Minutes:
1. The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, Miss Diane Morton, provided an update for the Committee. The following points were highlighted:
a) Sincere thanks were expressed to all the officers in the directorate in view of the significant and sustained pressure the sector was under. Tribue was also paid to all carers and staff working within the care sector and in the community.
b) It was acknowledged that the Care Act framework did not fully meet the budget, however Miss Morton commented that the proposed draft budget was a responsible plan which fulfilled statutory duties and invested in prevention and long-term change. Kent Enablement at Home was cited as being essential to the approach, as it reduced long term demand and supported independence.
c) Work had taken place with the lead Member for Integrated Childrens Services on the progress of the development of in-house provision in CYPE (Children, Young People Education) to try and form similar opportunities in Adult Social Care and Health, alongside the
Accommodation Statement.
d) Technology drop-in centres were being piloted in libraries and the Committee would receive further updates, once the programme commenced.
e) On the 1 December 2025 a joint brokerage between the NHS and KCC to manage pressures (with a focus on hospital discharge) commenced and staff were undergoing an induction.
f) The Live Well Contract would soon be due for renewal, and it was anticipated that new ways of working which would align with the directorate’s prevention ambition.
g) The Older Persons Residential and Nursing tender was open, and providers had bene invited to engage.
h) In March 2026, Kent will launch the first Coastal Marmot place in the UK.
i) Other future key initiatives included:
i) The Family Hubs investment; the Public Health grant allowed £1 million per year, for the next 3 years, in support of this project.
ii) The Marmot Accelerator Project was currently in development and would take place on the Isle of Sheppey.
iii) Health promotion pilots in Accident and Emergency Departments would initially start across two Trusts, with the hope of future expansion. This included smoking cessation.
2. The Corporate Director for Public Health, Dr Anjan Ghosh provided the following verbal update:
a) The 5 strategic priorities identified for Public Health for the coming year were additional to the ongoing work in the directorate, although some continued from the previous year, such as the Integrated Care Strategy Implementation, which was the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Kent.
b) The other 4 priorities included: Prevention, Tackling Health Inequalities, Mental Health and New Models of Care.
c) The refresh of the Health and Wellbeing Board would continue and take a more prominent role, given the change in priorities and the uncertainty of Local Government Reorganisation.
d) Kent Public Health Observatory were supporting Adult Social Care; the collaboration was going to use the statistics of adults in the general population who would likely drawn on care and support from Adult Social Care
e) From October 2025, the Department of Health & Social Care launched the Pharmacy Contraception Service nationally and has started in Kent. A new sexual health clinic will be opened at the Discovery Centre in Sandwich, at some point in March 2026.
f) Kent Public Health had produced the SEND (Special Educational Needs) Health Needs Assessment which had been published on the Kent National Health Public Observatory website.
g) The Best Start for Life Family Hub Key Decision (25/00109) was discussed at the CYPE Cabinet Committee on 20 January 2026; aspects of the grant were funded by Public Health and equated to approximately £15 million over three years.
3. The Interim Director of Adult Social Care, Ms Sarah Hammond provided the following verbal update:
a) The Director of Countywide Operations, Mr Mark Albiston, left KCC at the beginning of 2026. Thanks was expressed for his hard work and warm wishes were extended for his wellbeing and career progression. Ms Sydney Hill had been appointed as Director of Operations (Long Term Support) and Mr Michael Thomas-Sam had agreed to the interim position of Director of Operations (Short Term Support).
b) Winter Pressures continued and hospital colleagues faced significant challenges over the Christmas period, however colleagues at the QEQM Hospital had stepped down their critical incident status and return to normal operating level.
c) The recent water outage in Kent had caused significant challenges, particularly in western and mid Kent. Assurance was given to the Committee that the directorate worked in partnership with Emergency response colleagues, with particular focus on older and vulnerable residents, as several care homes were significantly affected.
d) Almost 1000 KCC colleagues attended a Microsoft Teams Staff Event with Ms Hammond in which the challenges and pressures within directorate were discussed. There was an overall upbeat and positive response.
e) The operational focus remained on spending every penny wisely and meeting residents’ needs when required and at best value. Commissioning Teams were focusing on changes to the development of services to meet local need at a sustainable and affordable price.
f) The Accommodation Choice Strategy (previously referred to as the Detrimental to Move Policy) had contributed significantly to the overspend in the directorate budget and was ready for first review by the Cabinet Members.
g) Work continued with Partners in Health & Care, in connection with the CQC Improve Plan and officers look forward to welcoming some of them, including the Senior Lead, to county over the next few weeks. A particular focus was the improvement of safeguarding referrals.
4. In answer to some Member questions and comments, the following was said:
a) The water outage in Kent was not a new issue and had happened before; infrastructure resilience was problematic on a national regulatory basis. Whilst the main crisis point had concluded, the issues were not entirely over and therefore a debriefing review session of lessons learnt was scheduled to take place and therefore a further update would be provided accordingly. During the recent water outage, a command structure was set up (Gold Command) and underneath sat various cells, one being the Vulnerable Peoples and Communities Cell, chaired by colleagues from Public Health.
b) In relation to the Third-Party Top-Up scheme applicable to care home settings, if a resident no longer had adequate funds, it was confirmed that the setting could be moved to ensure that the Authority did not continue to incur expenses. However, it had to be clearly communicated to the resident that an alternative appropriate setting had been identified, and several factors needed to be considered to ensure the suitability criteria was met.
5. RESOLVED the Committee noted the verbal updates made by the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Corporate Director for Public Health and the Interim Director for Adult Social Care.
POST COMMITTEE NOTE
Dr Anjan Ghosh clarified that the Dover Discovery Centre was new
sexual health site based in Dover not Sandwich.