Skip to content

Agenda and minutes

Contact: Peter Moore  020 7527 3252

Items
No. Item

197.

Introductions

Minutes:

The Chair introduced Members and officers to the meeting

198.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Councillors Nicholls and O’Halloran

199.

Declaration of Substitute Members

Minutes:

Councillor Jenny Kay stated that she was substituting for Councillor O’Halloran

200.

Declarations of Interest

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

 

*(a)Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

 (b)Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out

  duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

 (c)Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body

 in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

 (d)Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

 (e)Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

 (f)Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have

  a beneficial interest.

 (g)Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

 

Minutes:

None

201.

Order of business

Minutes:

The Chair stated that the order of business would be as per the agenda

202.

Confirmation of minutes of the previous meeting pdf icon PDF 148 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

That, subject to the deletion of the word Partners and the insertion of the word Hyde, in minute 192 bullet point 5 – the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 7 March 2016 be confirmed and the Chair be authorised to sign them

203.

Chair's Report

The Chair will update the Committee on recent events.

Minutes:

The Chair reported that further to the involvement of JOHSC, the Committee and the Keep NHS public campaign, he was pleased to report the awarding of the contract for the 111/Out of Hours service had gone to the North Central and West London Unscheduled Care Collaborative. This will enable a local focus to be maintained for boroughs

204.

Public Questions

Minutes:

The Chair outlined the procedure for questions at Public meetings and filming and recording of meetings

205.

Health and Wellbeing Board Update - verbal

Minutes:

Councillor Janet Burgess, Executive Member for Health and Wellbeing, was present for discussion of this matter and outlined the following –

 

·         Work is taking place with the Whittington Hospital on the Estates strategy and it is important that this work is completed quickly to fit in with Government timescales

·         The Government has announced proposals for a Sugar Tax and this is welcomed and the Obesity strategy would be considered on 24 June

·         The Making it Real work carried out on direct payments and social services funding has been nominated for a national award

·         The Deaf service has won an award for the most successful mainstream service and Spectrum service for severe autism has been commended by the National Autistic society

·         It was noted that Age UK Islington, who ran the carers service, had opened a centre in Manor Gardens and she had attended the opening

206.

Health Implications of Damp Properties Scrutiny review - witness evidence - verbal

Minutes:

John Venning, Partners was present and during discussion the following main points were made –

 

·         The housing stock managed by Partners is largely Victorian and Georgian street properties and Partners had responsibility for 2900 properties and 4500 tenants. In addition there were 1800 leaseholders

·         The properties were mainly solid wall brick walls and had sash windows and therefore there were inherent problems with carrying out cost effective insulation work

·         Partners recognised that dampness is detrimental to health and this has been addressed in a number of ways by a refurbishment programme between 2002-12, advice to tenants and support to vulnerable residents

·         The refurbishment programme included ventilation work, damp proof works in basements and some external wall works

·         Ongoing repairs are carried out by Partners sub-contractor Rydons who dealt with 23,000 repair requests per year, only 3% of these were damp related

·         Of the 778 initial complaints relating to dampness only 205 resulted in an independent survey being commissioned

·         . Of the 200 major works jobs only 7 were related to dampness

·         There had been no major issues of dampness identified in the previous few months

·         Ad hoc work is carried out in relation to condensation problems and Partners provided advice to residents by distributing leaflets on this and energy saving measures. Assistance is also given to vulnerable residents and there is liaison with SHINE

·         Secondary glazing works had recently taken place to some properties and boilers had been replaced to be more energy efficient and there is a loft insulation programme

·         There is a desire to carry out more insulation to walls, secondary glazing,/double glazing but this work is expensive to do

·         In response to a question Partners stated that the main causes of damp problems were rising damp, water ingress, plumbing, drainage and roofing problems. There were condensation issues but the important thing is for there to be specialist knowledge to identify and rectify any problems

·         Partners had a repairs obligation to tenants to resolve issues and worked with tenants and stated that if Members had any specific problems he would be willing to look at these

·         In response to a question it was stated that whilst Partners had had roofing problems with properties a few years ago this had now been largely addressed

·         Partners stated that they recognised the health implications of dampness to residents and that they had an important role in reducing dampness in their properties

 

 

The Chair thanked John Venning for attending

207.

Joint Strategic Needs Assessment pdf icon PDF 162 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Julie Billett, Director of Public Health and Mahnaz Shaukut, Head of Health Intelligence Public Health were present for discussion of this item and laid this round for the Committee.

 

During consideration of the report the following main issues were raised –

 

·         In respect of NEET’s  the higher than average London figure may be associated with social deprivation although there are relatively small numbers involved

·         There are high levels of mental health problems in the borough and work is taking place with the health service about mental health risks and the vulnerability of this group

·         Members expressed the view that there should be consideration given to air quality and its effects on asthma and that this should form part of the next JSNA

·         Reference was made to the fact that the JSNA should include where the current GP practices are in the borough and the areas where these are likely to be needed in the future based on projected population growth

·         Councillor Heather stated that he would like to receive information on a ward basis in relation to the evidence and it was stated that this could be provided to him

·         In response to a question it was stated that the JSNA is signed off by the Health and Wellbeing Board and informed commissioning plans

·         A Member expressed the view that BME groups tended to suffer disproportionate levels of mental health problems, however it was stated that the levels were broadly reflective of the demographics of the community

·         There is early intervention work on mental health and there is training and support for mental health champions. In terms of older people there is good access to services but there is a need for more equity auditing and this could be looked at

·         Reference was made to the fact that a large number of the prison population suffered from mental health problems and that this may not have been the case if early intervention had taken place

·         It was stated that mental health is a complex issue and can be caused by many factors and there is a need to promote good mental health and should not just focus on responding to crisis situations. There should also be a focus on providing other treatments not just merely drug prescription for good mental health outcomes

·         It was stated that early intervention work is important and that Public Health had good relationships with other departments in this regard and this need is recognised across Directorates

·         Reference was made to the link between children with SEN and the NEET cohort and that this should be looked at together with ethnicity

·         In addition it was stated that in relation to children with disabilities their parents/carers were often unable to go back to work and were therefore more likely to live in poverty and that the JSNA should have an action plan in this regard

·         Concern was also expressed that the income maximisation team had been reduced which limited families ability to maximise their income

 

RESOLVED:  ...  view the full minutes text for item 207.

208.

Department of Health Consultation - Community Pharmacy in 2016/17 and Beyond pdf icon PDF 198 KB

Minutes:

The Director of Public Health, Julie Billett, was present together with a representative of the London Pharmaceutical Committee (LPC).

 

Julie Billett outlined the report.

 

During consideration of the report the following main points were made –

 

·         There is a need for more work to be undertaken in order to respond to the consultation process

·         There is to be reduction in funding for community pharmacy

·         There are 45 community pharmacies in the borough and the current demand is being met

·         The proposals may mean the loss of some pharmacies in the borough, however it is felt that these are a valuable resource that should be maintained and were a source of local employment

·         It was stated that work is being carried out to work with community pharmacists and the LPC in order to prepare a response to the consultation. Members were of the view that they would wish to contribute to this and the draft response should be considered at the next meeting of the Committee

·         Members expressed the view that pharmacies could assist in alleviating the pressure put on GP’ s and that the Government proposals appeared to be counter productive

·         It was noted that the consultation process finished on 24 May and that the response to the consultation could be considered by the Committee at its meeting on 16 May

·         The LPC representative stated that he represented pharmacies in Camden and Islington and added that whilst the funding had been announced for community pharmacies for 201/17 no indication had been given as to future funding

·         It was felt that there is a strong possibility that there may be an increase in the prescription threshold and a reduced establishment payment over the next few years which will mean the closure of some community pharmacies and therefore investment plans may be put on hold

·         Camden and Islington had the lowest prescription rate in London apart from Westminster and this may be to the difference in the daytime and nightime populations

·         The LPC representative stated that pharmacies both small and large scale providers  were united in opposition to the proposals and were actively lobbying to prevent them

·         The view was expressed that community pharmacists also provided somewhere where vulnerable and the elderly could visit and obtain advice and to reduce taking of medicines unnecessarily

·         The Committee expressed the view that they supported the LPC and would wish to add comments to the consultation process and the draft response should be submitted to the Committee on 16 May for consideration

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the draft consultation to the Department of Health Community Pharmacy proposals be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee for consideration

209.

Work Programme 2016/17 pdf icon PDF 132 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

 

That the report be noted