Members are reminded to consider the categories of interest in the Code of Conduct for Members to determine whether they have an interest in any agenda item and any action they should take. For further details, please see the attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

Members are reminded to declare the nature of the interest and the agenda item it relates to. Please note that ultimately it’s the Members’ responsibility to declare any interests and to update their register of interest form as required by the Code.

If in doubt as to the nature of your interest, you are advised to seek advice prior to the meeting by contacting the Monitoring Officer or Democratic Services

No declarations of interest were received at the meeting.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the last meeting of the Health Scrutiny Sub-Committee.

The Sub-Committee confirmed as a correct record the minutes of the last meeting of the Health Scrutiny Sub-Committee held on 29^th April 2021 and the  Chair was authorised to sign.

The Chair informed the Sub-Committee that she would be attending the main Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the 28th June 2021 and it is her intention to improve the dialogue with the main scrutiny committee this year (e.g. facilitating access to the main committee papers and meetings for information and comment).

The Sub-Committee also noted that the Chair is a member of the Borough’s Health and Well-Being and the Inner North East London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee and that she would also be happy to arrange for the circulation of agenda papers to Members of the Sub-Committee.

The Sub-Committee elected Councillor Faroque Ahmed for the current year.

The Sub-Committee received and noted a report that outlined the Terms of Reference, Quorum, Membership and Dates of Meetings for the Municipal Year 2021/22. 

Accordingly the Sub-Committee resolved to note:

Cllr Macallan The Sub-Committee agreed to nominate the following Members as to the Inner North East London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (INEL JHOSC)

• Councillor Gabriela Salva Macallan.
• Councillor Shah Ameen; and
• Councillor Faroque Ahmed

The Sub-Committee was reminded that it’s role is to hold commissioners and providers of publicly funded health and social care to account for the quality of their services in accordance with the Health & Social Care Act 2001. The Sub-Committee operates through statutory powers to obtain information, ask questions, and make recommendations. 

Accordingly the Sub-Committee noted that she had been liaising with key stakeholders and partners to identify key priorities for health and social care. As a result, several agenda ideas had been suggested for the forward plan.

Subsequent to the meeting and the Scrutiny Away Day the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 26^th July 2021 considered and agreed the Forward Plan attached as an appendix to these minutes.

The Sub-Committee received a report that provided an overview of Tower Hamlets Primary Care Networks, together with more detailed information about the excellent work undertaken by the Networks to improve the health and wellbeing of the population.  The main points of the discussion and the questions arising from that discussion may be summarised as follows:

The Sub-Committee:

v  Noted that the Networks in Tower Hamlets was first formed in 2010. Tower Hamlets and has been cited as an example of best practice that is now being replicated nationally, through the introduction of PCNs. In 2010 the then Primary Care Trust (now Tower Hamlets, Newham, and Waltham Forrest (TNW) Integrated Care Partnership), Local Medical Council and GP surgeries in Tower Hamlets set up eight Networks composed of member practices.

v  Was advised that the reason for establishing the Tower Hamlets Networks was due to the high levels of deprivation in the Borough and the chronic underfunding of primary care. 

v  Expressed concerns regarding the adequacy of provision for general practitioner services in the Borough, in response it was noted that general practices in tower hamlets do provide effective provision although it was noted that there was some concern at the quality of provision for those practices in the more deprived areas of tower hamlets.

v  Noted that Tower Hamlets continues to be one of the fastest growing, youngest, and most diverse populations in England, with a quarter of the whole population aged 0 to 19 years old and therefore a significant percentage of the population are only now receiving their vaccinations whereas the older population are now safer as there have been vaccinated.

v  Expressed concern that four Whitechapel GP surgeries had been taken over by a new provider these surgeries had previously been owned by a GP-led company called AT Medics who had established a chain of surgeries by taking over failing practices.

v  Noted how the bringing GP of surgeries together at scale can allow for the focus on delivery (e.g. Inter-practice referral scheme, for specific procedures/services and more recently creating centralised flu clinics; they work on improving the long-term health and multidiscipline and multi-organisational teams including Social Prescribers, Health Visitors and Midwifery services).  Also that it is vital that there is active patient participation in the planning and the development of such services.

Accordingly, the Sub-Committee:

1.    Noted the contents of the report and presentation; and

2.    Agreed to incorporate the above-mentioned comments as appropriate within the HASC forward plan 2021-22.

The Sub-Committee noted that in early December 2020 that the Home Office had placed in excess of 400 asylum seekers in 3 hotels in the Borough as part of an initiative called Operation Oak which was a programme designed to disperse asylum seekers around the country between December 2020 and June 2021. The arrival of this group had been unexpected, and therefore unplanned and required intensive input from Council Departments and voluntary agencies to provide appropriate support in order to meet the borough’s statutory obligations. 

In addition, the Sub-Committee noted a briefing note that provided (i) details of the context and background to Operation Oak, (ii) information on how the Council is responding to the arrival of the asylum seekers, where funding gaps exist, and the structures in place for communication and reporting to ensure efforts are properly co-ordinated. The main points highlighted in the discussion may be summarised as follows:

The Sub-Committee:

v  Was informed that (i) the majority of asylum-seekers do not have the right to work in the United Kingdom and so must rely on state support; (ii) housing is provided, but asylum-seekers cannot choose where it is, and it is often ‘hard to let’ properties which renters do not want to live in; and (iii) support is available for secondary language education.

v  Noted that the Home Office has contracted management of this accommodation in the Borough to Clearsprings and both the asylum seekers housed there and local agencies have been speaking out about the issues associated in housing people in such temporary accommodation e.g. the huge strain on accommodation; quality and quantity of food and drink provided to the asylum seekers and that they are not getting access to the services that they are entitled to.

v  Indicated that it wanted to know what the Council could do to help these asylum seekers with regards to mental health; help for schools in terms of uniform grants; where these individuals will be housed and what access would they have to primary care.

v  Commented that with regards to access to primary care they wanted to see the establishment of Care Navigators as in Newham to work to facilitate integrated working across the Primary Care Teams, GP’s, and other relevant Health; Education and Social Care Professionals to ensure care delivery is of a high quality.

v  Noted the extra support being provided by the Borough’s Early Help Hub (EHH) works with asylum seekers and their families, the EHH checks if an asylum seeker is already receiving assistance by another agency, what support is being provided.

v  Agreed that whilst the Government has stated that asylum seekers children are entitled to the same local authority support as any other children for example to (i) receive the care that they need to thrive; (ii) receive the support they need to fulfil their educational and other outcomes; and (iii) have access to the care, services and support they need. It is important to ensure that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.3

The Sub-Committee noted that the Council and its partners are working hard to prevent and minimise further infections of Covid and reduce risk of future restrictions and lockdown measures. The Council it was noted will continue to work with its partners and ensure the local population and the most vulnerable in Tower Hamlets are protected from transmission of Covid 19 and continue to receive the health and care services they need.  The main points highlighted in the discussion may be summarised as follows:

The Sub-Committee:

v  Noted that the latest update on Covid 19 from Public Health and its partners on tackling the pandemic. The focus will be on:

a.    Updates to Tower Hamlets Outbreak Management Plan.

b.    Latest trends on the local vaccination programme; and

c.    Variants of Concern and surge testing.

v  Noted the surge testing figures and indicated they would like to see more of such data presented a future meeting.

v  Noted the partnership with the Jesuit Refugee Service to vaccinate people who are no connected to a GP practice.

v  Noted the work being done on street outreach in the Borough to ensure to COVID-19 vaccines are provided to undocumented persons, homeless individuals, and other vulnerable people.

v  Noted commissioning Doctors of the World Doctors at the Refugee Clinic so that they can not only be vaccinated but also be provided with advocacy support so they can navigate the system so that they can register at a GP practice and access more primary care.

1.    Accordingly the Sub-Committee agreed that it wished to receive the following information so as to enable Members to remain up to date and to be able to feed in informed comments to the Health and Well-Being Board:

A.   Surge testing figures.

B.   Covid recovery action plan; and

C.   Covid data.

Agreed that violent crime is a public health issue because violence is a major cause of ill health and poor wellbeing and is strongly related to inequalities. The poorest people have hospital admission rates for violence higher than those of the most affluent. Violence affects individuals and communities and requires interventions to (i) prevent violence; (ii) improve educational outcomes, employment prospects and long-term health outcomes.

In addition, regarding the Government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda people living in socioeconomically deprived areas of the Borough have the greatest health needs.  Action to improve health and reduce inequalities therefore needs to be a core component of any levelling up approach in Tower Hamlets to target funding and assess progress.

Therefore, it was important that these issues should be considered as a matter for possible consideration by scrutiny.

Appendix 1: Health & Adults Scrutiny Sub-Committee

FORWARD PLAN 2021/22