Agenda and draft minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

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

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 20 January 2026 be agreed as a correct record.

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

The Chair advised that this item had been withdrawn from the agenda.  The commissioning plan relied on the formation of a revised commissioning team which required a departmental restructure that had not yet been completed. Once the necessary organisational changes had been implemented later in the year, a fully developed commissioning plan would be brought to the Committee.  The Democratic, Civic and Ceremonial Manaher would contact the Council’s Assistant Director Direct Care and Business Delivery to establish which meeting this would be scheduled for.

The Chair welcomed those present to the meeting.  Mr Keith Spencer, Managing Director at Hillingdon Health and Care Partners (HHCP), advised that the report provided an update on the progress against the HHCP transformation programme.  The update focussed on two core areas of place-based delivery (Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (INTs) and Reactive Care) and set out the risks and priorities for the next six months.

It was noted that the place-based model had been demonstrating early signs of measurable system-wide improvements.  Hillingdon had been the only London borough to see a reduction in emergency demand between June and December 2025 (4.9% compared to the same period in the previous year), despite demographic growth and sustained winter pressures.  Insofar as the Emergency Department (ED) waiting times were concerned, Hillingdon Hospital had been either the best or second best performing borough in North West London (NWL) in the last quarter.  Those patients that had not gone to the ED had attended alternative community settings which meant that they had waited less time than they would have if they had been in the ED and the 12 hour breaches had been reduced. 

There had been a 34% reduction in the No Criteria to Reside (NC2R) delays (down to 33 per day from 55 per day which was below the new hospital development target of 34).  By December 2025, fewer than 4% of Hillingdon Hospital beds were occupied by patients without a clinical need to remain, significantly outperforming the averages in NWL (14%) and London (12%). 

Mr Spencer noted that emergency admissions amongst the 5,000 Borough residents with severe frailty had reduced by 36%, reflecting the impact of proactive neighbourhood case management and integrated community primary care and social care support.  The three INTs were now fully established and had helped to reduce the number of emergency admissions for people with frailty and frailty case management would be expanded towards full population cohort coverage (10,000) by April 2026, using the new frailty dashboard to monitor admissions, falls and Multi Disciplinary Team follow up.  

Urgent same day primary care had been expanded and the mobile diagnostics service had been initiated in November 2025 and had been working well in places like care homes, reducing the need for residents to go to the ED.  The mobile diagnostics service would be reviewed and it was anticipated that it would be rolled out across the Borough in the next few months. 

The Lighthouse service capacity had been increased from six to ten patients each day following a review in December 2025, diverting people experiencing mental health crisis away from ED into more appropriate, therapeutic environments.  Mr Sean Bidewell, Joint Borough Director for the Integrated Care Board (ICB), advised that, as the Lighthouse had been running for about two years, the review and redesign of the services had been undertaken to improve the treatment for patients and make the environment more comfortable.  Subsequent improvements had included an increase in the number of patients going home sooner and the referrals  ...  view the full minutes text for item 60.

Mr Keith Spencer, Managing Director at Hillingdon Health and Care Partners, advised that, unfortunately, Ms Vanessa Odlin and Mr John Beckles, the subject matter experts had been unable to attend this meeting. 

Mr Sean Bidewell, Joint Borough Director for the Integrated Care Board (ICB), advised that a new website had been developed for Thrive (which was an integrated, person-centred approach to delivering mental health services for children, young people and their families and provided support for their wellbeing).  The website provided links to Council services as part of the Stronger Families programme and a digital directory of services that would go live in March 2026.  It included information about referral routes and crisis contacts and provided support for children, young people and their families whilst they waited for specialist input. 

The Thrive framework and website had been developed following engagement with families and professionals (more than 200 partners had been involved in one engagement event) and had been co-produced with children, young people and their families.  The concept had been based on a ‘no wrong front door’ approach so that, even if the service that had been contacted was not an appropriate pathway, the child or young person was not redirected elsewhere without support.  An ongoing feedback loop had also been put in place. 

The sections on the website included:

1. Self Care: providing practical tips for children and young people for a range of issues;
2. Parent and Carer Support: providing around 35 links to different organisations or bodies that might be able to provide help; and
3. I Need Urgent Help: providing a range of telephone numbers for different organisations.

The website provided information about how Thrive could help with different conditions such as anxiety, explaining what caused it, what the symptoms were, etc.  It also included the contact details for more than 100 ‘Helpful Organisations’ and could be filtered by age group (under 13, 13-18 and parent/carer). 

It was queried whether contacts and information were available on the website to help deescalate when a child or young person was thinking about suicide or self-harm, especially out of hours.  Ms Andrea Shand, Service Director for CAMHS & Eating Disorders at Goodall Division, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL), advised that one of the Thrive quadrants related to risk support and provided links to things like NHS111 and telephone numbers to 24 hour urgent care services (no chat services were provided as these were potentially risky).  The web content was considered by a working group and went through a process and the material was nationally accredited or signed off by a professional.  Service user stories had been included on the site and, as the Thrive contract would be in place for three years, the information therein would be kept up to date as part of that agreement. 

Ms Shand advised that GPs had been very supportive of the new approach to children and young people’s mental health.  A two-hour online CAMHS masterclass had been set up for GPs  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61.

Consideration was given to the Cabinet Forward Plan.

RESOLVED: That the Cabinet Forward Plan be noted.

Consideration was given to the Committee’s Work Programme.  It was noted that there had been some movement with regard to the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre proposals so Councillors Denys, Chamdal and Punja would be attending a meeting of the associated Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JHOSC) in the near future.  They would be able to provide Members with an update following that JHOSC meeting.

It was noted that, once the recommendations had been agreed, the Democratic, Civic and Ceremonial Manager would draft the final report of the Adult Social Care Early Intervention and Prevention (ASC EIP) review for consideration by the Committee at its next meeting on 26 March 2026. 

RESOLVED:  That:

1. Councillors Denys, Chamdal and Punja provide the Committee with an update following the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre JHOSC meeting;
2. the draft final report for the ASC EIP be considered at the Committee’s next meeting on 26 March 2026; and
3. the Work Programme be agreed.