The Health and Wellbeing Board meeting scheduled for Wednesday 21 January 2026 was set to cover a range of critical public health issues, including a comprehensive assessment of children and young people's mental health needs, annual reports on safeguarding, and updates on suicide prevention and tobacco control strategies. The board was also scheduled to hear community feedback on sickle cell services.

CYP Mental Health Needs Assessment 2025 Report

The board was scheduled to review the findings of the City and Hackney Children and Young People's (CYP) Mental Health Needs Assessment 2025. This report provides an overview of mental health and wellbeing needs across the City of London and Hackney, aiming to inform the new Emotional Health and Wellbeing Strategy and Action Plan. The assessment highlights a growing and unequal burden of mental health needs, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with particular attention paid to disparities in identification and access to support across different demographic and geographic groups. The report includes 22 recommendations grouped into five themes: reducing inequalities and improving joint working with communities; enhancing communication, knowledge, and information; developing more flexible, needs-based approaches; recommendations for schools; and further investigation, research, or work needed. The board was asked to review key findings and discuss how recommendations will be taken forward.

Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual Report 2024-25

Rory McCallum, Senior Professional Advisor for the City & Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership (CHSCP), was scheduled to present the CHSCP Annual Report for 2024-25. The report was intended to detail key achievements, ongoing challenges, and future priorities for safeguarding children. Key achievements highlighted included improvements in the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police's handling of child-related cases, robust multi-agency governance, and a commitment to learning from reviews. Ongoing challenges noted were financial pressures, increasing complexity of cases involving emotional distress and mental health issues, and persistent system barriers related to data accuracy and information sharing. Future priorities were set to focus on the health and stability of the safeguarding workforce, tackling racism, and maintaining a focus on the lived experiences of children.

Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report 2024-25

Claire Solley, Independent Chair of the City and Hackney Safeguarding Adults Board (CHSAB), was scheduled to present the CHSAB Annual Report for 2024-25. The report outlines the Board's achievements, areas for development, and priorities for the upcoming year, in line with its statutory duties under the Care Act 2014. Key achievements for 2024/25 included commissioning safeguarding training for frontline staff, organising events for Safeguarding Adults Week, developing a multi-agency dashboard for quality assurance, and undertaking two discretionary Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs) concerning 'JL' and 'Steve'. The report also provided safeguarding data for Hackney, indicating 1780 safeguarding concerns raised, with self-neglect being the most common form of abuse reported.

Annual Suicide Prevention Report 2025

Jennifer Millmore, Senior Public Health Specialist, was scheduled to present the Annual Suicide Prevention Report for 2025. This report summarises the latest data on suicides and suicide attempts in Hackney, detailing preventative work being undertaken locally and reviewing priorities set by the Suicide Prevention Steering Group. The report indicated an average of around 20 registered suicides per year in Hackney over the last two decades, with a rate of 9.1 per 100,000 population over the last three years, which is below the national rate but above the London rate. The report highlighted that approximately 75% of suspected deaths by suicide in Hackney are by men and that suicide risk increases with age, differing from the national trend. It also noted the increased risk for autistic individuals, people with substance misuse issues, and older adults, and outlined proposed priorities for the coming year, including improving awareness, suicide prevention in educational settings, and support for those who have previously attempted suicide.

Progress Update on the City and Hackney Tobacco Control Alliance

Nickie Bazell, Senior Public Health Specialist, was scheduled to provide an update on the progress of the City and Hackney Tobacco Control Alliance (TCA). The report detailed progress against the TCA's eight partnership priorities for 2024-2026, which include re-setting strategic approaches, developing coordinated communications, co-designing a new Stop Smoking Service (SSS) with an inequalities focus, coordinating NHS and local authority treatment pathways, reviewing smokefree environments, supporting young people to live smoke-free, addressing illegal tobacco use, and improving understanding of e-cigarettes. Significant progress was noted in re-establishing senior leadership engagement, expanding youth-focused work, and intensifying enforcement activity against illicit tobacco and unregulated vaping products. The report sought the Board's support for the next phase of work on smokefree environments.

Community Voice: Sickle Cell Services

Sara Morosinotto, Enter and View Manager at Healthwatch Hackney, was scheduled to present findings on the patient experience of sickle cell services. The research, a follow-up to a 2015 report, evaluated improvements in sickle cell care at Homerton Hospital. The findings indicated that patient experience varies significantly depending on the care setting, with specialist services like the Medical Day Unit (MDU) providing consistently excellent care, while A&E and GP services were associated with disbelief, delays, and poor knowledge of the condition. The report highlighted issues such as unsafe pain management, fragmented care, and the burden of self-advocacy for patients. Recommendations were to be made to Homerton Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the NEL ICB to improve patient experience, trust, and consistency across care settings, and to strengthen the transition from paediatric to adult services.

Dates of Future Meetings and Forward Plan

The board was also scheduled to review the dates of future meetings and the forward plan for the Health and Wellbeing Board.