Councillor Alison Martin, Cabinet Member for Integrated Health and Adult Care, looks back over the last twelve months in administration.
As I reflect on my first year as Derby’s Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Care, I can say that I’m honoured to have had the opportunity to work with others to sustain and improve the health and wellbeing of people in the city. The last twelve months have been rewarding and challenging, given our aim of extending collaboration with partner organisations across the city to develop services and better support the people of Derby.
The pressure on social care budgets is well-known but still we strive to deliver good quality care to meet the needs of adults with learning disabilities, the elderly and people with mental health issues. I’m working to further improve care services, and I am committed to listening to and working with people to ensure they are involved in decisions about their care.
We held our first Carers’ Forum meeting in January, where carers were able talk to us about how caring affects them and the support they receive. It was a very constructive event; we are working on actions relating to the comments received and plan to hold another meeting later in the year.
On the health front, this year saw the launch of our Breastfeeding Welcome Here scheme, set up in partnership with Community Action Derby and Derbyshire Healthcare. Shops, cafés and other public premises in the city are encouraged to sign up to the free scheme to show they are accredited as ‘breastfeeding friendly’.
Breastfeeding in public can be a daunting experience and this scheme lets women know they are welcome to breastfeed while out and about and helps them feel comfortable while doing so. We must provide the right support for families in Derby and mums are helped to breastfeed for as long as they wish via our Family Hubs.
I’m determined to do what we can to tackle health inequalities in Derby. All communities and individuals should be able to access the health system and feel confident in doing so. The Derby Health Inequalities Partnership - a joint initiative between the Council’s Public Health team and Community Action Derby – has been set up to work together with community organisations to help them achieve better health outcomes in the city. I want this work to be developed and extended, so that everyone has a potential voice in health and wellbeing.
Councillor Martin chats to parents while visiting Becket Family Hub
Derby’s new Living Well mental health service, called ‘Derby Wellbeing’, is another positive development for the city. This is a community-based mental health support service, involving the Council, Derbyshire Healthcare, the voluntary sector and – most importantly – people who have experienced mental health issues. The collaborative way of approaching how services are delivered aims to provide support that is joined up, focused on the whole person’s needs and on preventing escalation to clinical care. It has come with some additional funding, thus I hope this service will begin to address some of the gaps there are in mental health support.
Partnership is very much the mode in health and social care. This month saw the launch of the new ‘Community First’ service in Derby, a partnership between the City Council and Derbyshire Community Health Services. It covers hospital discharge, re-ablement care and help in the home, helping people to stay well at home for longer. The aim is to deliver a more efficient service, less duplication, increased capacity, and ultimately to support more people across Derby.
One of my priorities over the last year has been to support the Child’s Healthy Weight Strategy, and on the Council’s AGM day, I will be signing up to Food Active’s Local Authority Healthy Weight Declaration, along with the CEO, Paul Simpson and Dr Robyn Dewis, our Public Health Director. The Declaration is a commitment to strive towards a whole-systems approach to creating an environment in which people find it easier to maintain a healthy weight. This is a much-needed but long-term ambition which will have numerous health and indeed economic benefits.
In a related development, I’m supporting Move More Derby and Active Derbyshire’s project, to be funded by Sport England, to encourage citizens to increase their physical activity levels and, therefore, improve their health. Again, all of our city partners are being encouraged to participate in this.
Overall, I am pleased with the progress we’ve made over the past year and I look forward to continuing that work and extending it over the coming year. We do our very best, and in challenging circumstances, to work with and for the people of Derby.