During this item, Mr S J G Koowaree
declared an interest the grandparent of a child who is looked after
by the County Council.
1. Mr
Gibbens gave an oral update on the following issues:-
- Attended Healthwatch Event on 11 May with Roger Gough and
met potential providers
- SECASC Meeting on 25 May where discussed lobbying
local MPs about Fairer Public Health Funding
Allocations
- Attended Shadow Health and Wellbeing Board on 30
May with new workshop and discussion format - Discussed
Dementia and KCC Adult Social Care Transformation
Plan
- Held a Plain Packaging Press Call with Young
People on 22 June– this is
aimed at making cigarettes less attractive to young people, to
dissuade them from starting to smoke.
- Attended ‘Better Together - Achieving
Integration of Adult Health and Social Care’ on 27 June at
University of Kent
- Attended and Spoke at Sevenoaks HOUSE Opening on
4 July – this project is run by young
people for young people, to share information and
ideas. Projects in Dover and Ashford
are running successfully and it is hoped to spread the idea
further.
- Attended Member briefing on Public Health on 11
July– this set out the
implications for the KCC becoming a Public Health Authority in
April 2013, and what is involved in preparing for the
change. A further briefing will be held
on November 2012. Copies of
the papers used at the July briefing have been sent to
Members.
2. Ms
Peachey then gave an oral update on the following
issues:-
- Informal consultation with Public Health staff on
restructure
- PCT Revised finance return on
Public Health spend –
some detail of this appears in the report for item F4 on this
agenda.
- Attended Department of Health Advisory Forum on
Public Health – this discussed
progress on immunisation and screening.
KCC has a leadership and monitoring role to ensure that plans for
these issues are in place and progress is measured. KCC has been given no resources for the transition
to a Public Health authority but is lobbying to address
this.
- New Young People phone APP (which includes
information on sexually transmitted infections, sexual health
advice access details and an option to give confidential feedback
on services) has been shortlisted for an award
- Plain Packaging campaign launch
3. Mr
Gibbens and Ms Peachey responded to comments and questions from
Members, and the following points were highlighted:-
a)
when the KCC and Clinical Commissioning
Groups take over the role of the current PCTs, a patient wishing to make a complaint about
their GP would first need to raise it with the GP. If this fails to resolve the issue, it can then be
referred to the National Commissioning Board. This process is
currently overseen by a team from Kent and Medway PCT, and from
April 2013 this role will pass to Local Area Teams, but not
the KCC. HealthWatch does not manage
complaints but has an advocacy role and supports individuals
through the complaints process; and
b)
the Choose and Book system still exists,
but the affect upon this of the TACTICS company of GPs is unclear.
Ms Peachey undertook to look into this and advise the
questioner.
4. The oral
updates were noted, with thanks.