Here is a summary of the scheduled discussions for the Outer North East London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting. The meeting included a health update from various providers within the NHS, and a deep dive into improving GP access in North East London. Councillors Sunny Brar and Councillor Bert Jones from London Borough of Redbridge were scheduled to be in attendance.

Health Update

The committee was scheduled to receive a health update, with details on a variety of health issues impacting residents of Outer North East London.

The update included information about organisational changes within the NHS North East London (NEL) Integrated Care Board (ICB) ¹, including a restructuring of the senior team. It was noted that Ralph Coulbeck had been appointed as interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO), replacing Zina Etheridge.

The update also covered strategic commissioning plans, referring to the NHS 10 Year plan, and a draft NHS Planning Framework. The Integrated Care Partnership’s ambition is to:

Work with and for all the people of north east London to create meaningful improvements in health, wellbeing and equity.

The update also included detail on the ICB's commissioning intentions, and the implementation of the NHS 10 Year plan's three shifts :

• hospital to community
• treatment to prevention
• analogue to digital

Case studies were provided to illustrate these shifts, including:

• The community health and wellbeing drop-in model in Barking and Dagenham.
• The use of Artificial Intelligence for faster Chest X-ray results, led by the North East London Cancer Alliance, in collaboration with Sectra and Qure.ai, and involving Barts Health NHS Trust, Barking, Havering, and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, and Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
• ShowerBox Barking, a shower facility for people experiencing homelessness, launched by Barking and Dagenham Council, NHS North East London Integrated Care Board, ShowerBox, and Barking Churches Unite.

The update also included information on managing winter pressures, and a review of the ICB's achievements over the past three years, as well as a finance overview, and provider updates from North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT), Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT), and Barts Health NHS Trust.

Improving GP Access

The committee was scheduled to discuss improving GP access in North East London, using a case study from Maylands Healthcare.

Dr Atul Aggarwal, GP Partner, was scheduled to present information on Maylands Healthcare, which has approximately 14,000 patients registered with 10 GPs, three practice nurses, one Primary Care Network (PCN) physiotherapist, one healthcare assistant (HCA) two PCN pharmacists and two PCN general practice assistants (GPAs).

The presentation was scheduled to cover the challenges faced by Maylands Healthcare, including queues at 8am, rising appointment demand, and long waiting times on phones. It also outlined the solutions implemented by the practice, including the Klinik Appointment System and X-on Health.

X-on Health is described as a cloud-based telephony solution designed for GP practices, with features such as smart call management and integration with clinical systems. Klinik is described as an AI-based triage and patient flow management tool.

The presentation also outlined the benefits of these systems for patients and staff, as well as the wider impact on the healthcare system.