The Health and Social Care Scrutiny Commission meeting included scheduled discussions on several important topics related to healthcare in Southwark, including a presentation about initiatives aimed at improving cancer prevention and early diagnosis rates in the borough, and the yearly interview of Councillor Evelyn Akoto, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing. The Committee also considered two reports by Healthwatch Southwark, one their annual report and the other an in-depth look at healthcare access for adults with learning difficulties and autistic adults.

The meeting also included scheduled discussions on a report titled ‘Primary Care Access’, which was included to update the committee on what Southwark borough is doing to address ongoing public concern about access to GP appointments.

Cancer Prevention and Early Diagnosis

The South East London Cancer Alliance (SELCA) and the South East London Integrated Care Board (ICB) provided a presentation on cancer prevention and early diagnosis, focusing on the situation in Southwark. This included a summary of SELCA’s role within the South East London ICS, a summary of SELCA’s Early Cancer Diagnosis Programme, an overview of cancer screening uptake in Southwark, and some examples of completed and future workstreams in Southwark.

The presentation stated that, “England is broken into 20 Cancer Alliances, 4 of them covering London” and that, “South East London Cancer Alliance (SELCA) serves the population within SEL ICS.”

The presentation highlighted several areas of concern regarding cancer screening uptake in Southwark. It stated that, “Please note this is an estimated view on cancer screening coverage in Southwark, and relies heavily on accurate & up to date coding in primary care. (Official screening data is available separately, but it will not provide the demographic detail). Having this information allows us to understand which groups are facing inequalities so that we can design targeted interventions to reduce these inequalities and improve screening participation.”

The presentation provided several examples of recently completed and planned projects run by the SELCA Early Diagnosis programme, including:

• A series of animated videos to promote breast screening in Black African women, co-produced with the London College of Communications, “These videos have been used in multiple proactive campaigns, including on GP waiting room screens and being text to breast screening non-responders.”
• A text message campaign to promote prostate cancer screening to, “Black men over 45, and anyone with a family history of prostate cancer over 45” in Southwark. This resulted in 1,645 PSA tests, 55 referrals for suspected cancer and 11 prostate cancer diagnoses.
• Ongoing work with Indo-American Refugee and Migrant Organisation (IRMO) to “raise awareness of cancer and screening in Latin American population, including developing translated materials. This is a collaboration with Lambeth borough.”
• A project with Southwark Traveller Action Group aiming “to promote cancer screening and cancer prevention, and reduce inequalities in this group who are known to experience worse health outcomes and face many barriers to accessing healthcare.”
• “Improving the breast & cervical screening experience for the Trans/Non Binary/gender nonconforming population.”
• “A comprehensive social media campaign to promote Cervical Screening for younger patients who have a lower screening rate.”
• A South East London Cancer Alliance (SELCA) commissioned project with the Eve Appeal Charity, “to deliver education sessions to members of the public (older women post-menopausal age and above, from Black and South Asian communities), to raise awareness of endometrial (womb) cancer signs and symptoms & encourage attendance at their GP if they have any. The work is based on the You Need to Know campaign. Some workshops have already been held in Southwark & more are planned.”
• “Increasing earlier diagnosis of Breast and Prostate Cancer amongst our Black African and Caribbean communities. A SELCA led campaign building on Campaign activity in January 2024. Launching in November 2024 the campaign will focus on reaching communities via places of worship this will include an event at Old Kent Road Mosque & House of Bread Church.”

Primary Care Access

A report titled ‘Primary Care Access’ was prepared for the meeting to update the committee on the actions being taken to address public concern about access to GP appointments. It quotes a 2024 survey by Healthwatch Southwark titled ‘What Matters to You? Healthwatch Southwark’s Priorities Survey 2024-25’ that found that, “GP access (registering, booking and waiting for appointments) was ranked as the highest healthcare concern by the respondents.”

The report states that, “Whilst nationally general practice is delivering a million appointments every day and half a million more every week than pre-COVID-19, we know the pandemic changed the healthcare landscape, and the increase in practice capacity needs to keep pace with growing demand.”

The report goes on to describe several initiatives that aim to improve access to primary care, including:

• The national ‘Primary Care Access Recovery Programme’ that includes the implementation of ‘Modern General Practice’, which is intended to, “allow patients to know on the day they make contact, how their request will be handled.”
• A new cloud-based telephony system that is being rolled out to all Southwark GP practices.
• The ‘Pharmacy First’ scheme that means that pharmacies can provide advice and treatment for several minor ailments, “directly to patients when appropriate”. There are 57 community pharmacies in Southwark, and the report states that, “51 have already signed up to the scheme.”
• The locally commissioned ‘Pharmacy First Plus’ scheme that enables people that are exempt from prescription charges to obtain over the counter medication without a prescription from their GP. There are 34 community pharmacies offering the scheme in Southwark.
• The availability of approximately 16,000 extra appointments per year in the borough via the ‘Enhanced Access’ and ‘Extended Primary Care Service’ schemes. These offer appointments during evenings, weekends and bank holidays from hubs at the Tessa Jowell Health Centre and Bermondsey Spa.
• Efforts to increase the use of the NHS app, which have seen the number of registered patients in Southwark increase from 53.8% of the total to 58.6% of the total.
• A project to improve the quality of GP surgery websites in the borough.
• An action plan produced in response to the Healthwatch Southwark report, ‘Access to Health and Social Care services for Latin American Communities in Southwark’, which was published in 2023.

Finally, the report provides an update on the number of GP appointments in Southwark, stating that, “Between April and September 2024, Southwark GPs carried out 692,681 appointments. This represents an additional 5228 appointments, or a 0.75% increase compared to the same period in 2023.”

Cabinet Member for Health and Well-being - Annual Interview

The agenda included the yearly interview of Councillor Evelyn Akoto, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing. The document provided beforehand summarises Cllr Akoto’s portfolio, which it says “includes supporting carers, improving health services and adult social care, as well as public health.”

Healthwatch Southwark - Annual Report

Healthwatch Southwark’s Annual Report 2023-24 was provided to the committee. The report states that over the course of the year, Healthwatch Southwark was contacted by 4,792 people, either to share their experiences of health and social care services, or to attend community events. A further 115 people contacted Healthwatch Southwark for advice on topics such as finding services and making complaints.

The report lists the following achievements:

• Partnering with Southwark Public Health team on their Community Health Ambassador programme
• Organising a health event to promote their report, ‘Access to Health and Social Care Services for Latin American Communities in Southwark’
• Continuing to build relationships with services that support adults with learning disabilities and autistic adults
• Working with other Healthwatch organisations at the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS) level to influence the 6 South East London Integrated Care System priorities and to provide representation on 16 ICS and ICB Boards, Committees and Groups

The report states that Healthwatch Southwark are currently working on a report that, “Looking into the experiences of adults with learning disabilities and autistic adults in accessing health and social care services.”

Healthwatch Southwark: Empowering Voices

The Committee also received a copy of the Healthwatch Southwark report: Empowering Voices: Examining Healthcare Access for Adults with Learning Disabilities and Autistic Adults in Southwark.

The report describes the findings of a survey and a series of ‘Cafe Conversations’ events.

“The research involved a written survey capturing the experiences of service users, carers, and service providers regarding healthcare access across Southwark. We held three Café Conversations events to gather in-depth insights and collaboratively brainstorm solutions. In total, 104 individuals participated.”

The report identifies a series of barriers experienced by adults with learning disabilities and autistic adults when accessing healthcare, and makes recommendations about how to address them.

Work Programme

The Committee also had before them the work programme for the remainder of the year. This included a suggestion that the Committee consider conducting a review of adult safeguarding.