comparison to pandemic data, where vaccines were at a peak. Additionally, whether younger care workers were eligible for the vaccine. Dr Schwartz shared that incentivisation had stopped as well as the vaccination drive during the pandemic so figures are lower, adding that there were no specific limits on eligibility.
b. When asked about the number of children receiving vaccines. Dr Ghosh had shared that there had also been a lack of confidence in vaccines due to false information about the MMR vaccine. The vaccine programme had been challenged but a steering group had been developed to try and tackle any issues present. Dr Schwartz added that there was a backlog of residents receiving vaccines due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, agreeing that the misinformation around vaccines had led to a lack of trust in the service from parents. Due to the Pandemic there had been much closer working across the system on data and communication with residents.
c. A Member questioned the rise in the use of synthetic opioids and issues with dodgy batches of drugs. Dr Ghosh shared that the Substance Misuse Alliance, a multi-agency partnership, in which the Drugs and Alcohol Executive Group sits, the police probation, the provider of substance misuse services, public health colleagues and others sit on. In public health the focus is on supporting patients in recovery and working on prevention. The Police were involved in the supply side, many of these drugs are lethal and can be cut with impurities. The Local Drug Information System (LDIS) alerts partners of any issues, managed by KCC, alongside the police and Medway colleagues on behalf of Kent and Medway. Cases were low in Kent, but this did not mean the issue should be overlooked.
d. A Member questioned the surge in flu and RSV cases and whether there was work being done to look into the impact in the rise of flu and what was being done to improve for next year. Dr Ghosh shared that this was being looked into with a variation of organisations to attempt to pull together information. He added that the service could not act until funding and conditions were revealed. The service were starting earlier with prevention, but this was an ongoing crisis, not only present during winter months.
e. A Member raised the issue of young people taking drugs, especially unlicenced drugs such as those for weight loss, asking whether there were campaigns to advocate against these trends. Dr Ghosh shared that there were no active cases in Kent but the service would look into this with a proactive approach.
f. A Member raised concern about advertisements from high street retailers promoting their sale of weight loss drugs and asked the service to take a look into this, which Dr Ghosh agreed to do.
4. RESOLVED that the updates be noted.