Cllr Dora Dixon-Fyle, cabinet member for health and adult social care
Minutes:
Councillor Dora Dixon-Fyle, cabinet member for health and adult social care, gave an overview of heath and social care in Southwark.
She explained that Southwark had taken a large cut to its budget equivalent to a 28% reduction. This meant that, over the next three years, changes to council services would have to be made. At the same time, a £3bn reorganisation of the NHS was happening which would cut up to £20bn from budgets and would lead to the abolition of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs). The council would be working through the Health and Well-being Boards which brought together the key players in health and well-being, such as GPs, councillors, council officers, health watch and hospitals, in order to make the transition as seamless as possible. One of the items the boards would be working on would be a regular report about the health of the borough authored by the Director of public health.
The council’s objectives were delivering value, while allowing vulnerable residents to remain independent, safeguarding them and giving them control. In order to achieve this the council would work in partnership with leisure services, the NHS, the community and voluntary sector organisations, as well as the council’s regeneration and housing departments and public health bodies. This would help create a seamless path between health and social care, and so help save money.
Councillor Dixon-Fyle said there was also some good news: new facilities for disabled people had come on-stream, the taxi card scheme would remain, as would meals on wheels (at half the previous cost) and that investment in healthy living, e.g. leisure centres would still go ahead.