Agenda and draft minutes

There were no apologies.

The following declarations were made;

• Barbara Newman;

• Vivienne Littlechild;

• Steve Stevenson;

all declared they were resident in the City and patients of the Neaman Practice.

To receive the Order of the Court of Common Council dated 15 April 2021, appointing the Committee and setting out its terms of reference.

The Committee received the Order of the Court of Common Council of Thursday 15 April 2021, appointing the Committee and approving its Terms of Reference.

To appoint a Chairman for the ensuing year in accordance with Standing Order No. 29.

The Committee proceeded to elect a Chairman in accordance with Standing Order No. 29. Michael Hudson being the only Member expressing willingness to serve, was duly elected Chairman for the ensuing year.

To appoint a Deputy Chairman for the ensuing year in accordance with Standing Order No. 30.

The Committee proceeded to elect a Deputy Chairman in accordance with Standing Order No.30. Wendy Mead, being the only Member who expressed a willingness to serve, was duly elected as Deputy Chairman of the Committee for the ensuing year.

The Committee proceeded to elect a Co-Opted Member as a Health Watch Representative. Steve Stevenson, the only Member expressing willingness to serve, was duly elected to the position for the ensuing year.

RESOLVED – That the Chairman be appointed to the Inner North East London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee with the Deputy Chairman as their substitute.

To agree the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held virtually on 10  February 2021.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes of the meeting held on 10 February 2021 be agreed as a correct record.

Matters arising:

Members were concerned about further incidents relating to hospital discharges, particularly at evenings and weekends. It was agreed that there should be a formal request for investigation. The Director of Community and Children’s Services agreed to invite the Head of Adult Care to address the next Committee meeting on this matter and also undertook to discuss with individual Members, their difficulties and concerns to date.

Joint report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services, the Director of Public Health and the Deputy Director of Public Health.

The Committee received a joint report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services and the Director of Public Health. The report provided an update on sexual and reproductive health services in the City of London during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Members expressed concern about users of sexual health services providing their office addresses instead of home addresses and asked what was being done to recover the cost of using the services from those who worked in the City but were not residents. In reply, an Officer said that sexual health clinics are open access and therefore anyone living in England has the right to access a sexual health clinic anywhere in the country. The use of work addresses is a known issue, however, and the clinics did ask for correct home addresses to be provided as much as possible, but that unfortunately there would always be some users who did not follow this, and that this can be for a variety of reasons.

A Member questioned whether service users could be asked to provide details of the health authority where they reside as opposed to their home address so that the money could be reclaimed. In response, an Officer underlined that sexual health data is kept in a confidential way and is not linked to primary care records. This means there are restrictions in terms of how the data can be used. When a user does provide an address outside the City of London, it is billed to the relevant local health authority. Previous investigations have shown that it is only a small number of users who provide office addresses.

The Chairman said there should be provision for collecting a home address and an address for communication, and that it was particularly important to be able to get the address

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Committee received an oral update from the Director of Community and Children’s Services on work being done to support informal carers, following feedback from carers and the Member COVID-19 Working Party on the support provided prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Officer reported on the work being done to address this feedback and to look at areas where support for carers could be strengthened. Examples of this work included redoing the Strategy Action Plan, which as been started through a workshop with involved carers. There has been specific engagement with carers to look at how a more enhanced level of support for carers might be piloted. Other work includes

RESOLVED – that, the oral update be received.

Presentation from City Connections.

The Committee heard from two doctors from the Neaman Practice. The doctors had been invited to attend the Committee following a letter sent to the Clinic by Healthwatch with several complaints against the Practice.

The doctors presented the complaints received and set out the actions they had taken and were continuing to take to resolve the issues raised.

The first complaint concerned rudeness of non-GP staff in the Practice. The doctors confirmed that they have spoken to staff about communication skills and were also looking into formal training.

The second complaint concerned reception staff being rude to each other in front of patients. Members were informed that the Practice has held an emergency staff meeting to remind all staff of what behaviour is expected of them, and, again, are looking into formal training. Managers were also spending time at reception to monitor staff behaviour, with the Practice also holding more frequent support meetings for staff.

The third complaint was that reception staff seemed to be unaware of dates for clinics, in particular for the podiatry clinic. The Neaman Practice hosts a foot health clinic provided by the Homerton Podiatry service. The doctors said that communication with the Homerton Podiatry had been poor, and that this had caused the issue. They accepted that they should have been more proactive in chasing the Homerton service. The Neaman practice has had an urgent meeting with the manager of the foot health clinic and were told that the Foot Health service only provides foot health care to those with ‘high risk’ feet, and could not justify running additional services. The Practice has agreed to improve communication with Foot Health and had also contacted the Foot Health service at Hoxton Health to arrange care for ‘non at risk’ feet.

The fourth complaint was that staff

Dr Chaun Chor to be heard.

The Committee heard from two doctors from the Neaman Practice. The doctors had been invited to attend the Committee following a letter sent to the Clinic by Healthwatch with several complaints against the Practice.

The doctors presented the complaints received and set out the actions they had taken and were continuing to take to resolve the issues raised.

The first complaint concerned rudeness of non-GP staff in the Practice. The doctors confirmed that they have spoken to staff about communication skills and were also looking into formal training.

The second complaint concerned reception staff being rude to each other in front of patients. Members were informed that the Practice has held an emergency staff meeting to remind all staff of what behaviour is expected of them, and, again, are looking into formal training. Managers were also spending time at reception to monitor staff behaviour, with the Practice also holding more frequent support meetings for staff.

The third complaint was that reception staff seemed to be unaware of dates for clinics, in particular for the podiatry clinic. The Neaman Practice hosts a foot health clinic provided by the Homerton Podiatry service. The doctors said that communication with the Homerton Podiatry had been poor, and that this had caused the issue. They accepted that they should have been more proactive in chasing the Homerton service. The Neaman practice has had an urgent meeting with the manager of the foot health clinic and were told that the Foot Health service only provides foot health care to those with ‘high risk’ feet, and could not justify running additional services. The Practice has agreed to improve communication with Foot Health and had also contacted the Foot Health service at Hoxton Health to arrange care for ‘non at risk’ feet.

The fourth complaint was that staff

The Chairman updated the Committee on his attendance of the Inner North East London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (INEL JHOSC).

The Chairman reported that INEL JHOSC had presentations regarding waiting lists for non-urgent care. The waiting lists are over-subscribed, and some have waiting lists to get on the waiting list. The Chairman felt that INEL JHOSC should write a letter to Barts Health stating that this was unacceptable. Members were in agreement with the Chairman and asked that the Chairman write on behalf of this Committee to express this view.

The Chairman also referred to a report INEL JHOSC had received regarding, among other items, the transfer of holdings from AT Medics to Operose Health Ltd. The Chairman said that there were, apparently, no provisions in standard NHS contracts allowing for termination of the contract on change of control of the company. The Chairman added that it was unclear whether such a provision would be permissible or not. The Chairman felt that INEL JHOSC should contact all relevant local MPs, and those in other areas of London, to seek to change the law in relation to this. A Member said that the Committee should also contact Healthwatch. It was agreed that a letter from the Health and Social Care Scrutiny Committee to MPs would be drafted on the matter.

There was no other business.