The North Central London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JHOSC) meeting included a discussion on mental health pathways and a review of the committee's work programme. The meeting, held at George Meehan House in Haringey, was scheduled to cover updates on mental health services, particularly concerning the transition from children's to adult services, and improvements in information sharing between organisations. The agenda also included routine items such as reviewing past minutes and outlining future meeting dates.

Mental Health Pathways

A key focus of the meeting was to be an update on mental health pathways in North Central London (NCL). The update was scheduled to cover:

• Transitions from Children and Young People’s (CYP) Services to Adult Mental Health Services: This included discussion of new teams, earlier planning, and personalised support for those aged 18–25. The aim is to ensure a smoother transition for young people as they move into adulthood.
• Strengthening Information Sharing: This aimed to improve coordination of care, reduce the need for individuals to repeat their stories, and enable quicker and safer decisions.

The report pack included an executive summary that stated:

These services are designed to support people with a wide range of mental health needs, from mild to complex and severe.

The update also included discussion of the Mental Health Core Offer, designed to standardise services across boroughs, and investment of £50m to meet growing needs and address historical funding gaps in Barnet, Enfield and Haringey.

The Single Point of Access for Core Community Teams was highlighted as an example of coordinating functions. A case study of a young person named Kwame was included to illustrate a young person's journey through mental health services.

Initiatives to improve information sharing were also scheduled to be discussed, including:

• The Triangle of Care, which aims to foster collaboration between carers, service users, and health professionals.
• GP interface meetings to address issues faced by primary care in managing patients with mental health issues.
• Digital enablers such as the London Care Record (LCR), GP Connect, MESH, Patient Knows Best (PKB), NHS Wayfinder Services, and Blood test results integration.

The Neighbourhood Model was also scheduled to be discussed as part of the mental health update.

Work Programme 2025-2026

The meeting agenda included a review of the JHOSC’s work programme for 2025-26. The report outlined possible areas for the Committee to focus on, and sought proposals for agenda items for the next meeting scheduled for 7 July 2025.

The Committee's terms of reference include:

• Engaging with relevant NHS bodies on strategic area wide issues.
• Responding to proposals for change to specialised NHS services.
• Responding to formal consultations on substantial developments or variations in health services.

The work programme included standing items such as Estates Strategy Update, Workforce Update, Finance Update, and Winter Planning Update. Possible items for inclusion in future meetings were also listed, such as a St Pancras Hospital update, the Health Inequalities Fund, the NMUH/Royal Free merger¹, smoking cessation and vaping, online GP consultations, developing technology for managing long-term chronic conditions, the strategic role of GP Federations², vaccination initiatives, paediatric service review, primary care commissioning, increases in charges for services previously free on the NHS, and mental health and the community/voluntary sector.