News

Have your say: self–care using medicines in the home

6 September 2017 0 Comments

Self–care using medicines in the home without needing a prescription

NHS Ashford Clinical Commissioning Group, NHS Canterbury and Coastal Clinical Commissioning Group, NHS South Kent Coast Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS Thanet Clinical Commissioning Group

Opens: 4 September 2017
Closes: 2 October 2017

Proposals to:

Proposal 1

To restrict prescribing of over the counter / minor ailment medicines to those conditions where the clinical need can only be met by a prescription.

Proposal 2

To tighten the prescription guidance on 18 items which are ineffective, or need safer guidelines, or where an alternative form would be more cost effective without reducing clinical effectiveness

There is an NHS Clinical Commissioners and NHS England national consultation, looking at how to improve prescribing in primary care (GP practices and local pharmacies), which the Ashford Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and other East Kent CCGs will respond to. To help them respond, they want to know what you think of the proposals to reduce prescribing of medicines widely available over the counter or tighten prescribing guidance on some items which are ineffective, or can be prescribed in more cost effective ways.

Have your say

You can give us your views in a number of ways:

  • Fill in the onlne survey www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/EKotcmedicines
  • Fill in the paper copy of the survey found at the back of the consultation document and send it to FREEPOST ADDRESS
  • Contact the Engagement Team on or Nelcsu.engagement@nhs.net
  • If you belong to a group or organisation, you can invite us along to one of your meetings by contacting us on the details above

The four East Kent CCGs have a big financial challenge to meet in the short term. While the NHS budget has been protected, costs and demand for healthcare have increased. Currently approximately £10 million more is being spent nationally than the existing budget on medicines. They think the money they spend on items that are readily available over the counter might be better spent on treatments, staff and essential services that patients cannot get in any other way. They
also believe it will be of beneft to patients to promote a positive emphasis on self-care for minor ailments and illnesses, which you can manage effectively at home and in a way that suits you. (more…)

Consultation, Health, News

KCC Flood Strategy Consultation

18 August 2017 0 Comments

Kent County CouncilLocal Flood Risk Management Strategy 2017-2023

Kent County Council

Opens: 16 Aug 2017
Closes: 8 Oct 2017 at 23:59

Introduction

Kent County Council (KCC) is the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) for Kent.  As the LLFA, we must produce a Local Flood Risk Management Strategy (local strategy) that sets out how local flood risks will be managed in the county by the authorities involved.

Have Your Say

We would like your views on the draft strategy in order to help us produce the final version of the strategy by December 2017.

Please let us know your thoughts by completing the online questionnaire (via the ‘Respond to this Consultation’ section).

We have published a copy of our Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) for you to read and make comments on via the consultation questionnaire.

Flood and Water Management Asset Register survey

We thought you might also like to now that we are developing a new digital channel to provide information to the public about flooding and flood risk in the county. We would like to hear your views on how you access information about flooding and flood risk management and what you would like to see in an online flood risk management resource.

Take part in the survey.

Alternative Formats and Hard Copies

To request hard copies of any of the consultation documents, or for any other formats, please email: alternativeformats@kent.gov.uk or call: 03000 421553 (text relay service number: 18001 03000 421553). This number goes to an answering machine, which is monitored during office hours.

Consultation Documents

Respond to this Consultation

Consultation Links

Consultation Summary

Name Local Flood Risk Management Strategy 2017-2023
Description Kent County Council (KCC) is the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) for Kent and we are seeking your views on our Local Flood Risk Management Strategy. It sets out how local flood risks will be managed in the county by the authorities involved.
Dates From 16 Aug 2017 at 12:00 to 8 Oct 2017 at 23:59.
Status Open
Consulting Organisation Type Kent County Council
Consulting Organisation Name Kent County Council
District / Borough areas affected by the consultation Ashford, Canterbury, Dartford, Dover, Gravesham, Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Shepway, Swale, Thanet, Tonbridge & Malling, Tunbridge Wells
Consultation Topic General interest, Environment and countryside
Consultation Methods Online survey / questionnaire / forms
Contact Details Flood@kent.gov.uk

Environment, Flood, Kent County Council, News

KCC Rights of Way consultation

18 August 2017 0 Comments

Kent County CouncilRights of Way Improvement Plan

Kent County Council

Opens 10 Aug 2017
Closes 17 Sep 2017

Kent County Council’s Public Rights of Way and Access Service is reviewing its Rights of Way Improvement Plan which will be consulted on in late 2017/early 2018.

The Plan will cover how our rights of way are used and what changes are required to meet the needs of Kent’s residents and visitors over the next 10 years.

Prior to this consultation, we have commissioned Lake Market Research, an independent market research agency, to conduct a research study about Public Rights of Way. We would like to hear views of Kent residents who use Public Rights of Way and those that do not.

Click here to have your say on Public Rights of Way.

If you require a hard copy of the questionnaire, please contact Denise Roffey.

Consultation Links

Consultation Summary

Name Rights of Way Improvement Plan
Description Kent County Council’s Public Rights of Way and Access Service is reviewing its Rights of Way Improvement Plan which will be consulted on in late 2017/early 2018. Have your say on the service and help shape the plan.
Dates From 10 Aug 2017 at 00:00 to 17 Sep 2017 at 23:59.
Status Open
Consulting Organisation Type Kent County Council
Consulting Organisation Name Kent County Council
District / Borough areas affected by the consultation Ashford, Canterbury, Dartford, Dover, Gravesham, Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Shepway, Swale, Thanet, Tonbridge & Malling, Tunbridge Wells
Consultation Topic General interest, Environment and countryside, Public rights of way
Consultation Methods Online survey / questionnaire / forms
Contact Details Denise.Roffey@kent.gov.uk

Consultation, Environment, Kent County Council, News, Transport

ABC Draft Open Space Strategy

11 August 2017 0 Comments

Draft Open Space StrategyABC Crest

Ashford Borough Council

Opens: 8 August
Closes: 20 Sep 2017

Open spaces enrich the quality of our lives and contribute towards a healthy lifestyle. They help define and add to the character and history of a place as well as provide vital green infrastructure for wildlife, biodiversity, water, tranquillity, recreation, play, food production and safe off-road pedestrian and cycling routes.

Ashford borough currently enjoys a wide range of open spaces across its urban and rural environment. The borough has the benefit of existing wildlife sites, protected landscapes and a network of accessible countryside. It also has the benefit of having many organisations and groups of people active in the community who take great interest in their current and future green environment.

This Open Space Strategy attempts to focus on what’s important for Ashford’s open space provision up to 2030 in consideration of previous studies and strategies, recent audits, consultation and the emerging Local Plan.

The consultation is open until 20th September. Please comment using the online questionnaire here, or by printing out a comment form and returning by post to: Cultural Services, Place and Space, Ashford Borough Council, Civic Centre, Tannery Lane, Ashford, Kent TN23 1PL or by email to culture@ashford.gov.uk

You can respond to this consultation

Consultation Documents

Respond to this Consultation

You can respond to this consultation using any one of the options presented below.

Consultation Links

Consultation Summary

Name Draft Open Space Strategy
Description The Open Space Strategy will provide a robust framework to help strengthen Ashford’s open space provision by providing a series of interrelated actions that are all working towards the same goal. These are to protect, enhance and provide an open space network across the borough to create a thriving landscape of well-located and well-connected open spaces, which supports our existing and future community.
Dates From 8 Aug 2017 at 15:00 to 20 Sep 2017 at 23:59.
Status Open

Ashford Borough Council, Consultation, Environment, Leisure, News

Your health services in east Kent

10 August 2017 0 Comments

Local people have been having their say on plans to improve health services in east Kent at listening events in Canterbury, Ashford, Deal, Broadstairs and Romney Marsh in the last few weeks.

In east Kent we are looking at how we could better organise hospital services. An emerging plan for how we could do this across our three main hospital sites in Canterbury, Margate and Ashford has been developed by senior hospital doctors, local GPs and health and social care leaders.

The listening events are part of our ongoing conversation with local people about improving patient care, both in and out of hospital, and build on similar events in February.

Around 750 people attended the February/March and Summer events and raised important questions and shared valuable feedback, which will help shape the evolving proposals as part of the Kent and Medway Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP).

At the events people heard from local GPs about plans to bring more care closer to home – with  teams of health and social care professionals based around groups of GP surgeries – which will provide more joined-up services locally, helping people to stay well for longer and only come to hospital when it’s really needed. Watch here and view the presentation.

Dr David Hargroves, Consultant Stroke Lead for East Kent Hospitals, outlined how hospital services could be provided differently in future to improve care and outcomes for patients, which included providing specialist care from a single expert team, 24 hours a day, seven days a week (which doesn’t always happen now), instead of stretching services across all sites. Watch here.

(more…)

Health, News, STP, Wellbeing

Local Plan Changes

9 August 2017 0 Comments

Help shape our Local PlanLast year We reproduced extracts from some of the sections of the Draft Local Plan published by Ashford Borough Council that relate to or will affect South Ashford.

We have now updated these pages to reflect the changes proposed under the Council’s July 2017 consultation on Main Changes to Local Plan 2030. The updated extracts can be viewed under Local Information>Planning and Development>Local Plan
https://southashford.org.uk/index.php/category/consultations/local-plan/

If you wish to submit your own comments to Ashford Borough Council, you can do so from their consultation portal
https://haveyoursay.ashford.gov.uk/consult.ti/local_plan_2030/consultationHome. The consultation is open until 31 August 2017

Ashford Borough Council, News, Planning and Development, Planning Policy

KFRS: High-rise update

8 August 2017 0 Comments

Kent Fire and Rescue LogoFollowing the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in London, Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) began a programme of visits, to provide reassurance to residents living in high rise properties in Kent and Medway.

KFRS has already completed visits to all of the residential buildings of ten floors or above to carry out routine fire safety inspections and review firefighting plans for each building. We will have completed visits to residential blocks of six floors and above by mid-August. Each visit has been conducted by members of KFRS operational crews, alongside specialists from the community and business safety teams.

KFRS staff have also been offering reassurance to residents in the flats and encouraging them to make sure that they are familiar with fire safety procedures and evacuation plans for their own building. Our community safety team have also been on hand to carry out home safety checks of people’s own homes, as an extra reassurance and have handed out leaflets with safety advice, including in other languages.

In the next phase KFRS will continue this work with non-residential high rise premises such as offices, hotels and other commercial buildings.

Cladding
There is a national process of testing cladding on high-rise properties commissioned by the DCLG (Department of Communities and Local Government). Should there be an issue, the local authority or building owner will be notified and local fire and rescue services will also be asked to do a safety visit. So far (4.8.17) KFRS has received no notification that any of the high-rise buildings in Kent and Medway are among those identified with concerns about the cladding.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service 4 August 2017
http://www.kent.fire-uk.org/news/news-releases/august-2017/high-rise-update/

News, Safety

KCC postpones consultation on Infant Feeding Services

8 August 2017 0 Comments

Kent County CouncilKent County Council has withdrawn the consultation on infant feeding after listening to feedback from concerned families and other stakeholders.

The consultation, launched on July 18, will now be reviewed and relaunched in September as it is recognised the current consultation has caused some confusion and does not fully articulate what was intended.

Leader of Kent County Council, Paul Carter said: “This year, the Health Visiting service has seen an investment of £21.85million. By almost doubling the number of Health Visitors through this investment, we now have the capacity to reshape the health visiting service alongside enhanced breast feeding support.”

“Kent County Council is determined to deliver a comprehensive breast feeding support service in the future. We will be carrying out pre-consultation meetings in early September with those mothers and other key stakeholders who are currently expressing concern.”

“All feedback received so far will be taken into account when the Infant Feeding proposals go out to consultation again next month.”

Paul Carter continued: “Kent County Council is totally committed to supporting new mothers to breastfeed. The increased number of Health Visitors means that 95% of new mums now receive their new birth visit as required.”

“We are determined to deliver an enhanced breast feeding advice service and are prepared to take extra time in rewording the consultation document to make our intentions clear and set out our proposals with absolute clarity.”

Kent County Council 07 August 2017
https://kccmediahub.net/kcc-consults-infant-feeding-services745

Children, Consultation, Kent County Council, News

What’s the model?

6 August 2017 0 Comments

We all want health and social care services that can meet our needs now and in the future.  However, health, social and public health services face new challenges that mean they need to change the way hey work to improve care and get better value for the money that is available.

Find out more about the Case for Change and the emerging Sustainability and Transformation plan that will set out the strategy for dealing with the challenges that face health, social and public health services visit:

Transforming health and social care in Kent and Medway website
http://kentandmedway.nhs.uk/ and

Better health and care in east Kent website
http://eastkent.nhs.uk/

#KMlistens

Health, News, STP, STP, Wellbeing