The Health and Social Care Scrutiny Sub-Committee is scheduled to discuss adult safeguarding, the vaccination programme, suicide prevention and adult social care complaints. The meeting will be held in the Auditorium - Harrow Council Hub, Forward Drive, Harrow. Members of the public are welcome to attend in person or view the meeting online.

Co-Production Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention Strategy

The sub-committee is scheduled to discuss the co-produced Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention Strategy. The report pack states that the strategy is intended to be jointly owned by all system partners, to help understand local needs and identify gaps in prevention efforts. The strategy is intended to be shaped by the voice of lived experience, ensuring that people with personal experience of suicide and self-harm are central to its design, delivery, and evaluation.

The report notes that a clear, local, all-age strategy is required to ensure all partners and residents can coordinate effort to combat the level of self-harm and suicide in our communities. The strategy will provide the framework for tangible actions to be delivered as a system over the next two years, and is an essential requirement from the Suicide Prevention Strategy for England.

The themes of the local strategy will complement the national strategy, and a collaborative workshop was organised involving those with lived experience, staff from statutory agencies and the community and voluntary sector. Over 100 participants helped to develop local priorities and actions across four pillars: prevent, identify, equip and support.

The four pillars are:

• Prevent: Establishing specific suicide and self-harm prevention approaches throughout the local delivery policies of services and organisations or groups of residents.
• Identify: Using different intelligence sources to ensure specific actions are customised to the local environment.
• Equip: Producing the range of supporting resources necessary for all partners to deliver on the aims of the strategy.
• Support: Designed with the individual in mind, either those directly at risk of suicide or self-harm, and for those that have lived experience.

The sub-committee will be asked to endorse the collaborative approach to the production of the strategy, and the four pillars within it.

Adult Safeguarding Update

The sub-committee is scheduled to receive an update on improvements to adult safeguarding in Harrow. According to the report pack, safeguarding was identified as an improvement priority for the council following the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2024.

The report notes that there has been a noticeable rise in the need for Adult Social Care services, including those related to safeguarding, with a surge in demand of 65% over the last three years.

The council has been working to improve safeguarding supervision practice standards, streamline the referral process, update the adult social care database functionality, embed pan-London guidance, strengthen timeliness of allocations, develop a whole-family approach to safeguarding, and ensure the right quality assurance framework is in place.

The report pack includes a presentation that provides further information on the progress made and future priorities. The presentation notes that in the CQC's scoring of nine quality statements, safeguarding was given a score of 2 (out of 4), which corresponds to having some evidence but also significant shortcomings. The CQC report described a generally positive culture among staff, and recognised that the local authority needed to improve communication, information accessibility, and awareness of safeguarding support, especially among carers and harder-to-reach communities.

The presentation also highlights positive progress across all areas, including demand, responsiveness, time to complete concerns and enquiries, making safeguarding personal, and risk reduction.

The sub-committee will be asked to note the report providing an update on improvements to adults safeguarding in Harrow.

Vaccination Programme

The sub-committee will receive a report setting out the current vaccination coverage data for Harrow across winter and childhood immunisations. The report seeks approval for targeted actions to improve uptake, reduce health inequalities, and protect vulnerable populations.

The report notes that while Harrow has made notable strides, particularly in reducing measles cases and improving MMR uptake through targeted school and GP initiatives, coverage across most childhood vaccines remains below the World Health Organization's (WHO) 95% target and trails behind neighbouring boroughs, including Hillingdon and Hounslow.

The report states that the council plays a vital role in bridging these gaps by enhancing local health promotion efforts, supporting outreach in underserved communities, and leveraging trusted relationships through schools, nurseries, and faith groups.

The report also notes that this year's flu season has presented significant public health challenges, with activity levels exceeding previous years. UKHSA data indicates that flu deaths in England rose from 3,555 in 2023-2024 to 7,757 in 2024-2025.

The sub-committee will be asked to note the detail of the report as the statutory evidence required by the Director of Public Health to ensure adequate arrangements are in place to protect the health of the population.

Adult Social Care Complaints

The sub-committee is scheduled to receive a report providing an overview of the council's performance on Adult Social Care complaints and feedback activity between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

The report notes that the overall number of complaints and enquiries has increased slightly from the previous year, from 110 stage 1 complaints to 139 this year. The report also notes that weekly updates detailing the analysis of complaints and representations have been shared with senior management, with a focus on improving response timescales and accountability for completion of responses.

The report identifies a significant number of complaints are raised in relation to financial matters, connected to the client contribution charged for commissioned care services, as well as delays in Occupational Therapy assessments due to high numbers of referrals increasing waiting times, and unclear care planning for adults.

The sub-committee will be asked to note the report providing an update on adult social care complaints in Harrow.