Councillors “deeply alarmed” over figures show failures to hit a range of public health targets in Milton Keynes

Councillors “deeply alarmed” over figures show failures to hit a range of public health targets

A watchdog committee has bared its teeth at figures which show continued council failures to hit targets for public health services including checks for toddlers.

Every child in Milton Keynes should have a review of their health and development by the time they reach 2-and-a-half years old, which also gives officials the chance to talk to the parents about other types of help they can receive.

But the scrutiny management committee at MK Council has been told that officials have failed to hit a target of 90 per cent of children for more than a year and a half.

Last year’s 83.9 per cent success rate got worse in the first half of 2019/20, plunging to 80 per cent.

Although an improvement plan has been put in place, and children who have moved out of the area have been removed from the figures, the 90 per cent target has not been reached in the last three months.

Referring to a report showing red warning signs for three pages of public health services, Cllr Alice Jenkins (Cons, Danesborough & Walton) said she though the overall picture is “deeply alarming.”

“Public health is one of the most important roles,” she told Wednesday’s meeting. “It’s a significant proportion of children who have obesity in Milton Keynes.

“If we’re not tackling that now it will mean the health budget will be impacted and the health of the city will be impacted for years and years to come.

“I think this is deeply alarming. Why would any resident have confidence in a public health system, particularly at a time when it’s under such scrutiny with coronavirus knocking on our door?”

On other services, including cervical screening for signs of cancer in women, flu vaccinations, smoking, and alcohol services, the data was not available to the committee.

“Things like cervical screening, flu vaccination coverage, all of these numbers are failing and it’s the nuts and bolts of the public health campaigns,” said Cllr Jenkins.

Sarah Gonsalves, the council’s director of policy, insight and communications, said that “a lot” of the services have been recommissioned with tougher, “more stretching” targets to hit.

And on services like cervical screening, it is commissioned at a national level.

Chairing the meeting Cllr Ric Brackenbury (Lib Dem, Campbell Park & Old Woughton) said he “completely seconded” Cllr Jenkins.

“I think we need to do something on this. It’s alarming how we don’t have many figures up to date, and the sheer volume of “red” indicators.

“These are really all standard processes that should not be rocket science to get right. I think this needs a lot of scrutiny to understand what is going on.” The committee agreed to make time on their agendas to probe the issues.

After the meeting a council spokesman said: "We recognise the need to make improvements in some areas and are working with new partners to deliver better-quality public health services for MK residents.

"Drug and alcohol services is one of the key areas in which we’ll be taking a more joined-up approach, especially with the new peer support service.

"This will help residents develop the skills and relationships needed to sustain their recovery post treatment. We also have a new service for health visitors and school nurses, as well as for weight management. All these services will be focused on achieving good outcomes for people in Milton Keynes.

"For nationally commissioned services, such as cervical screening and vaccinations, the Health and Wellbeing Board work with local GPs, the CCG and NHS England to address gaps against national targets.

"We’re performing well across many of our services, including significant uptake of our new Kooth counselling services, good delivery of NHS Health Checks as well as considerable improvements in women smoking at time of delivery."