Agenda item

The Chair welcomed those present to the meeting.  Mr John Wheatley, the Council’s Senior Policy Officer, advised that he had worked with Age UK Hillingdon and Council colleagues to compile the report.  The Older People’s Plan had been informed by the Older People’s Assembly which met three to four times each year.  These meetings gave attendees access to the Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care and the Leader of the Council.  They were well attended and received presentations on a range of subjects including unpaid carers, pavements, street lighting, etc.  Information had also been made available about the Green Doctor which offered free items such as draft excluding strips for Hillingdon residents aged 60+ and was not means tested. 

Changes had been made nationally to the eligibility criteria for winter fuel payments, which meant that the recipients needed to be in receipt of pension credits.  This had had an impact on those who were just over the threshold for being able to claim pension credits and those who were eligible but did not claim.  It had been proposed that the Council would commission a local charity to support residents in submitting a claim for pension credit (the current national application form was over 40 pages long). 

Insofar as the Council’s housing stock was concerned, older tenants were being prioritised on the authority’s programme for replacement boilers and windows and a Pensioners’ Support Fund had been created to support those in exceptional hardship.  Members queried whether home owners would be eligible for support from the Council in relation to insulating their homes.  Whilst Mr Wheatley was not sure about support from the Council, he was aware of various organisations that could provide advice. 

The Council would continue to provide warm spaces around the Borough for residents to be able to spend some time in the warmth with a hot drink.  It was hoped that Health Champions would also be available at each of the warm spaces venues to offer a range of support services.  Health Champions were supervised by H4All and had initially been used to target residents in Hayes.  However, because it was geographically isolated and because of its outlier health indicators, the focus had shifted to Harefield.  A small number of Health Champions had been recruited to these voluntary positions and it would be their role to signpost residents to community groups.  Ms O’Neil was unaware of the demographic makeup of these Champions but would find out and pass the information onto the Democratic, Civic and Ceremonial Manager for circulation to the Committee.  

Mr Mike Levitan, Chief Executive Officer at the Middlesex Pharmaceutical Group of LPCs, advised that every pharmacy in Hillingdon was a Healthy Living Pharmacy and had champions.  However, this facility had gone off of the NHS England agenda somewhat so had not been well used. 

A range of dementia support, information and advice continued to be available to residents alongside preventative activities such as walking football.  Ms Sarah Durner, the Council’s Sport and Physical Activity Senior Officer, ran the Hillingdon Dementia Action Alliance (HDAA) and had established that around 1,000 people had made use of the website content.  HDAA comprised representation from 38 organisations from across the Borough.  Members were advised that the Admiral Nurse service was available to support individuals with dementia and their families. 

A number of activities were available for older people to help with falls prevention including chairobics classes.  Falls were the major cause of residents aged over 65 being admitted to hospital and then on to residential care; national evidence indicated that approximately 30% of older, frail residents who fell and were admitted to hospital, required long term care.  The Falls Prevention Plan had been developed and included a programme which had been evaluated by Brunel University as providing value.  The chairobics classes were often full so action was being taken to produce a video of the sessions so that more people could get involved from home.  However, concern was expressed that in-person activities such as chairobics provided social contact which was just not possible from a video.  Mr Wheatley would establish what action was being taken to ensure social interaction for those that were unable to attend chairobics sessions in person.  Walk Hillingdon had also attracted around 1,500 attendances, with 203 walks having been set up in the previous year over 18 different routes.

Members queried what steps were being taken to monitor the progress of those who engaged digitally rather than in person, for example, through the chairobics video.  Ms O’Neill advised that resources for these services were finite and the reality was that Public Health grants were being used to fund mandated Public Health services and this left very limited discretionary spend  for non-mandated interventions.  

It was noted that the Beck Theatre would be closing for a time and Members were aware that many different community groups held their meetings at the Theatre during the day.  It was queried whether there were any groups targeting older people that used the Beck Theatre that were therefore going to be homeless during its closure.  Mr Wheatley advised that he would find out. 

Whilst the Council had been looking to move to a digital service provision, Mr Wheatley advised that services would continue to be accessible to all.  Concern was expressed in relation to those residents who were unable to access services digitally.  Mr Wheatley advised that help was available for those who did not have devices and an assisted service would be available at the contact centre for those who needed it.  A number of residents had already been identified as needing additional support.

The Council had previously given grants for dining centres across the Borough and, as costs for core services had increased, the ongoing funding of these services had become unsustainable and the service was no longer commissioned by the local authority.   Members queried what had happened to the individuals that used to attend these dining centres now that they had closed and whether there had been an assessment of the impact of these closures.  It was also queried whether the Council was aware of other organisations that were providing services to meet this need as it was important that support was joined up.  Ms Kelly O’Neill, the Council’s Director of Public Health, advised that most of the voluntary sector grants had come from public health funds and that there had been a review within the last 2 years to determine priority groups for funding based on need and the impact of this investment.

Whilst Members commended the action to provide activities that older residents loved, they asked that statistics and stories be provided to enable them to understand the actual benefits of this activity and the impact of the action.  Ms O’Neill advised that the level of participation had been understood and the benefits had been demonstrated.  However, this had been the tip of the iceberg and the scale and scope of the activity needed to be increased.  How demand was met and resources tackled had been an issue and needed to be resolved collectively with partner organisations. 

Age UK Hillingdon continued to undertake benefit entitlement checks for older residents, visited residents that had been admitted to hospital and provided blankets to those that were housebound.  The organisation had signposted more than 2,000 people and secured around £1.7m in benefits for residents. 

Telecare continued to be provided free to Hillingdon residents aged 65+, which was particularly valued by those that lived on their own.  A wide range of equipment was also available for residents.  Concern was expressed that Telecare’s use of landlines to provide the service was being phased out but that there had been challenges with marrying the internet based telephone system with the Telecare system.  Mr Wheatley advised that the Telecare system was able to work with internet based phone systems and that the team dealing with the transition would be aware of any issues but that he would seek assurance. 

Insofar as the equipment was concerned, Members queried how efficient Hillingdon was in terms of getting medical and care equipment back once it was no longer needed.  Mr Keith Spencer, Managing Director of Hillingdon Health and Care Partners, advised that Hillingdon was one of the most cost effective boroughs in North West London with an average cost of £37 per person for community equipment versus around £100 per person elsewhere.  He would share further data in relation to the use and reuse of community equipment with the Democratic, Civic and Ceremonial Manager for circulation to the Committee. 

Members queried how the initiatives set out in the report, notably the physical activity interventions, fit with Public Health priorities in Hillingdon and whether the Council was satisfied that those residents who needed the services were aware of (and using) the services that were provided.  Ms Kelly O’Neill, the Council’s Director of Public Health, advised that there were gaps in service provision for those residents who were housebound and socially isolated as the offer was based on those who were able to access activity services outside of their home and therefore already active. Further consideration needed to be given to how people who were housebound could be more active.  The services needed to tackle living well to age well. 

Ms O’Neill advised that thought needed to be given to how a rising risk group, those people with one or more long term conditions who were at risk of further health risk, could be encouraged to live a healthier lifestyle when they got older.  The local and national situation was that people were living longer but in poorer health.  Health and social care resources needed to be targeted upstream on prevention and early intervention but effort also needed to be made to ensure that the right people were being targeted locally.  Communities, neighbourhood groups, etc, played an important role in mitigating loneliness and isolation.  In the new Annual Public Health Report, there would be a focus on loneliness and social isolation. Ms O’Neill believed that a greater understanding was needed of who was doing what for whom and how positive practices could be magnified. 

RESOLVED:  That:

1.    the description of the support offered to Hillingdon residents aged 65 or over in line with the Council Strategy be noted;

2.    Ms Kelly O’Neil forward information about the demographic makeup of the Health Champions to the Democratic, Civic and Ceremonial Manager for circulation to the Committee;

3.    Mr John Wheatley establish what action was being taken to ensure that those who were unable to attend chairobics sessions in person were still afforded opportunities for social interaction;

4.    Mr John Wheatley establish whether there would be any groups targeting older people that would be displaced by the temporary closure of the Beck Theatre; 

5.    Mr John Wheatley seek assurance that the Telecare system was able to work with internet-based phone systems;

6.    Mr Keith Spencer share data in relation to the use and reuse of community equipment with the Democratic, Civic and Ceremonial Manager for circulation to the Committee; and

7.    the Committee’s comments be fed into the Cabinet report for consideration in December 2024.