This meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board was scheduled to consider a variety of matters, ranging from health protection updates to a discussion of Camden’s emerging Neighbourhoods programme. The Board was also scheduled to approve the Council's new Alcohol Strategy and Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment and to note the work programme for the rest of the year.

Camden Neighbourhoods

The most significant topic scheduled for discussion was Camden Neighbourhoods, a strategic priority for Camden’s borough partnership that aims to align place-based service delivery with voluntary sector and community-based support. The programme responds to ambitions set out in the Camden Health and Wellbeing Strategy and the Council's vision for the borough, We Make Camden, by shifting the local system towards a more preventative and community-based model of care.

The report on Camden Neighbourhoods was scheduled to provide the Board with an update on the programme's work and to highlight its alignment with the North Central London (NCL) Integrated Care Board (ICB) emerging model for neighbourhoods. The report describes how Camden’s Neighbourhood model builds on existing good practice with a ‘test and learn’ approach, enabling council and NHS services to innovate new approaches that provide a more seamless experience for people with additional needs.

The Camden Neighbourhoods Programme includes a broad range of activities happening across different parts of the Council, the NHS and within the community. These include the emergence of new Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (INTs), which bring together practitioners and staff who provide health and care support within a neighbourhood. Camden’s first INT went live in September 2024 in Kentish Town, with community health and adult social care staff co-located at Kentish Town Health Centre.

Shifting to a more relational and locality-based model across multiple services is significant and transformational change that will require long-term commitment and investment. However, it is worthwhile change that partners believe will lead to improved outcomes for local people, better working arrangements for our workforce, and a more preventative system as a whole.

The Neighbourhood Programme also includes work to encourage communication and shared working practices within services in the Council’s Supporting Communities Directorate. In 2023, staff from a range of services, including Housing, Repairs, Estate Management and Community Safety, began working together in a shared office environment at the Holmes Road Depot, a council-owned property. This co-location of teams has been coupled with a series of staff-led micro-interventions (or small changes to working arrangements), which have had a positive impact on staff wellbeing and resident feedback.

The report describes how the INTs are complementary to – or even an extension of – the long-running Frailty and Complex Care Hub in Camden, a borough-wide Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDM) ‘hub’¹ that meets regularly to ensure that adults with frailty and complex care needs receive the right clinical and social support. Underneath the borough-wide hub exists a collection of neighbourhood-based MDMs, which help coordinate care in the community.

The report argues that the INTs:

should reduce the need for people to explain their stories multiple times to different services and prevent some of the most vulnerable people from falling through the gaps between services.

The report was scheduled to be accompanied by presentations detailing the emerging NCL model for neighbourhoods and the vision and range of work happening in Camden. The report also argues that the Camden Neighbourhoods Programme aligns with national policy agendas, including the long-term reform of the NHS.

Healthy and Ready for School

Another important topic scheduled for discussion was Healthy and Ready for School, a key short-term priority of Camden’s borough partnership’s joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2022-30. The report notes that:

Recognising the significant impacts that early experiences have on children’s long-term health and wellbeing, the partnership is committed to reducing health and educational inequalities so that every child has the best possible start in life.

This topic was scheduled to be discussed under three key work programmes:

Family Hubs

The Family Hubs programme builds on Camden’s existing Children’s Centres and aims to create a ‘one stop shop’ for mental, physical and emotional health. The programme is not just about the 5 designated sites but rather about developing a network of provision for families including Youth Hubs, Voluntary and Community sector organisations, schools and primary care.

The report on Healthy and Ready for School describes three areas of innovative practice within Family Hubs that have gained national attention: Best Start for Baby; Camden Kids Talk; and Father Inclusive Practice.

Best Start for Baby: This programme introduces additional universal contacts at 3, 6 and 9 months for families. These contacts focus on the parent-child relationship and attuned parenting, offering key opportunities to identify developmental delays and the need for extra support.

Camden Kids Talk: This is a boroughwide initiative to address inequalities in communication and language development through a whole-system approach. The programme focuses on workforce development, parental engagement, and a shared assessment and intervention framework.

Father Inclusive Practice: This programme aims to ensure that fathers and male carers are considered equally in all aspects of service delivery.

Family Help

Camden is reviewing current early help and children’s social work with the intention of developing a more integrated approach to support for families across the continuum of need based on communities close to where families live. This is aligned with national reform, to develop locally based multi-disciplinary family help services. The report notes that:

A key aspect is the removal of a ‘division’ between early help casework and casework at ‘child in need’ stage of the support continuum. A second important aspect is the shift to community-based teams.

RAISE Camden

RAISE Camden is Camden’s child health equity programme, aimed at improving projected worsening health trends for children and young people. It crosses three core themes: child poverty (associated with cognitive development); whole family mental health (associated with social and emotional development); and tackling racism and inequality (which magnify the impact of both).

The report on Healthy and Ready for School describes a number of test and learn pilots and longer term development programmes that have been established over the last 12 months as part of RAISE Camden. One such example is the Equitable Services Programme, which drives equity within service delivery by using standardised and supported quality improvement methods to improve the consistent recording of equalities data.

Health Protection

The report on Health Protection was scheduled to provide an update on health protection issues and epidemiology in Camden. The report was scheduled to focus on a number of areas, including:

Winter Viruses that cause respiratory infection

Flu (influenza) levels have decreased following high levels this winter season. The offer of flu vaccine for eligible groups will continue until the end of March in Camden via GPs, community pharmacies, catch-up clinics in family hubs and the vaccine bus.

COVID-19 activity remained stable across most indicators and was at baseline activity levels. The delivery of the winter offer for COVID-19 vaccine has now stopped. The spring booster offer will continue this year for adults aged 75 years and over, residents in care homes for older adults and individual aged 6 months with a weakened immune system.

RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) activity has decreased across most indicators and is circulating at low levels overall.

Norovirus

Norovirus is a virus that causes diarrhoea and vomiting, and cases usually increase during the winter months. UKHSA have reported high numbers of norovirus cases this year and cases remain high.

Mpox

There is currently an ongoing outbreak of Clade Ib mpox in central Africa. 8 cases of clade Ib mpox have been detected in England since October 2024, but the risk to the public remains very low.

Avian Flu

In February 2025, UKHSA confirmed a single case of influenza A (H5N1) in a person in the West Midlands region. It was acquired on a farm in an individual who had close and prolonged contact with a large number of infected birds. The wider risk to the public remains very low.

Alcohol Strategy

The Board was also scheduled to approve the Council’s new Alcohol Strategy.

Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment

The Board was scheduled to be asked to delegate approval of the draft Camden Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment. The Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) is a statutory requirement for all local authorities. It assesses the need for pharmaceutical services in the local area and informs the commissioning of these services.

Work Programme

Finally, the Board was scheduled to note the draft work programme for the rest of the year. The report on the work programme notes that:

The Health and Wellbeing Board’s work programme is developed by Board members and partners, with oversight from the Chair of the Board and support from Camden strategy officers. The future programme is intended to be a working document and will be reviewed and agreed by the Board at every meeting.

The report was also scheduled to ask the Board to consider additional items for inclusion in the work programme.