Agenda item

Presented by:

Senel Arkut, Bi-borough Director of Health Partnerships (ASC)

Houda Al-Sharifi, Interim Director of Public Health (Public Health)

Jane Wheeler, Acting Deputy Director for Mental Health, North West London CCCGs & GP representative (NHS)

Bi-Borough System Response to Covid-19

5.1           Senel Arkut (Bi-borough Director Health Partnerships) and Gareth Wall (Director of Integrated Commissioning) provided the Board with an overview of the activities undertaken across RBKC and WCC by system partners in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

5.2           The work undertaken with system partners and communities had played a significant role in supporting the UK Government’s Covid-19 pandemic response. This had included adjusting services to support people; providing incident management oversight, support for shielding and other vulnerable residents, and using data to enhance the local understanding of, and mitigate against, the impact of the virus on residents, visitors and local health and care services.

5.3           It was recognised that the coming months and years would provide challenges, but it was explained that there were opportunities to build on lessons learned and put in place policies that could make positive differences to people’s lives. In particular it was important to tackle inequality and ensure resources were allocated in a way that could be channelled to areas and communities of greatest need.

Central London CCG Recovery Plan Summary

5.4      Neville Pursell, Philippa Johnson and Holly Eden (Central London CCG) provided a summary of the Central London CCG’s response to Covid-19 including what would be required in the event of a second wave and identifying future challenges and opportunities.

5.5           The Board was interested to learn about the specialist homelessness hubs which had been established within Westminster led by specialist primary and community teams. In addition, a virtual first model which had been implemented in all GP practices had resulted in a significant reduction in the need for face to face consultations with an increased focus on proactive care management of those identified as being most vulnerable.

5.6      The importance of collaborative, integrated working between all partners was stressed in order to build on existing work undertaken and to try and identify and meet the future challenges which remained. It was already recognised that more work was required to demonstrate that it was safe to attend health sites as there was increased concerns over the impact this was having on those residents in need not attending and the associated effect this could have on their mental health.

North West London CCG Recovery Plan Summary

5.7           Robyn Doran and Jane Wheeler (North West London CCG) provided a summary of NWL CCG’s response to Covid-19 including what would be required in the event of a second wave and identifying future challenges and opportunities.

5.8      It was explained that there had been early development of additional bed capacity to support the discharge/system flow with a discharge hub at its core. Most services had been provided virtually, including mental health and community services which had resulted in a corresponding reduction for same day urgent access to services. The Board was advised however that, whilst a ‘digital first’ approach would be embedded, engagement with communities would be undertaken to understand the impact this delivery of services would have on those classed as ‘digitally excluded’. The Board was also pleased to note that services had been commissioned to support those impacted by the Grenfell Tower fire.

5.9      Looking forward, the importance of building on the mental resilience and good emotional wellbeing offer for those who didn’t need to access more specialised services through a community and voluntary sector response was highlighted. In addition, it was welcomed that local GP practices had staffed and opted into a collaborative approach to the ‘hot hub’ for Covid-19 patients including a universal visiting service with a supporting single point of access. Support continued to be provided to all staff with testing/antibody testing, risk assessment and appropriate infection prevention and control measures. Additionally, as services stepped back up the opportunity would be taken to confirm these different, collaborative ways of working.

           Disparities in the Risk and Outcomes of Covid-19

5.10     Russell Styles (Deputy Director of Public Health) updated the Board on the disparities identified on those impacted by Covid-19. The statistics provided were noted which including that almost 60% of Covid-19 deaths were men and people aged over 80 seventy times more likely to die than those under 40. Significantly, the research had also highlighted the disproportionate impact Covid-19 was having on BAME communities. The importance on building on the current understanding of the impact of Covid-19 on particular groups and communities was highlighted. The initial findings locally were detailed and it was explained that work was ongoing in terms of community engagement, investigating the demographics of those who had died or became infected from Covid-19 and monitoring the wider health impact of Covid-19 on the health of the local population.

5.11    The Board discussed in further detail the role of the voluntary sector in providing support to those impacted by Covid-19 and the importance of ensuring residents had multiple ways of accessing the health services they required. The Board expressed its thanks to those organisations and individuals involved in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic for all their hard work and efforts in extremely challenging circumstances.