This meeting of the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel was scheduled to include presentations on maternal mortality and the prevention of avoidable ill health in Greenwich. It was also scheduled to include a discussion of the Panel’s work programme for the following year.

Maternal Mortality Update

The Panel was scheduled to receive a presentation from the South East London Integrated Care Board (ICB) on maternal mortality at a local, regional and national level.

The report pack highlights a statistically significant increase in the overall maternal death rate in the UK between 2017-2019 and 2020-2022, noting:

This increase remained statistically significant when deaths due to COVID-19 were excluded.

The report pack also includes an overview of recent trends in causes of maternal mortality:

• 16% of women died from thrombosis, which is now the leading cause of death
• 34% of the deaths occurring between 6 weeks and a year after the end of pregnancy were related to mental health
• 21% of the women who died of cancer, entered pregnancy with a history of past or current cancer

Health and Wellbeing Preventative Approach in Greenwich

The Panel was scheduled to consider a report on the Health and Wellbeing Preventative Approach in Greenwich. The report is a summary of Greenwich Council’s approach to preventing avoidable poor health and wellbeing, including a spotlight on three areas:

• Live Well Greenwich
• NHS Health Checks
• Cancer screening

Live Well Greenwich

The report describes Live Well Greenwich as the Royal Greenwich commitment to a more systematic prevention offer in the borough and to tackling health inequalities. It goes on to state that:

Supporting Greenwich residents to ‘Live Well’ is the overarching priority of the borough’s Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy

Live Well Greenwich consists of several services intended to help residents live healthier lives. These are delivered by the South of England Foundation – working name Charlton Athletic Community Trust (CACT). The services include:

• The Live Well line - a telephone support service that provides advice and coaching on health and wellbeing and social issues, such as cost of living support.
• Live Well in the community - connecting residents and patients with local services and interventions that help address health inequalities.
• Live Well Coaches - intensive, face-to-face, time-limited, personalised one-to-one support

NHS Health Checks

The report describes the national NHS Health Checks programme, stating that:

Delivering NHS Health Checks is a mandated function for Local Authorities. It is a key plank of preventing cardiovascular disease in the population and to reduce health inequalities by proactively identifying issues.

The report notes that the performance of the scheme in Greenwich is low, with just 16.5% of eligible people receiving a check, compared to a London average of 35.5% and an England average of 25%.

Cancer Screening

The report describes the national Cancer Screening Programmes in England, and details the low uptake of these programmes among Greenwich residents:

• In 2024, the coverage for breast cancer screening in Greenwich was 57.9%, significantly lower than London (61.5%) and England (69.9%).
• In 2024, the coverage in Greenwich for bowel cancer screening was 65.2%, higher than London (63.8%) but significantly lower than for England as a whole (71.8%).
• In 2024, the coverage in Greenwich for cervical cancer screening for 25-49 years old was 61.2%, higher than London (58.4%) but significantly lower than for England as a whole (66.1%).

Work Programme Discussion 2025-26

The Panel was scheduled to discuss the items to consider for the 2025-26 work programme.

Commissioning of Future Reports

The Panel was scheduled to note the items that are scheduled to be presented to the meeting of the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel taking place on 23 April 2025:

• Long and medium term workforces strategies across health and care including update on Health Ambassadors Programme
• Queen Elizabeth Hospital Care Quality Commission in-depth review.