Responding to the consultation is THE BEST way to have your voice heard by Kent County Council. We feel IT IS VITAL that Kent families are given the most up-to-date, clear and useful information about the planned cuts and proposed changes to breastfeeding support services in Kent.
Responding to the consultation questionnaire is currently quite a difficult process – you must register on the website, respond to what we believe are quite leading questions and you must adhere to their arbitrary word count. The questionnaire also has quite difficult language to understand and seems designed to confuse – it contains many words of more than 4 syllables: way higher than the average reading age of the UK and goes against what the Plain English Campaign and GOV.UK says about language use. Gov.uk itself says ‘plain english is MANDATORY‘.
Kent County Council are listed on the Plain English website as having a ‘Crystal Mark’ for using plain language. But clearly don’t adhere to this guidance at all times.
Up until Saturday 29th July, Kent County Council allowed you to email your consultation response but they have now quietly *changed their website* to REMOVE that ability and say you MUST respond to the consultation by using their questionnaire.
They list the address of the council on their consultation page and have a phone number you can use to ask them about this change and about their planned cuts. You can also mention your concerns about the questionnaire – the accessibility of the document/online questionnaire, word count limits and leading questions, if you would like to.
Public Health, Kent County Council, Sessions House, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1XQ
QUESTIONS ONLY TO PHconsultations@kent.gov.uk – respond to their questionnaire
Consultation telephone number: 03000 41 41 41
Why not also send an email to your MP?
Questions that we were urging people to pose during the consultation process included:
THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN WRITING TO THE COUNCIL, AFTER FILLING IN THE CONSULTATION QUESTIONNAIRE
It’s helpful to state the following:
- Who you are (mum, dad, family member, health professional, breastfeeding specialist or volunteer breastfeeding peer supporter)
- Which breastfeeding support groups you have visited previously
- Whether you have seen a breastfeeding specialist at a drop-in clinic
- The area of Kent you live in
And include, if you have a view:
- How you think removing free, open access to Lactation Consultants and only allowing them to be seen by referral from a health professional will affect mothers
- How you think removing access to Breastfeeding Counsellors will affect mothers and breastfeeding families
- How the proposed plans might affect breastfeeding rates in Kent
- How a reduction in breastfeeding rates in Kent might affect local NHS trusts
- What breastfeeding support groups led by breastfeeding peer supporters meant to you
- What ‘multi-thematic’ Baby Hubs led by Health Visitors might mean for the comfort of breastfeeding families
- What it would mean for breastfeeding families if they cannot take their older children
- How it would affect breastfeeding peer supporters if they cannot take their children to ‘Baby Hubs’
- What the change from ‘breastfeeding peer supporter’ to ‘infant feeding peer supporter‘ could mean (as no clarification is provided from KCC about what this actually means in terms of just a name change OR a change in role)
- What the removal of breastfeeding support groups would mean for breastfeeding families in Kent