The Inner North East London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (INEL JHOSC) meeting included a health update, a finance overview and a cancer deep dive. The meeting was also scheduled to review actions and recommendations from previous meetings.

Cancer Services in North East London

A report on cancer services in North East London was scheduled to be discussed. The report pack included an introduction to the North East London Cancer Alliance, which:

works with acute providers, GPs, local authorities, public health, voluntary and community organisations, and the local population to improve local cancer services and reduce health inequalities.

The report stated that in 2023-24, 7,735 people in North East London were diagnosed with cancer, compared to 8,133 in 2022-23, and that 52,979 people were living with cancer in north east London in 2025, compared to 51,588 the previous year.

The most common types of cancer in north east London were scheduled to be discussed, with prostate cancer accounting for 18.4% of cases, breast cancer 14.8%, and lung cancer 11.4%.

Performance against national cancer standards was also scheduled to be discussed, including:

• The 28-day faster diagnosis standard¹
• The 31-day decision to treat-to-treatment standard
• The 62-day referral to treatment standard

Screening programmes, including bowel, cervical and breast screening were also scheduled to be discussed.

The report pack also included details of work to raise awareness of early diagnosis, including the 'You Need to Know' campaign, support from Hackney Wick FC, a pan-London cervical screening campaign with Olympic athletes, and cancer awareness in schools.

The use of artificial intelligence in chest x-rays, treatment clinical animations, teledermatology², and histopathology improvements were also scheduled to be discussed.

The report pack also included details of personalised cancer care, workforce, communications, engagement, and priorities for 2025-26.

Finance Overview

A finance overview was scheduled to be presented by Zina Etheridge, Chief Executive, NHS North East London. The report pack included a summary of the 2024/25 financial position, noting that at month 11, the year-to-date ICS³ deficit was £91.5m, with a variance to plan deficit of £86.1m.

The report pack stated that NHS England had provided additional resources of £45m to support providers, which reduced the expected month 12 deficit to £80m.

The key pressures at a system level were scheduled to be discussed, including:

• Efficiency and cost improvement
• Run rate pressures
• Pay costs

The 2025/26 operating plan was also scheduled to be discussed, including the cost uplift factor, must do's, and specific funds.

The report pack also included a summary of the 2025/26 system financial plan, noting that after applying the required planning assumptions, every provider with the exception of Homerton, submitted a break-even plan for the year ahead.

The report pack stated that to deliver the plan, efficiencies of £367.69m needed to be delivered, of which £79.01m remained unidentified and a risk to plan delivery.

Health Update

A health update was scheduled to be presented by Zina Etheridge, Chief Executive, NHS North East London. The report pack included information on a new careers hub for NEL, medication shortages, staff survey results, changes to ICBs, and good news from NEL.

The report pack also included provider updates from Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and Barts Health NHS Trust.

Collaborative updates from the Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Collaborative, and the Community Healthcare Collaborative were also scheduled to be discussed.

The report pack also included updates on dementia improvement, strategy and planning, specialised commissioning delegation, and collaborative improvement networks.

Local developments, including the opening of the Redbridge ‘Well House’⁴, were also scheduled to be discussed.

Scrutiny Report

A report of the Scrutiny Policy Assistant was scheduled for discussion. The report pack included the forward plan, action tracker, and recommendations tracker.