Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Brian Crowe.

RESOLVED:  That all items of business be considered in public.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2015 be agreed as a correct record. 

The Chairman welcomed those present to the meeting and wished them a Happy New Year.  He noted that requests for further information and clarification had been made at the Committee's previous meeting and that these issues would be addressed by those present.

Mental Health Services

Dr Steve Vaughan-Smith, Hillingdon Clinical Commissioning Group (HCCG) Governing Body GP Mental Health Lead, advised that significant investment had been made in mental health services in the Borough between 2013 and 2015.  This investment included:

·        IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) £940k - this service provided support to people with common mental health disorders and accepted self referrals (rather than having to be referred by a GP or hospital).  An additional 1,800 individuals were entering treatment each year.  The investment had been recognised by NHS England (NHSE) and the service had achieved and exceeded the 15% access target (currently at 17%), with more than 50% of patients making a full recovery.  Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) was commended by HCCG for this achievement;

·        Primary Care Plus £449k - a number of nurses had been placed in GP practices to work with patients that did not meet the threshold for secondary care services and to provide support to GPs in the management of people with mental ill health.  The service had been running in the Borough for a few months and, although it was provided throughout Hillingdon, it was concentrated at Uxbridge Health Centre.  It currently dealt with 110 patients each year and it was expected that this would rise to 370 per year;

·        CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) £570k - NHSE had provided a significant amount of money in Hillingdon to develop an eating disorder service and a self harm scheme to enable urgent issues to be followed up quickly.  Self harm issues would be followed up within four hours; the waiting time for CAMHS Community Eating Disorders would be four weeks for routine treatment and, for urgent cases, one week to the commencement of NICE (National Institute of Health and Care Excellent) treatment.  It was anticipated that 25 children and young people and their families would receive intensive family interventions during 2016/17 from the CAMHS Community Eating Disorders team; and 200 additional children and young people would receive support in relation to self harm;

·        CAMHS OOH (Out of Hours) £131k - to increase the service provision to 24/7 by including urgent out of hours access to support and responding to calls within 4 hours.  It was suggested that time would tell whether this would be sufficient investment but that the service would be supplemented by the availability of the Home Treatment team which was funded by HCCG;

·        Perinatal £123k - to provide support to women with serious mental illness pre and post birth.  This was a well established service in Hillingdon that would provide a link to health visitors in the Borough and provide ongoing support to mothers and families in crisis.  There were currently 20 patients  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

Consideration was given to the Committee' Work Programme and the possibility of undertaking a review on flooding in the Borough.  Members were advised that the remit of Council's Residents' and Environmental Services Policy Overview Committee (RESPOC) included flooding.  RESPOC had received reports in relation to flooding and continued to monitor the situation in the Borough.

It was noted that the Democratic Services Manager had forwarded information in relation to the following two events to the Committee:

·         9am Friday 29 January 2016 - CQC Strategy 2016-2021 consultation event; and

·         10am Friday 4 March 2016 - CNWL Quality Account Priorities 2016/2017 consultative workshop.

Members agreed that the Better Care Fund item be considered by the Committee at its meeting on 15 March 2016. 

RESOLVED:  That the Work Programme be noted.