Agenda item

Councillor Janet Burgess, Executive Member Health and Wellbeing was present for discussion of this item and made a presentation to the Committee, copy interleaved.

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

·         Life expectancy has increased for both men and women, however life expectancy for men in Islington remains lower than England and is the 4^th. lowest amongst all London Boroughs

·         Infant mortality has fallen by 68% since 2003-2005 and has the 8^th. lowest infant mortality of all local authorities in Islington

·         Children’s oral health has improved but there is still work to be done

·         The Committee expressed concern that child obesity levels were still too high and there had been a significant increase in the number of children referred and assessed for autism

·         There had been a 46% reduction in early deaths from heart disease over the past 10 years. This is a faster reduction rate than both London and England, however the rates remain higher than the national and London averages

·         There are significantly worse admissions to hospital as a result of alcohol and the rates have increased in Islington over the last 5 years

·         An estimated 15% of 5-16 year olds experience mental health conditions, which is higher than England, despite higher levels of investment than London or England. Addressing prevention and earlier intervention is key to improving mental health

·         Historically under-represented groups, such as men, people living in deprived communities and people from Black Caribbean groups are now well represented, amongst service users of ICope (Camden and Islington psychological services)

·         Challenges for the coming year include increasing the number of smokers who successfully quit, addressing the high levels of alcohol related admissions, improving the physical health of those with mental health problems, increasing the number of people with LTC’s who are in employment, tackling social isolation in vulnerable groups, such as older people, those with mental health and learning difficulties, and parental mental health in the early years and building resilience is being addressed

·         In 2014/15 Islington offered 3820 residents a social care service and the proportion of service users receiving a service to address a physical disability of frailty increases dramatically amongst the over 65’s, however it is the largest primary category for all service users aged over 40

·         Islington has the highest diagnosis rate for dementia in London and the 5^th. highest in England

·         The numbers of adults with learning disabilities who require services is expected to increase as people transition from Children’s Services

·         The Adult Social Care Plan 2015/19 outlines how the Council will support the Council to deliver the Corporate Plan towards a Fairer Islington

·         During the period 2011-2015 the Council has had to close a net budget gap of £150m and adult social care has contributed £31m to the £150m during this period

·         The department has made savings of £6.8m in 2014/15 and has plans in place to facilitate the delivery of £10.5m savings in 2015/16. The estimated savings target is £20m over the next 4 years

·         There will be newly integrated adult social care teams and streamlined services to social care and community health services and there will be a new role leading on delayed transfers of care to support and monitor hospital discharges

·         There will be further integration with health on ambulatory emergency care, integrated community ageing team and intermediate care

·         There are proposals to improve mental health services in the borough

·         The making it real programme has led on embedding co-production into the delivery of social care in Islington and developing more personalised services

·         The challenges for 2015/16 include continuing to improve outcomes in Islington who use adult social care in the context of a very difficult financial position

·         Reference was made to the fact that there needed to be discussions with schools about combating child obesity

The Chair thanked Councillor Burgess for attending