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Agenda and minutes

Contact: Peter Moore  020 7527 3252

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Items
No. Item

301.

Introductions

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair introduced Members and officers to the meeting

302.

Apologies for Absence

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Minutes:

None

303.

Declaration of Substitute Members

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Minutes:

None

304.

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.

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

None

305.

Minutes of the previous meeting pdf icon PDF 359 KB

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Minutes:

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 4 October 2021 be confirmed and the Chair be authorised to sign them

306.

Chair's Report

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Minutes:

The Chair stated that she had circulated a letter to Members of the Committee on the redevelopment of the St.Pancras site, and that if Members had any comments thereon they should notify them to the Chair

 

A Member stated that the Committee had not received an update on this matter for some time and the Chair stated that she would endeavour to obtain some more details and circulate these to the Committee

307.

Public Questions

For members of the public to ask questions relating to any subject on the meeting agenda under Procedure Rule 70.5. Alternatively, the Chair may opt to accept questions from the public during the discussion on each agenda item.

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Minutes:

The Chair outlined the procedure for Public questions

308.

Health and Wellbeing Board Update - if any

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Minutes:

Councillor Nurullah Turan, Executive Member Health and Adult Social Care was present and made a verbal report to the Committee, during which the following main points were made –

 

·       Priorities – ensuring every child has the best outcome in life, preventing and managing long term conditions to enhance both length and quality of life and reduce health inequalities, and improving mental health and wellbeing

 

 

309.

Healthwatch Islington pdf icon PDF 573 KB

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Minutes:

Emma Whitby, Healthwatch was present and outlined the report to the Committee during which the following main points were made –

 

·         Vision – improved health and social care for all local residents. Healthwatch part funded by LBI to fulfil statutory functions of Health and Care Act and currently going through a procurement process. Healthwatch gather and report views on health and social care, provide people with information on services and act as a critical friend approach in partnership wherever possible

·         Work in 2020/21 – COVID, less business as usual, vaccination programme, diversity in Carers service review, sharing of views on remote and online appointments, referrals to digital support services

·         Noted partnerships with diverse community health voices, and since 2014 raised around £450,000 for grass-roots partners. Healthwatch turnover is £270,000 per year

·         Programme 2021/22 – Access to healthcare broadly, dentistry, long COVID, patient transport, digital inclusion strategy, impact of COVID survey public health

·         Addressing health inequality – challenging workstream of the Fairer Together Partnership Board, all age Mental Health Partnership Board, Mental Health funding, £64,000 from Public Health England for grass-roots support. Working with VAI to bring smaller VCS input to the Integrated Care System

·         Reference was made to the lack of a representative from Healthwatch on the Committee and that it would be useful if Healthwatch could find a representative to serve. It was noted that Healthwatch would look into this

·         In relation to a question as to digital exclusion it was stated that some telephone companies did provide free data to poorer residents and that Healthwatch could provide details to SHINE

·         Members thanked Healthwatch for the excellent work that they did on behalf of residents

·         In response to a question it was stated that Healthwatch had positive relationships with organisations in the Borough and that they were talking with colleagues about representation on the ICS

 

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted

 

 

                                       The Chair thanked Emma Whitby for attending

310.

Executive Member Annual Report/Annual Report pdf icon PDF 1 MB

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Minutes:

Councillor Nurullah Turan, Executive Member Health and Adult Social Care was present and outlined the presentation, copy interleaved, during which the following main points were made –

·         Best start in life – noted the impact of COVID and system response

·         Long term conditions – noted the achievements on diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease, dementia, long COVID, and development of dashboards to better understand population health needs and inequalities around long term conditions

·         Smoking – 702 residents in 2020/21 who attempted to quit smoking did so successfully, representing a 58.3% quit rate

·         Noted achievements in improving mental health and wellbeing and pressures faced as a result of the pandemic

·         Drug and Alcohol services – difficult to maintain during pandemic, and whilst service open for some face to face work, the majority of support at the start of the pandemic was offered by phone or online. As lockdown eased there were more face to face appointments but capacity remains limited. Increase in numbers entering treatment due to pandemic

·         Sexual health – provided in range of settings and young people’s services available during pandemic with face to face contact with vulnerable young people, and introduction of remote contraceptive prescribing and online testing. These services are being re-procured and a new service will be in place by April 2022. Primary care – these have been significantly restricted during COVID due to requirements placed on NHS to prioritise COVID responses

·         Noted that planning has started for the development of Islington’s new Joint Health and Wellbeing strategy

·         Since 2011 life expectancy has increased in Islington for men and remained unchanged for women. Life expectancy for men is now 79.5 years, an increase of 10% from 8 years ago and this is better than the national average. For women life expectancy is 83.2 years

·         In relation to immunisation it was stated that the immunisation for children was 85%, and it was stated that during COVID this had had an impact and there is a challenge in Islington and other London Boroughs about population movement, and she was working with GP’s, however he would look into specific reasons and let Members know

·         In response to a question it was stated that there had been no significant increase in mortality rates

·         It was stated that there had been an improvement in narrowing the gap with those residents in employment with mental health problems, but further details could be provided to Members as to the improvements made

·         In response to a question as to life expectancy and the gaps between the wealthy and poor, it was stated that information was provided later in the report on Health Inequalities

 

 

 

                          The Chair thanked Councillor Turan for attending

311.

COVID 19 Update - Verbal pdf icon PDF 208 KB

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Minutes:

 Councillor Sue Lukes, Executive Member Community Safety and Pandemic response was present, together with Jonathan O’Sullivan, Interim Director of Public Health and John Everson Adult Social Care

                         

During discussion the following main points were made –

 

·       Adult Social Care – all care homes prepared for mandatory COVID vaccination requirements. Booster vaccines made available to all residents living in older peoples care home. Whittington Hospital will continue to offer this via in reach to residents in wider accommodation based settings in future weeks and months

·       Noted that all possible support was being made available to assist people to have vaccinations

·       Officers working with health and care partners to promote uptake of flu vaccine amongst staff and residents no new cases this month, no reported home care deaths due to COVID reported, Islington home care providers are currently able to meet demand. However if mandatory vaccinations are introduced by the Government for domiciliary staff this situation may change

·       A Member stated that it would be useful to have vaccination rates per ward included in future reports and that clearer information should be provided on the Council website on how to access vaccinations

·       Noted that the fact that L.B.Islington paying the London Living Wage had enabled them to retain staff, which has not been the case in other areas

·       Public Health – Noted the information provided on the COVID dashboard

 

RESOLVED:

That the reports be noted

 

The Chair thanked Councillor Lukes, Jonathan O’Sullivan and John Everson for attending

312.

Scrutiny Review Health Inequalities - witness evidence pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Jonathan O’Sullivan, Acting Director of Public Health and Mahnaz Shaukat, Head of Health Care Intelligence were present and outlined the presentation, copy interleaved

 

·       Population, Deprivation and health inequalities in Islington – health inequalities are largely due to the unfair and unjust inequalities in society in which people are born, live and age. These inequalities are structural and a consequence of the social and economic organisation of society and can be avoided. Inequalities are driven by a high level of deprivation amongst some communities affecting all aspects of people’s lives including income, employment, education, housing and neighbourhood. These factors drive inequalities in physical and mental health. Poverty is also a key determinant of poor outcomes in health and linked to a higher level of risk behaviours and fewer protective levels for health. COVID 19 has exposed these inequalities  and the risk of dying or becoming seriously ill with COVID was much higher amongst people suffering from deprivation and disadvantage

·       L.B.Islington has an estimated population of 244400 people. Pre COVID was expected to increase by approx. 2% by 2026, with the largest growth expected amongst the older population (65 and over)

·       The population is relatively young compared with the national average and is one of the most ethnically diverse places in the country. Approximately 33% of Islington residents are from BAME communities, with the largest groups being Other white and Black and African and Black Caribbean groups. There is a lot of uncertainty about the population and this may have been affected by COVID

·       Deprivation – Islington is the 6th. Most deprived London Borough and the 53rd. most deprived in England. The geographic pattern of deprivation is different to many other areas. Islington’s mix of housing means that deprivation is very disseminated across the borough and is strongly concentrated into social housing estates

·       Islington residents have lower life expectancy and women lower life expectancy compared to the rest of London, but are similar to national averages. Inequality in life expectancy within Islington (the difference between the least and most deprived areas in Islington) is 9.8 years for men, compared to 7.2 in London and 9.4 in England. Inequality in life expectancy in Islington has widened and improvements in life expectancy slowed. The main causes of early death are cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and cancer and those living in deprived communities have a higher death rate from avoidable g compared to the NCL average

·       The impacts of COVID relate to the immediate and direct consequences of COVID but the longer term consequences will extend far beyond. COVID has exacerbated existing health inequalities and directly disproportionately impacted men, BAME communities, most deprived communities, people living in care homes, those with learning disabilities, those with a mental health condition, those with underlying health conditions and physical disabilities

·       There have been a total of 1,627 COVID admissions to hospital up until July 2021.The highest proportion was for other ethnic groups, which is 2.85 times higher than the average in Islington. The black  ...  view the full minutes text for item 312.

313.

Performance report - Quarter 1 pdf icon PDF 410 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Jonathan O’Sullivan. Interim Director of Public Health and John Everson, Director Adult Social Care were present for discussion of this report, copies interleaved, and during discussion the following main points were made –

 

Adult Social Care

·         Noted the performance targets and achievement for the indicators in the report and that the proportion of adults with a learning disability in paid employment was similar to Q1 last year, which was an excellent achievement in view of COVID

Public Health

·         Services were now starting to recover from COVID, however there was a need to ensure that those recovering from addiction to everyday life benefitted from social capital such as a job, housing to prevent them relapsing

 

RESOLVED:

That the reports be noted

 

 

The Chair thanked officers for attending

314.

Any other Business

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Minutes:

A Member stated that he had now had an opportunity to consider the letter referred to by the Chair above in relation to St. Pancras site redevelopment, and was concerned that there was not sufficient detail in the proposals put forward in the letter for the Committee to comment. There were no details about transport links to the Peckwater Health Centre for clients, or whether there would be displacement of clients as a result of the proposals

 

RESOLVED:

That the Chair be requested to ask for more details on the redevelopment proposals and these be circulated to Members of the Committee

315.

Work Programme 2021/22 pdf icon PDF 201 KB

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Minutes:

 

 

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted

316.

Local Account pdf icon PDF 233 KB

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Minutes:

Councillor Turan, Executive Member Health and Adult Social Care outlined the report, during which the following main points were made –

 

·         Noted that the Council were continuing to support GP’s and that the reductions in Government funding and to the NHS over the past years had had an impact on the service that could be delivered

·         The view was expressed that Government action was continuing to undermine the NHS, and there was a need to protect NHS services

·         Noted that 38% of GP’s in Islington were 55 years of age or over and there were a large number of elderly nurses in the borough. In addition there was an increase in GP patients, which meant that the problems with GP waiting lists and appointments would be exacerbated

·         Noted that 95% of care home staff had now been vaccinated, and vaccinations were now mandatory in care homes

·         Noted that there were vacancy pressures across the entire social care system, and a lot of work is being undertaken with providers to encourage caring being promoted as a career

·         In response to a question as to how the Council could improve funding bids it was stated that this was a constantly changing position, and it would be helpful in local MP’s lobbied for increased funding, and it was felt that the CCG was being more supportive. Concern was expressed at the Government’s increasing privatisation of the NHS, and referred to the awarding of COVID contracts to private firms during the pandemic

·         Noted that the level of deprivation in Islington was greater than many other Local Authorities who receive more funding and a different model for bidding should be looked at

·         Noted that the Council were increasing development work with UCLH as well as with the Whittington NHS Trust, given the number of Islington residents that attend UCLH

 

The Chair thanked Councillor Turan for attending