Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Sital Punja (Councillor Barry Nelson-West was present as her substitute).

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

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 19 June 2025 be agreed as a correct record.

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

The Chair welcomed those present to the meeting.  Witnesses had provided a response to many of the key lines of enquiry highlighted in the scoping report in advance of this single meeting review – this information had been circulated to Members of the Committee on 15 July 2025.

Mr Edmund Jahn, Chief Executive Officer at The Confederation Hillingdon CIC, advised that the Confederation represented 42 of the 44 GP practices in Hillingdon.  These practices were grouped into six Primary Care Networks (PCNs) which each had Clinical Directors who sat on the Confederation Board.  The two practices that had not joined the PCNs were owned by the same person and the central primary care team worked closely with them to plug any gaps.

Members queried the value in being part of the PCN and why two would have opted out.  Officers advised that they did not know why they had opted out but that, whilst the practices would provide appointments, the PCN offered additional support and signed up to single offer additional contracts.  Mr Jahn advised that all PCNs employed pharmacists in practice teams which most independent GPs were unable to do.  They also provided GPs with access to social prescribers and other specialist services such as physiotherapists, podiatrists and dieticians to help their patients.  Ms Lisa Taylor, Managing Director at Healthwatch Hillingdon (HH), advised that Healthwatch Hillingdon had the ability to rank GPs based on patient satisfaction, and that they had made a recommendation in their recent report to review the utilisation of enhanced services to identify any inconsistencies.  GPs could be ranked based on patient satisfaction and how well GPs were accessing enhanced services but this was inconsistent.

Action was being taken to try to introduce more personalised care for patients with complex needs as well as dealing with same day access for other patients.  Pharmacy First consultation service enabled patients to be referred into community pharmacy for a minor illness or an urgent repeat medicine supply.  It enabled community pharmacies to complete episodes of care for seven common conditions following defined clinical pathways: infected insect bites, impetigo, shingles, sinusitis, sore throat, urinary tract infections and ear infection.

Ms Taylor had undertaken a review of Pharmacy First and was currently writing up the findings and recommendations of the review.  This would be shared with the Committee in due course. 

Mr Sean Bidewell, Integration and Delivery at NWL ICB, advised that pharmacies had been alleviating pressure on GPs.  Since May 2025, 58 of the 59 pharmacies in Hillingdon had been delivering support for some of the seven common conditions.  56 of the pharmacies also offered a hypertension case finding service and 53 provided a contraception service.  Other services such as flu and covid vaccinations and smoking cessation support were also provided by some pharmacies.  Between January and May 2025, there had been around 4k individuals with common conditions seen by pharmacies in Hillingdon and about 5½k patients seen in relation to their medicine supplies.  Around 12k people had had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

Consideration was given to the Cabinet Forward Plan.

RESOLVED: That the Cabinet Forward Plan be noted.

Members agreed to cancel the meeting scheduled for 21 April 2026 and move the health updates item to the meeting on 26 March 2025.  

The new Children and Young People’s Champion that had been appointed to one of the Primary Care Networks would be invited to attend the meeting on either 20 January 2026 or 17 February 2026.  It was agreed that the update on the implementation of recommendations from the review of the CAMHS referral pathway be moved to coincide with this attendance.

RESOLVED:  That the Work Programme, as amended, be agreed.