Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual meeting

Contact: Anthony Clements  Email: anthony.clements@oneSource.co.uk 01708 433065

Media

Items
No. Item

45.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENT OF SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS (if any) - receive.

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillor Umar Alli, Waltham Forest,

Councillor Richard Sweden substituting.

 

Apologies were also received from Councillor Peter Chand, Barking & Dagenham.  

46.

DISCLOSURE OF INTERESTS

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.

Minutes:

There were no disclosures of interest.

47.

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING pdf icon PDF 201 KB

To agree as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Committee held on 16 September 2020 (attached).  

Minutes:

The minutes of the meetings of the Joint Committee held on 16 September  were agreed as a correct record and would be signed by the Chairman at a later date.

48.

NHS INVESTMENT PLANS pdf icon PDF 160 KB

Report and correspondence with Joint Committee attached.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

East London Health & Care Partnership officers provided the Joint Committee with an overview and context around how bed numbers needed to be viewed. The presentation also detailed the plans in place for some of the developments that the partnership have going forward in terms of investment and infrastructure.

 

The difficulties in providing an accurate number of beds was particularly because the hospital sites across the North East London were different in nature. It was stated that many sites have lots of the beds that were used for either London wide or even national specialty centres.

 

The partnership officers outlined a commitment to continue to invest in services and estate across North East London.  It was stated that each hospital in North East London was different and cannot be fairly compared since each site does not have the same estate, clinical or workforce capacity.

 

The number of beds in use at any hospital changed daily depending on the numbers of patients, the type of care required and safe staffing needs. It was also stated that some hospitals provided very specialist care such as St Bartholomew’s Hospital whilst other hospitals have been designated for people across London with a heart attack or stroke. Furthermore, some hospital beds were used as part of national networks by patients outside north East and Greater London.

 

The Royal London Hospital was identified as a major acute and specialist hospital that offers a range of local and specialist services to patients from across all areas of North East London and beyond. The hospital is noted as one of the capital's leading trauma and emergency care facilities as well as a hyper-acute stroke centre.

The report detailed some key developments and progress that included successful funding bids for major projects at St George’s Hospital, Hornchurch, Whipps Cross Hospital and Sutherland Road Health Centre in Waltham Forest. The plans also included a £24million investment to expand critical care at the Royal London. All North East London Hospital Trusts had received £13.2 million funding to spend across sites in preparation for winter. An additional £15 million was specifically targeted for King George hospital over the next two years.

The presentation pointed out the fact that the response to COVID-19 changed the way that the partnership undertakes its work and that it was now planning in a more coordinated way. The partnership had been able to step up its COVID-19 19 response which includeed infection prevention, control and additional capacity being provided across the system.

It was explained that the future arrangements reinforced the point about how specific  developments in particular sites were not exclusive to the locations that they were in but were part of the wider system resilience.

The presentation outlined various tables of funding and investment over a four year period. The Committee was informed that the funding indicated two key messages; firstly the substantial cash increase which although had corrected what was an historical imbalance was by no means sufficient to overturn a long legacy of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

49.

EAST LONDON HEALTH AND CARE PARTNERSHIP UPDATE pdf icon PDF 160 KB

Report attached.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Joint Committee received an update on the work of the East London Health and Care Partnership including plans for a single Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for North East London.

Officers explained that the movement towards a single CCG from a commission perspective was about partnership organisation and co-ordinated working. In October 2020, GP members had agreed to the new formation across the seven CCGs. The new single CCG had been designated as a North East London integrated care system and would be one of eleven nationally organised CCGs in place from 1 December 2020.

A recent National Health Service (NHS) England publication on the future direction of travel for integrated care systems had reported the options available for statutory changes from April 2022, which was in line with developments across North East London.

It was noted that Barking, Havering and Redbridge (BHR) as part of the national CCG ratings had moved from a ‘requiring improvement’ rating to ‘good’ . This was a positive position to be going forward to the next phase of integration.

It was explained that the partnership was under pressure within the system as a result of COVID prevalence with North East London being significantly impacted by the second wave, with significant numbers of patients requiring ventilation within critical care.

It was noted that test numbers had risen amongst the younger population and the over 60s but, dependent on the implementation of tier three and the Christmas period, this may change and therefore it would be necessary to ensure a collaborative approach in the safe delivery of services to patients and the protection of staff. 

The primary care flu vaccination program had been rolled out, with 80% of all care home residents having received the vaccination and 28% of care home staff.  Officers were working with local authority colleagues and care home forums to encourage staff to come forward. The Partnership had carried out mapping of pharmacies and identified the pharmacists which were most local to the care homes where staff could go and be vaccinated.

It was explained that there needed to be clarity of COVID vaccination versus flu vaccination messages to the public.  Members noted that there was a high refusal rate amongst care home staff to come forward for the flu vaccine and the Partnership was working with local authorities to encourage vaccinations.

Webinars were being held to provide care home staff the opportunity to discuss the COVID-19 vaccine and any concerns that they might have. It was noted that there was more to be done to counteract some of the discouraging media messages.

The Covid-19 vaccination had been rolled out to GP hubs and Queens Hospital and the partnership had extended invites to care home workers and high-risk shielding staff and officers were working with CCG leaders to ensure that the partnership maximized the use of the vaccine in all the primary care hubs.

In response to questioning, it was noted that the vaccination programme at Queens Hospital was on target for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

50.

QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC pdf icon PDF 5 KB

List of questions submitted is attached. Questioners will have up to three minutes each to read out their question and make any supporting statement.

 

Note: The total duration of this section of the meeting shall not exceed 15 minutes.

Minutes:

The committee noted the two questions from members of the public that both related to aspects of the Whipps Cross Hospital redevelopment.

 

It was agreed that the issues raised be put as a priority item for the next meeting and for Barts Health NHS Trust officers to attend. This would allow members to scrutinise fully the redevelopment plans and the future of the Margaret Centre palliative care unit.