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Adults and Health Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Committee - Thursday 5th September, 2024 7.00 pm

September 5, 2024 View on council website  Watch video of meeting  Watch video of meeting or read trancript  Watch video of meeting or read trancript  Watch video of meeting or read trancript  Watch video of meeting or read trancript  Watch video of meeting or read trancript  Watch video of meeting
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Summary

The committee discussed a report on children's oral health in Barnet. The committee was concerned that Barnet was the only borough in North Central London that did not provide a targeted fluoride varnishing programme for children, due to funding constraints. The committee requested data on how many children had been identified with safeguarding concerns from dental assessments or from the supervised toothbrushing scheme. There was disappointment that only 69% of Barnet's looked after children have had dental checks, which the Executive Director of Communities, Adults and Health agreed to raise with Tina McElligott, the Director of Children's Social Care. The committee also discussed whether there was any funding available to help people who have to travel to access NHS dentists, and asked the Integrated Care Board (ICB) to consider commissioning a mobile dental van, similar to some other boroughs.

The committee considered a report on the planned relocation of the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre. There was a short explanation for the public about the proposal, which involves the relocation of the cancer centre from Northwood to the Watford General Hospital site. This was prompted by concerns about the current site no longer being able to provide modern cancer care due to a lack of critical care facilities and the need to transfer patients to other hospitals if they become unwell. The committee discussed the costs of the proposed changes and how these would be funded, as well as the current challenges faced by Barnet residents accessing the service and the potential benefits in terms of shorter travelling times. The committee was reassured that the changes would not lead to a reduction in capacity or longer waiting lists. The committee agreed to Option C, which is To not participate in the joint committee but to receive formal communication as part of the public consultation along with local authorities with small patient flows to MVCC. The committee also requested details on where Barnet cancer patients currently go for non-surgical treatment, as so few currently attend Mount Vernon.

Councillor Alison Moore provided an update from Cabinet. She described the development of a new joint health and wellbeing strategy for Barnet, which was informed by the recently published Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA).1 She listed the timetable for completing the strategy, which involves a period of co-production with residents and stakeholders throughout the autumn of 2024, formal consultation in the winter/spring of 2025 and then publication in May 2025. Cllr Moore also noted that the JSNA data had identified a health inequality with some communities having a lower uptake of routine cancer testing, including cervical, breast and prostate cancer. The council were therefore working in partnership with Haringey Council to bid for a grant to tackle this, which would involve training Health Ambassadors.2 The committee asked if mental health services were being considered as part of the new strategy, to which Cllr Moore confirmed that this was an area of concern that she hoped would be included, noting the current changes to the mental health trust in Barnet with the planned merger between the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust and the Camden and Islington Trust. The committee also enquired about how Health Champions are recruited and whether more work would focus on ethnic minorities with a higher prevalence of mental illness. Cllr Moore explained the difference between Health Champions and Health Ambassadors, noting that both are recruited via Groundworks. She also confirmed that work will be targeted in areas where the council can make the biggest difference, such as to tackle cardiovascular disease.

The committee then considered a report from the Primary Care (GP) Access Task and Finish Group, which had been set up to investigate resident concerns about access to GP services. Councillor Nick Mearing-Smith presented the report on behalf of Councillor Caroline Stock, the chair of the task and finish group. He summarised the main findings and recommendations from the report, which were:

  • that the NHS should communicate better with residents about how to access services;
  • that more funding should be made available to support Barnet's large and increasing population, taking into account the ageing population;
  • that communication between primary and secondary care services needs to improve;
  • that the telephony systems need to be improved;
  • and that there was a desperate shortage of GPs, many of whom are choosing to work part-time.

Councillor Gill Sargeant added that, during a site visit, one GP had been so concerned that he put his head in his hands. She noted that there are now fewer GPs in Barnet than there were previously, despite an increasing population. Sarah Campbell, the Manager of Healthwatch Barnet, added that Healthwatch Barnet had received funding from the ICB to carry out some research into GP access in North Central London. This work includes a review of GP websites, mystery shopping of phone lines and plans to produce a guide on how to access GP services, similar to the guide already produced by Healthwatch Enfield.

Finally, the committee reviewed Healthwatch Barnet's annual report for 2023/24. The main areas of work highlighted in the report included:

  • the Healthy Heart project which was now in its third year;
  • enter and view visits to care homes, resulting in a number of recommendations to improve services;
  • the Community Connectors project to provide blood pressure checks to residents;
  • work to improve communication about hospital discharge following negative feedback from residents;
  • and a new piece of research on resident experiences of cancer screening.

The committee praised the partnership work by Healthwatch Barnet and asked what their main learnings were in terms of effective communications with residents. Ms Campbell noted the importance of using social media, providing simple messages and links to clear information, but also emphasised that face-to-face events were vital to reach people in communities who are experiencing health inequalities. The committee was also interested in the upcoming work on care home mealtimes, to which Ms Campbell explained that Healthwatch Barnet works in partnership with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to champion best practice. She also confirmed that the new primary care research project would include a focus on Barnet, in response to the findings of the GP Access Task and Finish Group.

The committee also enquired why the ICB had commissioned Healthwatch Enfield to do some research on GP access in Barnet. This was because the Islington GP Federation had applied for the funding and had been successful as they were the best provider, but Ms Campbell confirmed that they would be working closely with Healthwatch Barnet and that Barnet would be a specific focus of their research. The committee also suggested that Barnet Council should do more to raise awareness about Healthwatch Barnet and their role as an independent advocate for local residents.

The committee noted a schedule of all the ongoing and completed task and finish groups. The Chair confirmed that the next meeting of the committee would be themed on public health.

  1. The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) is a process that brings together a range of information to identify the current and future health and care needs of a local population.  ↩

  2. Health Ambassadors are trained volunteers who work in their communities to share health promotion messages and encourage healthy lifestyles. ↩

Decisions to be made in this meeting

Attendees

Documents