The North Central London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee was scheduled to discuss the NCL Inequalities Fund, an update on the Paediatric Services Review, and the proposed merger of North Middlesex and Royal Free Hospitals. The committee was also set to review its own Terms of Reference and its work programme for the upcoming year.

NCL Inequalities Fund

The committee was scheduled to receive an overview of the NCL Inequalities Fund, a £5 million annual investment aimed at funding innovative partnerships to address the root causes of health inequalities. The fund focuses on prevention, early help, and wider determinants of health, working collaboratively with communities through a co-production approach. The report pack detailed how funding was allocated, with 75% distributed to individual boroughs based on the proportion of their population living in the most deprived areas according to the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 2019. The remaining 25% was retained in an 'NCL pool' to fund projects addressing non-geographical inequalities and supporting disadvantaged groups, as well as projects in Barnet to address pockets of deprivation.

The report highlighted the implications of the updated IMD 2025, noting that North Central London (NCL) had become relatively more deprived compared to England. It also outlined the borough partnership process for selecting projects, where funding is allocated based on local needs and healthcare inequalities. Examples of funded projects included the Complete Care Communities project in Camden, the RISE project in Haringey, and initiatives focused on diabetes management and cancer screening in various boroughs.

The review of the 2025-26 Inequalities Fund indicated that 45 projects were delivered, supporting over 20,000 people, with 75% of project objectives met. The majority of these projects focused on wider determinants of health, prevention, and early identification, targeting communities at the highest risk. The report detailed a multi-dimensional evaluation, including a Population Health Outcomes Framework, thematic reviews of outputs and outcomes, and an economic evaluation. The economic evaluation estimated a return on investment of £1.47 for every £1 spent, with a total cost mitigation of £5.3 million against project costs of £3.6 million. The report also provided a summary of the evaluation by borough, detailing the number of projects, investment, participants, objectives met, and estimated cost mitigation for Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey, and Islington.

Looking ahead, the committee was informed that the Inequalities Fund programme would be aligned with the West and North London Integrated Care Board's (ICB) strategic priorities, focusing on strengthening neighbourhoods, improving outcomes for key groups, targeting investment towards newly identified deprived areas based on IMD 2025, streamlining commissioning arrangements, and embedding a robust data collection and evaluation approach. The report also included appendices with project highlights and detailed funding allocations for various projects across the boroughs.

Paediatric Services Review Update

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the Paediatric Services Review. No further details were available in the provided documents regarding the specific content of this update.

North Middlesex & Royal Free Hospital Merger Update

An update was scheduled regarding the merger of North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust and the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. The provided documents included a report titled Update on merger of Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and North Middlesex University Hos ¹, which was likely to contain details of the progress and implications of this merger.

NCL JHOSC Terms of Reference

The committee was scheduled to discuss and potentially approve revised Terms of Reference (ToR) for the North Central London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Documents provided included NCL JHOSC Terms of Reference 30th-Jan-2026 10.00 North Central London Joint Health Overview and S ², Cover Report - JHOSC ToR.docx_AS Jan 2026 ³, and APPENDIX A - Revised Terms of Reference - JHOSC _Jan 2026 ⁴, which would have contained the proposed changes.

Work Programme

The committee was set to review its work programme for the 2025-26 period. The document JHOSC work plan 25_26 Jan 2026 ⁵ outlined the planned agenda items for future meetings, including updates on community pharmacy, NCL Estates & Infrastructure strategy, the St Pancras Hospital Programme, NCL Finance, ICB restructuring, winter planning, and the NHS 10 Year Plan. It also noted potential future items such as smoking cessation and vaping, the efficacy of online GP consultations, developing technology in chronic condition management, the strategic role of GP Federations, vaccination initiatives, paediatric service reviews, primary care commissioning, increases in charged NHS services, and mental health and community/voluntary sector contracts.