Agenda item

Report of the North East London Integrated Care Board (NEL ICB).

The Board received a report from the ICB in relation to updates on the North East London Integrated Care Board’s (NEL ICB) strategy relating to primary care provision in the City including options for expanding or relocating the Neaman Practice; the status and performance of Goodman’s Fields (GF) Health Centre and the Hoxton Surgery; how the GF’s boundary could be expanded to include the Tower ward; and the impact of Neighbourhoods on service provision.

Members highlighted discrepancies featured in the report, most notably the number of patients registered at the Neaman Practice, and asked the ICB representative to provide clarification on the matter since there was a clear statistical issue. Approximately 50% of the patients mentioned in the report were not registered with the Neaman Practice despite residing in the City. The ICB representative confirmed that this percentage was for those who possessed a City of London address, however it was difficult to determine which of these were “Ghost Patients”. Members asked if there was any action taken to conduct a list cleaning exercise since the definitive figures were needed in order to allocate the appropriate funding for the expansion or relocation of the Neaman Practice.

Members expressed that this was not the report that they had commissioned and asked to receive a more detailed report which listed more healthcare facilities options for local residents, such as the potential expansion of Goodman’s field.

Following a point raised regarding the status of the Neaman Practice, Members were keen to know whether the practice was expected to relocate or had it been granted the opportunity to expand on the current premises. Members were then informed that whilst the City Corporation held a lease for one of the floors to the building, the lease for the remaining floor remained with the landlord. The City Corporation would first need to surrender their lease to vacate to the two floors which would expect to be a costly process. The Chair asked if a business case had been presented on behalf of the Neaman Practice but at the time of this meeting no business case had been put forward. ICB offered to help with some aspects of their business case and it was advised that they would work with representatives of the Neaman Practice to develop a business case before the next Board meeting. However, they also clarified that the responsibility for developing and submitting the business rests with the practice.

RESOLVED – That the report be received and its contents noted.