Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillors Vanessa Hurhangee and Ali Milani.

There were no declarations of interest in items coming before this meeting. 

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

The Chairman welcomed those present to the meeting. 

North West London Clinical Commissioning Group (NWL CCG)

Mr Richard Ellis, Joint Lead Borough Director at NWL CCG, advised that the report had provided information about the merger of the eight North West London (NWL) CCGs which had become effective on 1 April 2021.  The new team had been made up of individuals including some that the Members had worked with over the years.  Mr Ellis noted that Ms Caroline Morison was now the Managing Director of Hillingdon Health and Care Partners so had not been lost to the Borough.

NWL CCG would be returning to the long term plan and developing the Integrated Care System (ICS) across North West London’s 2½ million residents.  Locally in Hillingdon, there would be a focus on the Integrated Care Partnership (ICP).  Although the related legislation had not yet been through parliament, NWL CCG had been behaving as if this would be the direction of travel and had been building on the successes that had already been achieved.  Mr Ellis noted the importance of the committees such as External Services Select Committee and the Health and Wellbeing Strategy in measuring performance against objectives. 

With regard to the Covid-19 vaccination programme, it was noted that more than 100k residents had been vaccinated.  However, additional communication and a campaign involving community champions, the local authority and social care teams had been undertaken in four wards in the Borough with the lowest vaccination rates and steady progress had been made. 

It was noted that there were two PCN sites in Hillingdon, both of which were in the top four best performing sites in NWL.  There were also five community pharmacies in the Borough that had been providing vaccines.  A lot of joint working had been undertaken to deliver the vaccination programme and it was anticipated that this would continue. 

GPs were continuing to see more patients and work had started to address the cancer and elective waiting lists and organise investigations that had been put on hold during the pandemic.  Hillingdon continued to see a reduction in the number of positive Covid-19 tests in the community and in hospital.  It was thought that this had, in part, been linked to the vaccination programme and social distancing. 

It was queried whether the new NWL CCG structure would provide improvements with regard to the commissioning of services for local people with associated economies of scale.  Mr Ellis advised that it was a little too early to see any dramatic changes but that there had been a reduction in the overall CCG headcount.  There had been a shift towards joined up working as health moved away from the commissioner / provider split. 

NWL CCG had worked across the Borough with NHS London and the Department of Health on the vaccination programme.  All eight NWL boroughs had worked well together to maximise the supply of vaccine across the whole area more effectively than they would have on their own.  The Chairman asked that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.