Agenda item

Councillor Turan, Executive Member for Health and Social Care, provided an update on local health and wellbeing issues.

The Health and Wellbeing Board was held on the 4^th of July 2023, the board heard about work which is being carried out to tackle damp and mould in housing, and how the council and NHS have been working together to help tackle the situation.  This is part of the response to the tragic and entirely preventable death of Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old in Rochdale who lived in a house with severe damp and mould.  The discussion had prompted further and wider work to develop partnership working between health and social care services, housing, and our local Islington Integrated Care Board.

North Central London Integrated Care Board had  updated the Health and Wellbeing Board on their needs assessment and strategy for inclusion health groups.  Inclusion health groups cover groups experiencing significant disadvantage and deprivation, and who have much higher health needs and are much less able to access primary care and preventive services than others in the population.  These groups include people who experience homelessness, drug and alcohol dependence, vulnerable migrants, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, sex workers, people in contact with the justice system and victims of modern slavery.  The update included the findings from engagement with people with lived experience, insights from senior system stakeholders and staff experience.  The next steps will be to identify ways to address the identified issues and needs through local partnerships.

The Board also received an update on the Health Determinants Research Collaborative, which is the national initiative to develop public health research and evaluation in local councils. Islington was awarded Development Year status last year, and after a successful 12 months, we have now been awarded the full five-year programme which will help us to go further and faster with developing this work.

Finally, the Board received an update from North Central London Integrated Care Board on next steps with the population health and integrated care strategy.  The strategy has been co-produced with local public health teams and others and sets out the priorities and focus for helping to improve health and reduce health inequalities, with a particular focus on best start in life and helping to prevent and improve diagnosis of physical and mental health conditions.  The strategy has now been completed and an action plan will be developed.

The following points were noted in the discussion:

·       The Committee congratulated Jonathan O’Sullivan on his appointment to the role of  Director of Public Health

·       Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust and Camden and Islington Mental Health Trust  had written to Islington Council, stating that they will be submitting a formal application to NHS in October to create a new single organisation.

·       Centene, a US organisation who  had been operating GP practices in the borough, had decided to withdraw from the UK altogether.

·       A member suggested that issues connected with damp and mould should be looked at in tandem with issues within the housing services as connected rather than as separate issues.

Actions:

·       It was proposed that the Health and Wellbeing Board update should be renamed the ‘Executive Update’ going forward for the Health and Care Scrutiny Committee.