Agenda item

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health and the Director of Public Health on reducing health inequalities, which is fundamental to the delivery of the whole health improvement programme.

Members of the Children’s Social Care and Health Cabinet Committee had been invited to attend for this item.

Ms M Varshney, Consultant in Public Health, was in attendance for this item.

1.            Ms Varshney introduced the report, which set out progress on addressing health inequalities. Measures to address health inequalities, eg health checks, were increasing, and further alignment of commissioning intentions of public health and other service commissioners would add to the ongoing work.  Ms Varshney and Mr Scott-Clark responded to comments and questions from Members, as follows:-

a)    the message about the need for healthy eating and exercise to address obesity needed to be reinforced, as many people seemed not to have taken note of it.  Ms Varshney supported the point and explained that clear objectives needed to be set which included both diet and exercise.  She reassured Members that this issue would indeed be included in key targets; 

b)    asked about the recommendation that the County Council support work to influence spatial planning, Ms Varshney explained that a national policy framework included guidelines on spatial planning and how planners should take account of public health issues, eg the need for green and open space and good walking and cycling paths, when considering planning permissions. This national guidance was a useful tool which professionals could use to address public health issues; 

c)    it was emphasised that public health considerations should be taken into account in this way, but the Chairman advised that public health professionals did not appear among the statutory consultees.  Mr Scott-Clark added that public health issues could be planned into development, in the same way in which crime could be planned out. As well as the need for external provisions, listed above, the internal structure of new homes could include features to help older and less mobile people to continue to live independently in their homes for longer without the need for future adaptations;

d)    it had been difficult to make any progress on green space issues at district level.  Trees removed had not been replaced, and there should be a policy not only to replace trees lost but to plan them in to road schemes and developments, to improve air quality.  One speaker suggested that Members could use their individual Member grants to support local tree-planting schemes;

e)    to play an active local role, Members needed to be able to understand the health inequalities issues in their areas, so would need to been given information about local issues and what was being monitored.  Mr Scott-Clark undertook to include information in the regular Member Information Bulletin to tell Members how to access the local profiles which were prepared by Public Health England;

f)     as each area had different health inequality issues, a pilot scheme could be run in each area to tackle local issues. Ms Varshney explained that some themes, eg smoking and take-up of health checks, were common to many areas. Information collated from local reports could be circulated to committee Members, with progress reports.  The County Council could then liaise with district councils to address issues identified;  and

g)    one Member of the committee made a personal pledge to lose one stone in weight by September 2015.

2.            The Cabinet Member, Mr Gibbens, thanked Members for their comments and added that health inequalities across Kent were widening.  Although most people were now living longer, there was a growing disparity across areas of the county in the quality of life they enjoyed. The County Council’s ‘Mind the Gap’ Strategy, issued in 2012, would be rewritten in 2015, and a series of briefings was planned to coincide with the launch of this. He suggested that data about health inequalities, life expectancy, etc, could be shared with Members at area briefings. 

3.            RESOLVED that the progress made to date in addressing health inequalities across Kent be noted, and support be given to:

a)     work by the Public Health team and partnership groups (including Local Health and Wellbeing Boards) at local level in designing commissioning models for future provision of public health services at a local level;

b)     collaborative working between agencies such as district councils, police and health in promoting policy initiatives to reduce harm from issues such as alcohol and smoking; and

c)       work at policy level, such as in influencing spatial planning, licensing, housing etc, to address health inequalities and promote health and wellbeing in all local policies.