Agenda item

Abraham George (Consultant in Public Health, KCC) was in attendance for this item.

1.    Dr Ghosh introduced the report which highlighted the health needs assessments, reports and analyses completed in 2023, as well as key population health figures. He reminded members that commissioning and endorsing the JSNA was a statutory responsibility of the Board. He explained that the JSNA allowed the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Partnership to be aware of the relevant issues and trends which need to be addressed and reflected in the key priorities and outcomes of the Integrated Care Strategy and district local plans. He highlighted the completed West Kent HCP assessment and confirmed that further assessments were being progressed on a rolling basis.

2.    Mr George added that the Kent JSNA Steering Group was formed in January 2023 to provide oversight of the development process and supported shared governance between health and local government over the JSNA development process which contributed to its embedding in the Integrated Care Partnership. He summarised HCPs profiles, which included health and care indicators. It was noted that there had been an overall reduction in smoking, improvement in cancer screening, though suicide rates, self-harm related hospital admissions, obesity and flu vaccination rates had worsened. He confirmed that an veteran and serving armed forces health needs assessment would be completed in 2024 and reported to the Board. Development of the local evidence base and research capability were addressed.  

3.    Following a question from Mrs Chandler, Mr George explained that existing service provision was sufficient to address substance abuse in the county.

4.    Cllr Harrison commented that primary care needed to do more to highlight the health risks obesity poses with patients. Minimum primary care standards were also highlighted, with it noted that they would inform public expectations. Mr Badu explained that NHS Kent and Medway had worked with local partners to develop primary care plan for Kent and Medway, including recruitment and developing other primary care roles. He added that opportunities to provide primary care through other means were being investigated. Dr Ghosh noted that 65% of adults in Kent were overweight and that the adult weight management programme was only able to support 6,000 residents per year.

5.    Mr Badu welcomed the assessments focus on 20 plus 5 and highlighted the link between population health management and lowering health inequalities.

6.    Mr Graham welcomed the assessment and welcomes ways to engage the public and promote its findings more widely.

7.    The Vice Chair stressed the importance of the assessment feeding into combined data sets to support clinical teams, with a particular focus on patient identifiable information.

8.    The Chair highlighted the value of data sharing and artificial intelligence innovations in enhancing prevention services.

RESOLVED to endorse the following actions to:

1.         Address health inequity in all the commissioned health improvement services, for example a more targeted approach to stop smoking service delivery.

2.         Identify and apply for funding opportunities to invest in large-scale training for Making Every Contact Count (MECC) for the wider public as well as selected frontline health professional groups.

3.         Maximise the potential of social prescribing schemes linked to an up-to-date directory of local services and other provisions.

4.         Refresh Health Needs Assessments (HNAs) for other inclusion health groups, where needed, and develop local research capacity to identify solutions for improvement and tackle health inequalities. Undertake further health needs assessment of adults experiencing severe and multiple disadvantages (SMD) particularly homelessness, substance misuse, and criminal justice systems in Kent.

5.         Advocate for mandatory cultural competence and intersectionality as part of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) training for healthcare providers, including those within the NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Health Care Partnerships (HCP), to improve equitable care delivery to diverse patients.

6.         Complete Area-based Needs Assessments for the remaining HCP areas.

7.         Kent and Medway Substance Misuse Services, Mental Health providers and Adult Social Care staff and managers to adopt the operational protocol to provide person centred, timely, joined up care and recovery support for all people.

8.         Develop the JSNA cohort model to include and simulate the effect of wider health determinants which will support better health policy analysis and decision making for investing in population health improvement.

9.         KCC to actively participate in population health management programmes with the NHS, this includes action on council data sharing integration with the ICB and NHS partners for analytics including research. For example, integration in the risk stratification work by Xantura with similar risk stratification activities by the NHS.

10.       KCC Public Health to utilise emerging links with districts and key partners to support and facilitate the delivery of the Violence Reduction Unit’s priorities.

11.       Promote vaccinations and tackle vaccine hesitancy particularly among marginalised communities and inclusion health groups.

12.       Focus on ensuring mental health crisis and recovery services are joined up between community, primary and urgent care – particularly prioritising East Kent (Thanet in particular) and Maidstone.