The North Central London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JHOSC) meeting on 28 April 2025 included updates on mental health pathways, and a review of the committee's work programme for the upcoming year. The meeting was scheduled to focus on mental health services for both adults and young people, information sharing between organisations, and future priorities for the committee.

Mental Health Pathways

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on mental health pathways in North Central London (NCL), including improvements to the transition from children and young people’s (CYP) services to adult mental health services, and strengthening information sharing across organisations.

The update was scheduled to include:

• A review of the Mental Health Core Offer, which was developed in 2022 to address variations in service provision across boroughs. The report pack states that since the start of the programme, approximately £50 million has been invested to meet growing needs and reduce variations, with a large proportion directed towards services in Barnet, Enfield and Haringey to address historical gaps in funding.
• Discussion of a Single Point of Access for Core Community Teams, designed to streamline referrals and ensure they are directed to the right service immediately. The plan is to establish this in Barnet by June 2025, with the remaining five boroughs to follow by March 2026.
• An overview of the existing NHS CYP provider and service landscape, noting that no borough has a single provider of CAMHS[^1]. [^1]: CAMHS stands for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
• A review of transitions for young people aged 18–25, including challenges such as inconsistent service availability, disruption to therapeutic relationships, and a lack of tailored adult services.
• An outline of the NCL’s neighbourhood model, which aims to shift services from hospitals to the community, implement preventative measures, and utilise digital integration to enhance care delivery.

Work Programme

The committee was scheduled to discuss its work programme for 2025-26. Councillor Pippa Connor, Chair of the Committee, was expected to ask the attendees to note the current work programme and propose agenda items for the next meeting, scheduled for 7 July 2025.

The report pack included a list of usual standing items each year:

• Estates Strategy Update
• Workforce Update
• Finance Update
• Winter Planning Update

The report pack also included a list of possible items for inclusion in future meetings:

• Terms of Reference – revised version for JHOSC ToR to be discussed/approved by Committee.
• St Pancras Hospital update – Expected to be scheduled in 2025/26.
• Health Inequalities Fund – Last item heard in Feb 2025. It was suggested that the community groups involved in delivering local projects could provide an update to the Committee in a year or two.
• NMUH/Royal Free merger – Last item heard in Sep 2024. Possible follow-up areas: a) For the Committee to examine a case study into a less prominent area of care to ascertain how it was monitored before and after changes to the service, what the local priorities were and their impact on how clinical decisions were made. b) For further discussion on financial risk and, including how the debts of the Royal Free Group when be held within the merged Trust.
• Smoking cessation & vaping.
• The efficacy of online GP consultations (including how the disconnect between the public and the medical profession could be addressed, how the public could be reassured that outcomes would be equally as high as face-to-face consultations and how capacity can be improved in this way.)
• Developing technology and its role in the management of long-term chronic conditions.
• Strategic role of GP Federations.
• Vaccination initiatives tailored to specific local needs in each NCL Borough including outreach work with community pharmacies.
• Paediatric service review.
• Primary care commissioning and the monitoring of private corporations operating in this area.
• Increases in number of people being charged for services that they were previously able to access free of charge through the NHS (e.g. dentistry/ear wax syringing).
• Mental Health & Community/Voluntary Sector – In August 2024, the ICB/Mental Health Trusts provided an update on Community & Voluntary Sector contract terms. It was noted that further updates could be provided to the Committee as this area of work developed.