Cllr Sarah James, Cabinet Member for Adults &
Health, reported that the number of Covid-19 infections,
hospitalisations and deaths in the borough were continuing to
decline as a result of the lockdown and the vaccination programme.
The vaccine roll-out had been taking place from primary care
centres at Lordship Lane Health Centre, Bounds Green Medical
Centre, Hornsey Central Health Centre and West Green Pharmacy.
Several vaccination outreach events had also been held or were
planned to take place shortly and a lot of communications were
ongoing to promote take-up of the vaccine.
Cllr James also reported that the new delivery model
for day opportunities for adult learning disabilities had just been
approved by the Cabinet. This would include a new centre for
excellence for residents with profound/multiple learning
disabilities and medical conditions based at Ermine Road and a new
service for people with autism at a new hub at the Chad Gordon
Autism Campus at Waltheof
Gardens.
Cllr James said that the award of the construction
works for the refurbishment of Canning Crescent was also expected
to be considered by Cabinet shortly. That would bring together the
work of Clarendon College, the Safe Haven crisis café run by
Mind and the respite crisis accommodation run by BEH-MHT. The award
of the contract for the redevelopment of Osborne Grove Nursing Home
would also be considered by Cabinet at the same meeting. The
project would involve the development of 70-bed nursing provision,
20 one and two-bedroom flats and 10 studio extra care
apartments.
Cllr James also spoke about the situation with AT
Medics and the takeover of GP practice by Operose Health. On
18th February she had spoken at the NCL CCG Primary Care
Commissioning committee to raise concerns about the decision-making
process (which had been devolved to individual CCGs) on behalf of
the Lead Members of all the five NCL boroughs. AT Medics had
previously had the contract for the St Ann’s practice as well
as several practices in Camden borough. The Secretary of State had
been written to about this and a response was being
awaited.
Cllr James also informed the Panel that the
government had published a White Paper on integrated care systems
(ICSs), which included some positives but also some areas of
concern which would need to be monitored.
Cllr James then responded to questions from the
Panel:
- Helena Kania raised concerns about NCL CCG’s
decision to agree to the AT Medics takeover, which she said was not
transparent or fully informed and asked how the decision-making
could be challenged. Cllr James said that the Lead Members had made
clear representations on this issue and felt that she decision
should have been made by the Secretary of State rather than the
individual CCGs. She noted that the NCL CCG had been more
transparent than some other CCGs in London though she was still
critical of what had happened.
- Helena Kania referred to the change in regulations for
care home visits from 8th March and asked for
reassurance that care homes in Haringey were not interpreting the
rules as allowing only one visit per day for the whole care home.
Cllr James emphasised the need for a compassionate approach to this
and supported the point being made. Charlotte Pomery said that the
guidance had just been published and that the Council had met with
care home providers to discuss this. She was not aware of any care
homes interpreting the rules in this way but said that she would be
happy to take up any concerns about practices in specific care
homes.
- Cllr da Costa asked
what the Council was doing to support care home residents and staff
at the Mary Feilding Guild Home in
Highgate that was expected to close in May. Cllr James said that
she had been concerned about the short notice for the closure of
the home and that officers would be supporting the residents,
including by looking at relocation options. Officers would also
attempt to contact the new owners of the home to negotiate a more
reasonable approach.
- Asked by Cllr
Berryman about the expected opening date for autism/learning
disability services at Waltheof
Gardens, Cllr James said that the service provider, Centre 404, was
already working with some clients. However, the building works had
been delayed due to Covid and so
clients were unlikely to be on site until late April/early May,
subject to Covid restrictions being
lifted.
- In response to a
question from Cllr Berryman, Cllr James said that she was confident
that care workers in the borough were receiving the London Living
Wage.
- Cllr das Neves asked about access to the Covid vaccine for people not eligible for NHS
treatment. Will Maimaris, Director for Public Health, said that
people without an NHS number could still get a vaccine but the gap
was in being able to communicate with them. There was some ongoing
outreach work, for example in asylum seeker accommodation and
further communications work would be needed. Cllr das Neves asked if further information about how
unregistered people can access the vaccine could be circulated to
Councillors so that they can disseminate this advice when encounter
cases like this in the community. (ACTION)
- Asked by Cllr das
Neves about the take up of vaccines by
care staff, Will Maimaris said that figures were not as high as the
Council would like. This was a common concern across London, not
just in Haringey, and so there was a lot of work going on to
promote the vaccine to care staff.
- Asked by Cllr Connor
about Covid restrictions on visiting
for people living in sheltered housing, Charlotte Pomery said that
the Council had guidance on this which could be circulated to the
Panel. The vaccination rates were slightly lower for people in
those settings and the Council was working with supported living
providers on how to support their residents, for example with those
who are anxious about leaving their homes.
-
Asked by Cllr da Costa about the variance tracing in
Haringey, Will Maimaris said that NHS Test and Trace nationally
which had done some testing but this information was not available
yet. However, from local analysis not relating to variants, there
were around 30 home tests that were positive in the Tottenham Hale
area which was around 1% of the tests carried out. The Council had
not been notified of any variants of concerns since carrying out
the testing.