The Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny were scheduled to meet to discuss the Safeguarding Adults Board Strategic Plan for 2025-28, and to receive an update from Whipps Cross Hospital (Barts Health NHS Trust) on the findings of a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report. Councillors were also expected to review the committee's forward plan, action tracker and recommendations tracker.

Whipps Cross Hospital Update

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the CQC report findings from Whipps Cross University Hospital, part of Barts Health NHS Trust.

In July 2024, the CQC had rated the Urgent and Emergency Department as 'requires improvement', citing breaches in:

• Regulation 10: Dignity and respect
• Regulation 12: Safe care and treatment
• Regulation 14: Nutritional and hydration needs
• Regulation 18: Staffing

The report pack stated that by May 2025, significant improvements had been made and the department was no longer in breach of regulations. These improvements included:

• A new temporary escalation space with privacy measures for up to 17 spaces.
• An additional ward with up to 16 spaces.
• Reconfiguration of the emergency assessment area with appropriate privacy measures.
• A new trial to ensure patients are quickly seen by clinicians.
• Implementation of new safety policies and guidelines.
• Extra training and monitoring standards for infection control.
• Additional patient rounds to ensure appropriate nutrition and hydration.
• Additional staffing.

The report pack noted that further work was required to improve patient flow and work with external system partners for external pathway management. It also detailed systematic changes to clinical pathways, including the use of Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) areas, and new pathways to ensure appropriate patients can be seen by the Urgent Treatment Centre.

The CQC carried out a short notice inspection on Diagnostic Imaging in July 2025, visiting areas such as Accident and Emergency X-Ray and CT, CT Scanners, and the Byron Integrated Cardiology Unit. Following the inspection, the service was rated as Requires Improvement, with breaches of:

• Regulation 12: Safe care and treatment
• Regulation 15: Premises and equipment
• Regulation 17: Good governance

The report pack stated that procedures and processes were updated to ensure appropriate audits were completed, and that the service was reviewing patient posters to ensure they are available in different languages.

The report pack stated that the next steps involve the hospital submitting a full action plan to the CQC in November.

Safeguarding Adults Board Strategic Plan 2025-28

The Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny were scheduled to discuss the Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB)'s strategic plan for 2025-28. The SAB is the statutory forum responsible for ensuring multi-agency arrangements are in place to safeguard adults with care and support needs in the borough, as required by the Care Act 2014.

The report pack included the SAB's annual report for April 2024 to March 2025, and the draft strategic plan for 2025-28. The committee was invited to make recommendations to strengthen the strategic plan and identify elements that may warrant future scrutiny.

The annual report noted key achievements including the enhancement of the Team Around the Person model, and progress in transitional safeguarding¹. It also summarised insights gained from statutory reviews, including the safeguarding adults review (SAR) for Jodie, which provided learning around multiagency communication and support.

The strategic plan is structured around four key pillars:

• Scrutiny and assurance
• Equitable safeguarding
• Impactful learning
• Commitment to collaboration

The plan focuses on several priorities:

• Homelessness and safeguarding, including a 12-month pilot led by North East London Foundation Trust (NELFT) focusing on dual diagnosis.
• Safer providers, including a multi-agency system to identify and escalate concerns, and a shared dashboard for intelligence sharing.
• Executive functioning and mental capacity, including refreshed local Mental Capacity Guidance.
• Safer discharge from hospital, including integrated discharge protocols and regular audits of safeguarding concerns.
• Safeguarding informal carers and those they care for, including strengthening multi-agency collaboration.
• Transitional safeguarding, ensuring a seamless approach between children's and adults' safeguarding systems.

The plan also details how the SAB intends to strengthen its ways of working, including data-informed safeguarding, embedding voices of lived experience, fostering a strong learning culture, promoting professional challenge and escalation, and ensuring proportionate approaches to adult safeguarding.

Scrutiny Report

The committee was also scheduled to review the Scrutiny Report, which includes the forward plan, action tracker, and recommendations tracker.

The forward plan outlines the committee's work programme for the year, including statutory reports, major decisions, and policy areas of interest. The action tracker captures actions required of officers by the committee at previous meetings, while the recommendations tracker captures recommendations made by the committee on how services should change or improve.