Agenda item

Jonathan O’Sullivan, Acting Director of Public Health for Islington presented the COVID-19 Recovery report which supported a discussion regarding the approach to recovery in the context of the direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19 upon the health and wellbeing of residents and patients in Islington and the impact on inequalities.

In the presentation and discussion the following main points were made:

·         Recovery was not about going back to how services were before COVID but for services to be the best they could be going forward.

·         There were direct and ongoing impacts arising from infection, the impacts upon services and access and the indirect impacts on health and wellbeing.

·         There were a number of major national studies set up to investigate the long term impacts.

·         There were many complex impacts and the report could not capture every impact or issue but was intended to be illustrative of the nature and extent of the impacts and challenges.

·         Direct impacts arising from COVID-19 infection included the measures put in place to reduce and prevent infection, rehabilitation for those with serious acute illness, mortality, long COVID, the impacts of bereavement upon family and others affected and the disproportionate impacts upon the community, including ethnicity, age, areas of deprivation and disability.

·         Services had faced and still faced challenges. During the first wave services were rapidly reconfigured and prioritised to deliver services safely. Access was being offered via telephone and digital methods as well as face-to-face. Services were impacted by the surges in hospital admissions and there was an impact of lost, non-COVID activity and potential impacts on waiting times and lists and non-COVID aspects of health.

·         In North Central London it was estimated that there were approximately 650 fewer cancer referrals than would have been expected through the first wave and following months.

·         Children’s development had been negatively impacted.

·         Some changes were beneficial e.g. a reduction in travel had temporarily reduced pollution. Measures such as Healthy Streets would mitigate some of the impacts of the return to increased travel.

·         Inequalities had widened as a result of the pandemic.

·         There was a high level of mental health disorders. Some of this would reduce with the easing of restrictions but for some the impact would be long lasting.

·         The economic environment coming out of COVID-19 was likely to be of greatest importance to long term impacts and outcomes for residents, patients and community, however there were other policy choices and actions which were available and which could also address the impacts.

·         Alan Caton, Independent Scrutineer on the Islington Safeguarding Children Board advised that one impact of COVID was that babies not being seen by professionals had meant there had been a nationwide increase in babies suffering significant harm. A national report on this would be published in June 2021.

·         There was a need for some services to take place face-to-face, even if some service contacts continued using telephone and other digital or remote means.

·         School leavers faced uncertainty in the economic environment and more work could be done to provide opportunities. Many people had been undertaking either voluntary or short term paid work in the NHS or care system in the last year. Consideration could be given to providing longer term opportunities to the young people who might have been working in the system in the last year.

·         Challenges had resulted in partners working together in new ways including through Fairer Together. There had been an acceleration in partnership working and it was vital that this continued during the COVID-19 recovery process.

·         It was important to consider the implications of services operating more digitally. Services should be designed to be able to respond to and meet all needs, including for those most in need.

·         Consideration should be given to how the workforce could be engaged to move services forward.

·         It was important to ensure that everyone that should be included in the discussions was included.

·         It would be a challenge to encourage more people to re-engage with services e.g. cancer screening.

·         The Chair stated that priorities included mental health, supporting people back into work and supporting the local economy. COVID-19 had impacted on finances which would present a further challenge but partnership working would help achieve priorities.

·         The All Age Mental Health Partnership was a step forward in working across services.

·         The Health and Wellbeing Strategy would need to be renewed in the near future.

·         In light of new ways of working introduced during the pandemic, a light touch review into meeting and governance arrangements should be conducted in the near future.

RESOLVED:

1) That the report be noted.

2) That a light touch review into meeting and governance arrangements be conducted in the near future.