Presentation from NHS England.

The Chair welcomed Nikki Teesdale (Director of Health and Care Integration and Improvement, Medway and Swale Health and Care Partnership) to the meeting.

The Director of Health and Care Integration and Improvement gave an overview of the 2024-2025 Delivery Plan for the Medway and Swale Health and Care Partnership (HaCP), with a five-year perspective on the development and operation of Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (INTs). The Delivery Plan outlined the key areas of focus which included: Development of Integrated Neighbourhood Teams; Workstream Progress and System Integration; and Monitoring and Evaluation. She added that the aims of the HaCP Delivery Plan were to deliver an effective and cohesive local care ecosystem that met the diverse health and wellbeing needs of Medway and Swale residents, reduced health inequalities and optimised resource utilisation across the system.

The Director of Health and Care Integration and Improvement gave a case study as an example of the good work that the partnership had recently done at a primary school in Swale.

The Chair invited questions from Members, and points raised included:

·      Did the wider determinants understand the importance and the positive impact that the HaCP had on local communities?;

·      did the partnership offer specific support for those that were suffering from loneliness?;

·      what were the holistic care plan for people that suffered from Diabetes?;

·      what was an asthmatic friendly school?;

·      what was the role of Green Doctors in the Community?;

·      could the partnership use the un-used space, at the Isle of Sheppey Hospital, as a community hub?;

·      had the care partnership approached local schools that could host community health training events?;

·      had the partnership considered preparing a cost-effectiveness of carrying out work similar to the case study, as a way of providing evidence for the funding that was needed;

·      the Council were responsible for ensuring social housing homes were not rated below an ‘E’ energy efficiency rating when offering it to possible tenants;

·      could data sharing agreements be made between organisations to speed-up the referral process?;

·      important for all four Health Care Partnerships in Kent shared ideas, experiences and collaborate effectively with each other to improve the service;

·      the Council were currently looking at ways to fix mold and damp issues in properties in the borough; and

·      giving residents of the borough the knowledge of how they could prevent Health Issues was the first step of giving care.

The Director of Health and Care Integration and Improvement responded to points made and explained that the Integrated Care Board (ICB) would be in control of the partnership’s budget from April 2025. The partnership had already been looking at alternative funding opportunities to ensure that they could carry on with the work they had been doing.

Over the past few years the partnership had delivered 46 different programs including isolation and the impact that it could have on individuals. Once the partnership had a good understanding of what the communities needed, the community would be given an opportunity to bid for funding for the specifically related health needs of the area. This enabled the partnership to deliver the right health care programs in the right areas.

The Director of Health and Care Integration and Improvement responded to the approach to the diabetic needs in communities and said that it was hoped that INTs to be given the correct knowledge and help so that everyone in the neighbourhood would have the support they needed. She added that a recent audit had been carried out on INTs and a report had outlined recommendations on how this could be achieved.

The Director of Health and Care Integration and Improvement explained that Green Doctors were a voluntary group that worked with individual homeowners to give them knowledge and help to make their homes as efficient as possible. She added that an asthmatic friendly school was a school that had the required training needed on; the triggers of asthma; signs to look for in someone suffering from asthma; how to help someone use their asthma pump; and how the lungs worked. The training was given to teachers, young children and parents so that anyone with asthma had the support they needed at the school.

The Director of Health and Care Integration and Improvement said the partnership already had a good relationship with Sheppey Matters and they were working with organisations and using more community space to host health hubs across the borough. She said that if Members had any questions on the Delivery Plan they could contact her and her team.

The Chair thanked the Director of Health and Care Integration and Improvement for attending the meeting.