Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED: That all items on the agenda be webcast.

Apologies were received from:

·  Councillor Joy;

·  Councillor Mortimer;

·  Councillor B Watson, and;

·  Alison Broom, Chief Executive, Maidstone Borough Council (MBC).

·  Councillor Grigg was present as substitute for Councillor Joy;

·  Councillor Vizzard was present as substitute for Councillor Mortimer, and;

·  Councillor Naghi was present as substitute for Councillor Watson.

It was noted that Councillor Perry was present as Cabinet Member for Community and Leisure Services to observe.

There were no disclosures.

RESOLVED: That all items on the agenda be taken in public as proposed.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 15 July 2014 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Interviews with:

·  Dr Bob Bowes, Chairman of the West Kent Health and Wellbeing Board, and;

·  Alison Broom, Chief Executive of Maidstone Borough Council and Board member of the West Kent Health and Wellbeing Board.

The Chairman welcomed Dr Bob Bowes, Chairman of the West Kent Health and Wellbeing Board (WKHWB) and Dr Jones, GP from Maidstone and member of the WKHWB and thanked them for attending.

Dr Bowes delivered his presentation explaining it was focused on the issues faced by the HWB.  He began by explaining where the WKHWB sat in the structure.

The Kent HWB (KHWB) was established as a result of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. However, it was explained the structure of HWBs best suited a unitary authority system and not a county the size of Kent with a mixture of unitary, district and borough councils.  As a result KHWB created local HWBs in Kent as sub-committees co-terminus with the local Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG).  This allowed for local say and local steer on strategy at CCG level.

Dr Bowes went on to explain:

·  The Children’s Health and Wellbeing group was yet to be formed, but would provide reports to WKHWB;

·  No reports, as yet, had been received from local authorities with a health and wellbeing remit. This was something that needed to be done to ensure there was alignment with the services provided;

·  The WKHWB had no budget, no authority and no staff to help with administration etc.

·  The major influence in the delivery of services sat with the providers of the service because this was what mattered to the public.  Dr Bowes suggested, as resources were so scarce, strategic bodies such as the CCGs and HWBs, should have a higher public profile and public awareness of what they do.

·  The WKHWB had difficulties in receiving a population needs assessment data set that was credible, comprehensive and made sense of the needs of the local community.

Questions raised by Dr Bowes presentation included:

·  How much influence should providers have on the services they delivered?

·  Are providers delivering on WKHWB’s strategy?

·  How aligned were the providers and local authorities strategies with the WKHWB’s strategy?

·  How did the WKHWB focus it’s instructions to the providers given the enormity of the needs?

Dr Bowes’ outlined the responsibilities of the WKHWB.  These included:

·  Bringing democratic legitimacy to the commissioning of health and social care.  It was explained that having elected members sitting on the WKHWB was extremely powerful and brought a sense of public ownership and accountability;

·  Preventing ill health by promoting good health to reduce inequalities.  This had the lowest spend but resulted in the highest savings. However, preserving services meant continuous fire fighting. Better engagement and joining up with district and borough councils, who provided preventative services, was needed; 

·  Integrating health and social care commissioning, ensuring commissioners achieved integrated delivery.  Also that, commissioners’ strategies were aligned with the Kent County Council (KCC) Health and Wellbeing Strategy. This was an important role and one only the WKHWB could carry out.

The last slide of Dr Bowes’ presentation showed a graph of the causes of death by Maidstone Ward.  The graph showed Park Wood was in the top quintile for deaths through  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

A report back from the review working group on the scope of the review on Adult and Older People Services in the borough.

The Committee discussed the draft scoping document for the review of loneliness and how to reduce it.

The Committee agreed the issue of loneliness and isolation affected many different groups within communities. It was suggested the issues were less prevalent in rural areas where there was a greater sense of community and the review could therefore focus on rural and urban areas as the needs were different.

It was suggested, with an ageing population there was already a considerable amount of support and activities for the elderly.

The Committee agreed the review needed to focus on identifying where there were gaps in provision for lonely and isolated people and that these people be included in deciding what was provided.

Sarah Robson, Community Partnership Manager, explained data was not being captured for those aged 80 plus, disabled people and older carers and suggested one of these areas could be the focus of the review.  Ms Robson also suggested there needed to be clarity of the definition of ‘loneliness’ and ‘isolation’ to help focus the review.

RESOLVED:

a)  That Jo Tonkin, Public Health Specialist, Kent Public Health be asked to provide a report on Loneliness and Isolation in Maidstone to the review Working Group prior to the meeting of 11 November 2014.  The report to identify the profile of lonely and isolated adults and older people in the Borough and what support was provided for them to help the review Working Group identify the focus for the review and the relevant witnesses to invite to the meeting of 11 November 2014.

b)  That the meeting of 11 November 2014 be used to interview Jo Tonkin and the relevant witnesses identified by the review Working Group.

An update for Committee on the amendments to the Overview and Scrutiny Terms of Reference.

RESOLVED:

a)  That the revisions to Article 6 of the Council’s Constitution as set out in Appendix A of the report of the Overview and Scrutiny Officer, be noted.

b)  That the change to the Committee’s name from Community, Leisure Services and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee to Community, Environment and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee, be noted.

RESOLVED:  That the future work programme, as set out in appendix a to the report of the Overview and Scrutiny Officer, be endorsed subject to the following changes:

·  The meeting of 11 November 2014 be used to interview witnesses for the review of Isolation and Loneliness in Older People;

·  The Maternity Services – are they working? Item be moved from 11 November 2014 to 13 January 2015;

·  The Young Carers item be moved from 9 December 2014 to 10 February 2015;

·  The draft report on Overview of Health Services in Maidstone Borough be programmed in for 10 March 2015.

·  The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services review be included as part of the update of the recommendations from the Accessing Mental Health Services Before the Point of Crisis programmed in for the meeting of 9 September 2014.

18:30 to 20:10pm