Minutes:
(a) Kent County Council had been awarded a Public Health Grant of £81,469 for 2025-26 which was the second highest grant in the country, with Birmingham receiving the largest allocation and Lancashire receiving the third highest. However, in terms of allocation per head in terms of size of population, there was a level of discrepancy with Birmingham receiving £92.48 per head, Lancashire approximately £65 per head, and Kent £49 per head. However, the allocation and early announcement would ensure earlier planning compared to previous years.
(b) The 9th March was the Covid Day of Reflection and marked the 5th year of the start of the Covid pandemic. A number of events were set to take place across Kent, with the locally adopted theme focussed on Healing and Hope. KCC would also be launching a virtual remembrance wall for staff and members to share experiences.
(c) KCC’s public health priorities had been developed for 2025-26, these were as follows:
1. Three priorities which were set to continue from the previous year:
- delivery of the integrated care strategy
- public health service transformation program
- prevention program, really putting a rocket booster under prevention, although everything that public health does in a way is prevention, but this is specifically looking at how we can prevent, reduce, and delay the use of adult social care strategy services through the adult social care prevention framework that we're working very closely with adult social care colleagues on
2. Family hubs and Start For Life Programme
3. Stop Smoking Services and vaping
4. Tackling health inequalities across Kent through the Marmot Coastal Region, the Work and Health Strategy and the Housing Strategy.
5. Mental health and the reimagining of mental health services to create better integration between children’s and adults
(d) The strategic work underway was set to be delivered through the Integrated Care Strategy’s Delivery Plan which featured as an agenda item.
(e) Coastal Kent would be the first region in the UK to call itself a Marmot Coastal Region. KCC Public Health has commissioned the UCL Institute of Health Equity (IHE) for a period of two years from October 2024 to October 2026 to support the initial stages of the programme. The plan for Kent was to adopt a layered approach starting with two of the eight Marmot principles, ‘skills for work’ and ‘work and employment’ which focussed on tackling health inequalities by improving deprivation through jobs, which was one of the most important sustainable wider determinants of health. The six areas are Swale, Canterbury, Thanet, Dover, Folkestone and Hythe, and Ashford. The senior leadership of all these districts and boroughs had endorsed the programme and committed to support it. Kent Marmot Coastal Region Programme
(f) The consultation on Kent and Medway’s Work and Health Strategy was due to close on 20th March 2025. This strategy had been designed to support employers in creating healthier workplaces and to support people with all long-term health conditions and disabilities to start, stay and succeed in work
(g) The Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment was a statutory requirement of the Heath and Wellbeing Board and featured as an agenda item.
(h) The transformation program was at its business end, making this year pivotal for several services. The 0-2 Health Visiting Services, Community Infant Feeding Services, 5-19 School Nursing, and Children's Emotional and Mental Well-being Therapeutic Services had all undergone key decision-making processes and were about to start procurement. Following these, lifestyle services such as One You Kent, NHS Health Checks, and Sexual Health Services will also be taken through the governance process for key decisions in the coming year.
(i) In terms of health protection, COVID, flu, and other infections, had put significant pressure on NHS trusts. Unfortunately, vaccine uptake among healthcare workers had been low, and therefore a strong focus remained on learning from the past and improving this in the coming year. Similarly, norovirus cases were high in winter, nearly double the seasonal average, both in Kent and nationally. Work was underway to strengthen efforts with care homes, particularly around infection prevention and control.
(j) Public Health continued to work closely with children, young people and education to enhance integrated working. KCC had received notification of the 2025-26 family hubs allocation, which was a positive step.
(k) One of the focal areas for Public Health was mental health. Work was underway to complete a mental health needs assessment, which would serve as the evidence base for work throughout the year. Additionally a mental health summit was scheduled to be held in April, to bring together key stakeholders from across Kent to discuss this important issue.
(l) Regarding suicide prevention, the strategy was due for an update later in the year. Encouragingly, the most recent OANIS data showed that suicide rates in Kent were falling despite them rising in other parts of the country. However, it was important to note that even one death was too many, and Public Health continued to deliver a range of projects in this area.
(m)On the 22nd September the Baton of Hope was scheduled to visit Kent as part of its national tour. The baton would be carried across Kent by members of the public, touched by the painful issue of suicide, in an attempt to raise the profile of suicide prevention activity, as well as bring people together to explore the concept of hope.
(n) Regarding substance misuse, there were renewed efforts to get people on opiates into treatment, with some improvement in numbers, though more work was needed. There was also a continued focus on reducing drug-related deaths in Kent. While it was difficult to predict the number of deaths in the last quarter, real-time surveillance suggested a slight decrease. Additionally, efforts were being strengthened on the supply side by working with the police and improving continuity of care for individuals coming out of the criminal justice system.
(a) Queries were raised regarding the disappointing allocation per head and whether this was partly due to the diversity in the Kent population. It was noted that previous allocations for public health efforts were based on lower super output area (LSOA) deprivation, and that Tunbridge Wells had an LSOA in the bottom decile, which it did not have previously. Dr Ghosh advised that the government was being lobbied on two main points: creating multi-year settlements for better service planning and clarifying the current allocation pattern. He acknowledged that deprivation played a role in allocations, citing Birmingham's higher per head allocation compared to Kent. However, he noted that historical allocations and other factors also influenced the current pattern. Dr Ghosh emphasised the need to review the allocation formula, which had been a complex and ongoing issue. He expressed hope for more clarity on how allocations were to be calculated in the future.
(b) In response to queries raised regarding what the Marmot programme would like in practice, Dr Ghosh confirmed that the two-year program was in its early stages, with initial focus on compiling and analysing existing data to create a monitoring dashboard. Efforts were being made to map ongoing work across the coast to prevent duplication. Key focus areas included the adult social care workforce, NHS workforce (excluding doctors and nurses), children not in education, employment, or training, looked-after children, rough sleepers, the homeless, and individuals transitioning from the criminal justice system. Collaboration with various partners, including the education and private sectors, aimed to create job pathways and support the exploration of new initiatives.
(c) Concerns were raised about the allocation of funding, noting the wide variety of demographics in Kent and the potential disadvantage to rural communities due to the emphasis on deprivation. Dr Ghosh provided assurance that this was a significant area of focus with an opportunity to utilise the alliances with districts and boroughs for hyperlocal work. He highlighted models that had been used in Canterbury, Tonbridge and Malling, Folkestone and Hythe, where specific locations had been chosen based on deprivation or rural poverty with a focus on improving outcomes for those communities over a year.
(d) Members commented on the importance of the prevention program in adult social care and the need to take a proactive approach in the immediate term to help prevent costs in the long term.