Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from the following Board members:

Hazel Carpenter

Mark Lobban

Councillor Graham Gibbens

Dr Tony Martin

Councillor Chris Wells

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 26 May 2016, copy attached

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 May 2016 were agreed as a correct record.

Madeleine Homer, Chief Executive Officer, TDC and Ailsa Ogilvie, Chief Operating Officer, Thanet CCG introduced the item for discussion.

It was noted that:

-Following the discussions at the away day in May, it was agreed that the Thanet Leadership Group would be moving towards the formation of an integrated commissioning board.  The feedback from the away day had confirmed that ‘Option 2’ was preferred.

-Proposals for what the next steps for the Board might be in developing a new integrated commissioning board and underpinning support groups were outlined.

-Board members raised questions with regard to accountability and the effect on governance for the organisations involved and said that legal advice would need to be sought.  It was recognised that the changes would involve cultural changes for the organisations and significant pieces of work would need to be completed in order for the proposed timescale to be met.

-It was suggested that a dedicated project team should be formed to work together and present their findings at the end of the year.

-Board members also raised questions about whether the work of Health and Wellbeing Board would be absorbed by the new board and how appropriate this would be.  Issues were raised about the bodies working in parallel from the start date of the new board and the potential effect of the Health and Wellbeing Board no longer meeting.

-Ailsa Ogilvie agreed that she would feed back comments from the meeting to the project team formed following discussions with the Thanet Leadership Group.

Colin Thompson, Consultant in Public Health, KCC introduced the item for discussion.

It was noted that:

-Across Kent, inequalities had not reduced over the last 12 years and the county Health and Wellbeing Board had agreed that there should be a new approach to focus on 10% of areas with the most deprivation. A number of areas in Thanet were considered to be deprived. 

-Further work had been completed to analyse the types of deprivation in these areas of Thanet.  The Inequalities sub-group would take this work forward with Public Health leading but working with the communities directly.

-It was noted that there would be a multi-agency approach and the aim would be to focus on particular areas in Margate and Ramsgate to develop a plan with communities to improve outcomes over time.

-An asset mapping exercise would be completed in order to show community strengths. New and existing data would then feed into allocation of resources and it would be anticipated that preventative service providers would come forward with innovatory solutions to meet the needs of the particular communities.

Bob Porter, Head of Housing Services, TDC introduced the item for discussion.

It was noted that:

Funding for DFGs (Disabled Facilities Grants) is passed to TDC to as part of the “Better Care Fund” grant. Initial assessments for DFG works are completed by the Occupational Therapy service. There is no current backlog of assessed applications for DFGs.

Grant allocations for 2016/17 have increased, however, at the same time, the Social Care Capital Grant (SCCG), previously paid to Kent County Council, was discontinued. After making allowance for both DFGs and services previously funded by the SCCG, there remains £360,000 of the funding for this year unallocated.

The report made recommendations about the use of these unallocated funds. Board members agreed to support the recommended uses of the grant funding and made particular reference to the “Beach within reach” scheme.