Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies (if any).

Apologies were received from Councillors Lumsden, Chowdury and Rizvi along with apologies from Ian Buckmaster.

Members are invited to disclose any interests in any of the items on the agenda at this point of the meeting. Members may still disclose an interest in an item at any point prior to the consideration of the matter.

There were no disclosures of interest.

To agree as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Committee held on 18 October 2022 (attached).

Councillor Robinson raised an issue that the minutes did not include members that were present at the meeting. It was accepted that this would be amended.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 18^th October were otherwise agreed as a correct record and were signed by the Chairman.

Report attached.

The Committee was presented with a NHS NEL Trust update from the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust (BHRUT)

Members noted that the total number of patients waiting 18 months or longer had reduced since July to 124 from 472 and the CEO explained that the super clinics had been continued and had treated 81 women in 1 week. Members were pleased to note that the £14 million surgical hub at King George’s Hospital had started construction with completion planned for spring 2024 but it could be used from as early as autumn 2023.

The CEO explained to the Committee that 2 more marketplaces had opened which included additional items such toys, clothes and free sanitary products for women which had helped over half a thousand residents during the recent cost of living crisis.

The CEO then updated members of the wait lists for BHRUT and BARTS. It was noted that BARTS had a higher wait list than BHURT as they had already reached 1500 occupied beds, which was the same as the peak of the previous winter. 70 new midwives were set to join BARTS in the coming months following the meeting. Relating to the forthcoming winter strikes, it was explained to members that nurses in BARTS that were part of the Royal College of Nursing would not take part in the winter strikes. The CEO ensured members that BHURT were continuing to develop contingency plans for possible winter strikes from nurses and ambulance workers which involved ensuring that patients that were arriving by private car or via a cab who would have normally have arrived by ambulance would be seen as quickly and without care being compromised. It was also explained to members that following previous strikes, there had not been an increase in walk-in patients which was encouraging.

The CEO then notified members that the BARTS project to reduce the amount of time heart attack patients spent in hospitals won the 2022 HSJ ‘Acute Sector Innovation’ award and the REACH programme had considerably reduced the number of attendees to the emergency department and the scheme will be rolled out to BHRUT across the winter.

In response to questions from members of the committee, it was stated that BHRUT had faced challenges with staffing and increasing hours as staff morale had been seen to drop after the COVID pandemic coupled with the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Members requested that a presentation on the work BHRUT was undertaking on cancer across BHRUT could be brought to a future meeting.

Report attached.

The Committee were presented with a recent survey of in-patients at BHRUT.

Members were advised that the survey was conducted by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and it asked patients who were 16 years or over who had stayed in hospital for at least 1 night. 1250 patients were invited with only 320 participating (28%). It was noted that many areas received worse rating compared to a 2020 surveys’ data and work was under way to improve those services. It was explained that the main areas of criticism were surrounding increasing activities so patients aren’t bored and patients being moved at night when the site is under pressure.

Members also noted that the maternity service at the Queens’ Hospital in Romford facilitates 7000-8000 births a year but there were areas to improve as it was not adequate. The service has increased their staff since the previous review with most of the midwives UK trained but some are from oversees.

The Committee agreed for a follow up document on the number of GPs, the attendance at each clinic and the work they are doing.

Report attached.

The Committee received a report on the North East London (NEL) Integrated Care Strategy (ICS) development.

It was explained that this was a draft document with 6 themes; Equity, Prevention, Personalisation, Co-product, High trust and Learning system. The document set out the current context including the intense pressures the ICS is facing. The timescale for the strategy had not enabled talks to be held with local residents, however, a ‘big conversation’ was going to be held in spring 2023.

Report attached.

The Committee was presented with the Learning from Lives and Death (LEDER) report.

Members were disappointed to read that 49% of deaths of people with learning difficulties were described as ‘avoidable’. On the other hand, members were pleased that autism had been included in the data and includes children and adults. It was explained that the average life expectancy of people with learning difficulties is lower than the general population.

The Committee agreed for a follow up report to be brought back