The North West London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee met to discuss dentist commissioning and children's dental health, the future of place based partnerships, and special school nursing. The committee was also scheduled to review its recommendations tracker and work programme for the 2025/26 municipal year.

Dentist Commissioning and Children's Dental Health

The committee was scheduled to discuss a report on dentist commissioning and children's dental health across North West London. The report, titled NW London Dentist Commissioning Report, noted that the request for the report followed increasing concerns regarding the accessibility, equity, and effectiveness of dental services for children and young people, particularly in the context of post-pandemic recovery, rising oral health inequalities, and the evolving commissioning landscape under ICS arrangements.

The report stated that North West London was one of the highest performing integrated care boards (ICBs) nationally, and that its performance had been enhanced by commissioning additional activity and the New Patient Premium (NPP). The ICB was implementing additional capacity from general dental practices during 2025/26, targeting areas of highest need using public health data on oral health inequalities. The report noted that this was especially important given that the NPP had been discontinued.

The report also detailed additional UDAs¹ commissioned by the ICB:

NWL	Number of Practices	UDAs (k)	Value £(m)
2023/24	84	103.4	3.4
2024/25	80	98.6	3.3
2025/26	TBC	83.6	2.8
Total		285.6	9.5

Table 3; Additional UDAs Commissioned; NWL ICB

The report stated that new patients are key to driving up activity for dental practices with NHS contracts, which reduces the number of complaints received from residents having difficulty accessing NHS dental care.

The report stated that overall access levels across NWL can vary, and that contract delivery is not necessarily a good barometer for analysing this as it is relative to the level of activity commissioned. It also noted that general dental services are commissioned based on delivery to both adults and children, and that there are no specific aspects of general dental service delivery that prioritise children over adults.

The report included data on the number of NWL residents, both adult and child, seen on a 12-month rolling basis when compared to February 2020.

The report also provided information on community dental services provided by Central London Community Health Care Trust and Whittington Health, as well as acute contracts and London acute dental contract values for 2025/26.

The report included an outcomes and equity analysis, and information on workforce and collaborative working. It noted that responsibility for improving oral health is shared across local authority public health and NHS dental services.

The report also detailed two dental services pilots:

• A two-year pilot focused on children, which will test and develop targeted dental pathways into local NHS dental practices for children and young people, particularly those in Core20Plus areas² and areas with identified higher oral health need.
• A six-month pilot supporting people in temporary accommodation to access NHS dental care and preventative advice.

The report included a dental public health report, which recommended providers in certain wards to have additional NHS dental activity. The top eleven proposed wards for additional dental activity were:

1. Stonebridge, Brent
2. Harlesden, Brent
3. Church Street, Westminster
4. Barnhill, Hillingdon
5. Westbourne/Harrow Road, Westminster
6. Heston West/ Cranford, Hounslow
7. Feltham West/Bedfont, Hounslow
8. Acton Central, Ealing
9. Wormholt and White City/ Shepherd's Bush Green, Hammersmith and Fulham
10. Colville, Kensington and Chelsea
11. Roxeth, Harrow

The report also included data on dental access at local authority and ward level, as well as mapping of current NHS dental providers and dental epidemiology profiles for five-year-olds.

The Future of Place Based Partnerships Delivering Health and Care Services

The committee was scheduled to discuss a report on the future of place based partnerships delivering health and care services. The report, titled NW London Place Based Partnerships, set out a maturity model for place based partnerships in NWL, and outlined a shared framework to support local authority, health and voluntary sector partners in each place to assess the partnership's current state, identify development needs, and plan its journey towards greater maturity.

The report stated that by April 2026, every borough in NWL should be operating as a mature place based partnership with:

• Shared strategic priorities rooted in population need
• Integrated neighbourhood teams at the heart of delivery
• Clear accountability and inclusive governance arrangements
• Coordinated infrastructure and resources to deliver effectively

The report also outlined the history and context of place based partnerships within NWL, and what they are expected to do, including:

• Operate as borough-level alliances
• Integrate care around residents' needs
• Coordinate budgets and delivery across partners
• Lead on reducing inequalities, developing neighbourhood working, and embedding preventative care
• Develop neighbourhood teams to be the delivery vehicle for health and social care within populations of 50,000-100,000

The report noted that there was a lack of consensus around the core responsibilities of partnerships, and that legacy CCG structures continue to blur accountability.

The report also detailed what NWL place based partnerships have already achieved, including examples from Hillingdon, Brent, Hammersmith & Fulham, Ealing, Hounslow, Harrow, and the Bi-Borough (Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster).

The report included a maturity model, defining what 'good' looks like across six key domains:

• Leadership & Governance
• Vision & Strategy
• Service Delivery & Integrated Care Models
• Population Health Management
• Patient and Community Engagement
• Workforce Development

The report also outlined what is needed from each partner to deliver on the ambition of mature place based partnerships, including the Integrated Care Board, lead provider, all providers, and local authorities.

The report also detailed the role of the place-based 'integrator' function, including operational coordination and integration, facilitating population health management, collaboration, alignment and learning, leadership and delivery, and infrastructure, risk and sustainability.

Special School Nursing and Update on SEN Provisions

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the current position of special school nursing provisions across North West London.

A report titled NW London Special School Nursing stated that a core offer for community services is a key contributor to improving outcomes and reducing variation for the NWL ICS. It noted that community providers have committed to developing a consistent core offer for any place to reduce unwarranted variation and drive service consistency across North West London.

The report stated that all NHS-funded adults' and children's services are in scope of the core offer, and that 9 adults' services and 2 children's services are in the tranche 1 services.

The report detailed the review process, which included:

• Collective review of the clinical model of each service historically commissioned across 8 NWL boroughs
• Core model proposal agreed at high level for each service
• Subject specific work stream informed by subject matter experts to progress from high level outline to full specification
• Review of best practice to further inform model
• Engagement with stakeholders including local authorities, primary care, acute trusts, plus other partners as appropriate to each service to inform model to inform model
• Impact analysis on service users and stakeholders/partners to inform model and implementation plan
• Gap analysis by each borough of current to proposed model to identify scale of change
• Demand and capacity review for each borough

The report also provided an update on the special school nursing workstream, including milestones, timelines, and risks.

A supplementary agenda was published including an updated version of the Special School Nursing report. The updated report included a summary of changes and boroughs affected, as well as an updated engagement work plan.

North West London JOHSC Recommendations Tracker

The committee was scheduled to review the latest scrutiny recommendations tracker for the 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 municipal years. The tracker provides a summary of scrutiny recommendations made during the previous two and current municipal years, and tracks decisions made by NHS colleagues and gives the committee oversight over implementation progress.

North West London JOHSC 2025/26 Work Programme

The committee was scheduled to confirm its work programme for the 2025/26 municipal year. The work programme outlines the decisions and health policy areas the committee plans to review during the municipal year, according to its Terms of Reference.