Agenda and minutes

Please note that this meeting may be filmed or recorded by the Council for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s internet site or by anyone attending the meeting using any communication method. Although we ask members of the public recording, filming or reporting on the meeting not to include the public seating areas, members of the public attending the meeting should be aware that we cannot guarantee that they will not be filmed or recorded by others attending the meeting. Members of the public participating in the meeting (e.g. making deputations, asking questions, making oral protests) should be aware that they are likely to be filmed, recorded or reported on. 

By entering the meeting room and using the public seating area, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

The chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

The Chair referred Members present to agenda Item 1 as shown on the agenda in respect of filming at this meeting, and Members noted the information contained therein’.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Mary Mason and Cllr Sheila Peacock.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business (late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with as noted below).

None.

A Member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest

becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Members’ Register of Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interest are

defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

Cllr Pippa Connor declared an interest by virtue of her membership of the Royal College of Nursing.

Cllr Pippa Connor declared an interest by virtue of her sister working as a GP in Tottenham.

Cllr Thayahlan Iyngkaran declared an interest by virtue of his membership of the Royal College of Radiologists.

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B, Paragraph 29 of the Council’s Constitution.

None.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

With regard to the LGA Commissioning Review item at the previous meeting, Cllr Connor noted that the strategic plan was expected to be in place by January 2024 and that this should be recorded in the Panel’s work programme to be included in the next update on this issue. (ACTION) 

It was noted that the action points from the previous meeting were still outstanding and so these would be followed up with the responses circulated by email.

The minutes of the previous Adults & Health Scrutiny Panel meeting were approved as an accurate record.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 22^nd June 2023 be approved as an accurate record.

To provide an overview of the Haringey Suicide Prevention Strategy.

Chantelle Fatania, Consultant in Public Health, began this item by presenting slides on suicide prevention work in Haringey, acknowledging that each suicide is tragic and has a significant ripple event on families and friends:

• A graph displaying the suicide rates in England, London and Haringey from 2001 to 2021 was shown, illustrating that there had been a general decline in the Haringey rates over the last 10 years and that, from 2019 to 2021, the Haringey rate had been lower than the England and London rates.
• There were a total of 50 suicides in Haringey between 2019 and 2021. There were three times as many male suicides as female suicides and a higher proportion were single/divorced than married. The highest rates were seen in the 25-44 age group.
• There was a Haringey multi-agency Suicide Prevention Group which was funded by Public Health and the Integrated Care Board (ICB) and hosted by MIND in Haringey. It was chaired by Professor David Mosse, a national expert in suicide prevention, and had a good range of partner organisations involved including the mental health trust, GPs, Police, housing services and local voluntary organisations. A new action plan was developed in collaboration with the group each year.
• There was an existing 2020-23 local suicide prevention plan for Haringey and a new local plan for 2023-28 was in development. The Government’s latest national suicide prevention strategy had just been published the previous week and this would be used to inform the development of the new Haringey plan.
• Haringey Council had developed an online Mental Health Resource Hub containing a wealth of diverse resources to support people with their mental health and wellbeing, including direct links to the websites of partner agencies, both locally and nationally. This provided access to information about issues such as bereavement, cost of living, gambling and men’s mental health.
• Haringey also had a Safe Haven Crisis Hub, providing short-term support for people in crisis including suicidal thoughts, and The Listening Place which provided listening support by trained volunteers. Other support services available to Haringey residents included Samaritans, Papyrus, Childline, Good Thinking, Kooth, Open Door, MIND in Haringey, Young Minds and CAMHS.
• A suicide ‘postvention’ service to provide support after a suicide had been set up in recent year in North Central London, funded by Public Health and the NHS. This provided individual support, peer-to-peer support and group therapy for people bereaved by suicide. The service was due to be delivered by a different provider from October 2023.
• A ‘Great Mental Health Day’ was delivered by the Council in January 2023 with 42 events held across the borough and the feedback had been positive. World Suicide Prevention Day was in September 2023 and had provided an opportunity to promote Haringey’s resources and training packages to residents including the free 20-minute Zero Suicide Alliance online training course and ‘mental health first aid’ training courses.
• In August 2023, the Government announced a £10m fund to support suicide prevention activities  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

To receive an update on the Council’s response to the recommendations of the ‘Living Through Lockdown’ report.

The report was published in August 2020 by the Joint Partnership Board and is provided in full in this pack.

Sara Sutton, Assistant Director for Partnerships & Communities, introduced this item by highlighting the focus on new initiatives and how the Living Through Lockdown report continued to influence the services delivered, approach to health inequalities and the relationships with partners three years after the first lockdown. She added that there had been a number of recommendations in the report that had now been implemented as ‘business as usual’.

Sara Sutton and Vicky Murphy, Service Director for Adult Social Services, and Cllr Lucia das Neves, Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care and Well-being, then responded to questions from the Panel:

• Cllr Opoku commented that she was aware of some community groups that found it difficult to distribute food to people who needed it through food networks and asked what more the Council could do to improve this. Sara Sutton explained that there was a Food Network Coordinator that the groups and individuals could contact to connect and coordinate with other members of the network. She acknowledged that there were challenges specific to the distribution of perishable foods. She added that the Council was working on a new Food Action Plan, the development of which was being supported by members of the Food Network. There would also be opportunities for community engagement as part of the development of the Action Plan. 
• Cllr Brennan highlighted challenges faced by carers including financial assistance for those who were struggling. Vicky Murphy said that funding from the Better Care Fund had recently been obtained to help enhance carer support. The aim was to create an environment where carers could meet each other and social care staff and help to reshape how services were delivered. This would begin with community meetings held in three localities in September/October which Councillors were welcome to attend. Sara Sutton added that the Household Support Fund, which was originally funded by Government to support people during the pandemic, was now used to support people during the cost-of-living crisis. The Council used a data-driven approach to target those most in need. There was also the local assistance welfare scheme known as the Haringey Support Fund which supported people in crisis, and the Here to Help campaign which assisted people in claiming benefits that they were entitled to. Cllr das Neves added that there may be some learning from the warm spaces initiative during the pandemic. Cllr Connor commented that the finance support team had provided good support with local casework issues and recommended that other Councillors make use of this resource. Cllr Connor and Cllr Brennan added that the Here to Help initiative provided excellent resources and recommended that the initiative’s section on the Haringey Council website be kept regularly updated and that this be highlighted to residents through the Council’s communications channels. (ACTION) 
• Asked by Cllr Brennan about digital exclusion, Sara Sutton said that resources were provided for a pan-London approach to digital exclusion through the London Office of Technology and Innovation and that there was coordinated activity across the Council to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

An opportunity to question the Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care & Well-being, Cllr Lucia das Neves, on developments within her portfolio.

Cllr Lucia das Neves, Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care and Well-being, responded to questions from the Panel on issues related to her portfolio:

• Cllr Brennan expressed concerns about the need to make budget savings across the Council and asked how this would be approached in adult social care given the demand pressures on services. Cllr das Neves said that local authorities across the country were deeply frustrated by the Government’s refusal to look at systematic change and properly fund services. There were also issues around workforce and the availability of placements. She acknowledged that these were challenging times, that the Department would work hard to support residents and deliver effective services, and that there would be a detailed discussion session held with Members about the Council’s approach. 
• Cllr Iyngkaran requested an update on mental health services at Canning Crescent. Cllr das Neves said that the services were currently being delivered in the way that they had previously been delivered, as opposed to the original vision of bringing the services all together. She added that the Council had been significantly let down by the contractor and was now picking up the pieces. Over the summer they had gone out to a range of contractors with plans and proposals being developed, but the project was now significantly delayed. Cllr das Neves said that the Council would need to consider whether there was anything that could have been done differently in the procurement process.
• Asked by Cllr O’Donovan about the Council’s overall long-term vision for health, Cllr das Neves spoke about the importance of prioritising early intervention and prevention while also delivering core services. She added that it was necessary to bring this to every space with a focus on inclusion, health inequalities and working closely with local community/voluntary groups and the wider community through coproduction. These themes would be included in the Health and Wellbeing Strategy, which was shortly due to be renewed to provide a platform for this work over the next 10 years. It would also be important to overlay health and wellbeing in everything that the Council did, including housing and education.
• Helena Kania highlighted difficulties that residents often experienced with the NHS, for example in using digital services or gaining access to flu/Covid vaccinations, and asked what more the Council could do to support Haringey residents. Cllr das Neves responded that she advocated for residents on these and other issues in multi-agency forums such as Health and Wellbeing Board which she chaired, based on feedback from the local community. Will Maimaris, Director for Public Health, said that flu vaccinations were available in pharmacies and GP practices across the borough, but that more certainty needed to be provided locally on Covid vaccinations and that this would be progressed shortly through discussions at the Health and Wellbeing Board. The NCL ICB was leading on the roll-out, but the Public Health team would be working closely with the ICB and the GP Federation. Helena Kania commented that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

Cllr Connor commented that the last few sessions of the Panel’s current Scrutiny Review were due to take place shortly and suggested scheduling an informal meeting of the Panel to discuss the approach to the Panel’s next Scrutiny Review on digitalisation and communication with residents.

Cllr O’Donovan reported that, following the concerns raised at the Scrutiny Review sessions about people with dementia and people with no recourse to public funds after discharge from hospital, he had spoken to the Mulberry Junction service about this. The service had a hospital discharge co-ordinator role which had been vacant for the past three months but was expected to be filled by the end of September. He also spoke to the head of systems coordinator for out of hospital care at the ICB who would be happy to speak to the Panel about this.

Cllr Connor highlighted the agenda items for the remaining Panel meetings set out in the 2023/24 work plan and noted that there was a vacant slot remaining in the February 2024 meeting. She also requested that the regular joint meeting with the Children & Young People’s Scrutiny Panel in February be added to the work programme. (ACTION) 

·         16^th Nov 2023 (6.30pm)

·         12^th Dec 2023 (6.30pm)

·         22^nd Feb 2024 (6.30pm)

·         16^th Nov 2023 (6.30pm)

·         12^th Dec 2023 (6.30pm)

·         22^nd Feb 2024 (6.30pm)