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Health and Adult Scrutiny Sub Committee
Monday, 7th September 2026 at 6:30pm

 

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Good evening everyone. We are ready to start our main programme.
Welcome everyone. This is a two minute reminder to let you know
what will be starting the public broadcast. Please put your hands into silence.
I welcome everyone to this meeting of the Health and Adult Scootoony Subcommittee and
welcome to those who are joining or watching online.
My name is Councillor Aburkashyam Helal and I am the Chair of this Scootoony Subcommittee.
Before we begin, there are a few housekeeping announcements to make.
Firstly, the meeting is beginning broadcast and published on the Council's website.
So everyone visible in the room will be included in the footage.
If there are any technical issues, I will decide how the meeting should continue after taking advice from the officer.
Any request to speak should be directed towards myself as a chair and please speak clearly into the microphone.
As a matter of courtesy, please put any device into silent mode and choose your microphone
after you have spoken.
There are no scheduled fire tests. If the alarm is sound, please work calmly out of the chamber into the high street and assemble away from the building.
Attendees who are joining the meeting online should use the raised hand button to show
that they wish to speak.
And finally I would also like to remind members present that they have committed thought the
members' place to try to own one another with dignity.
Agenda Time Apology.
Respect to give others the opportunity to speak, to listen, to direct viewpoints.
Also to ensure that challenge is considered and inclusive.
I look forward to seeing all attendants demonstrate this commitment,
thought they are conducting this evening.
Now onto apologies. Are there any apologies for your substitution?
Nasi Ma?
No apologies received, Chair.
Thank you.
Declaration of Interest. For the next item, Declaration of Interest, could the members
of the subcommittee please introduce yourself and confirm if you have any Declaration of
Interest. Thank you. Could I ask the officer and the staff to please come forward and say
invited guest present please give your introduction when you speak on the agenda item. Can the
minutes of the meeting...
Could you ask the officer and invite guests present please give your introduction when you speak on the agenda item.
s
addressed.
The bigger questions are taking
we come back.
mechanism
s
And
Good evening, everyone.
My name is Leo De Souza.
I'm a co -op team member for Health Watch Tower Hamlet.
I have nothing to declare.
No interest.
No conflict of interest.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good evening, everyone.
My name is Mohammed Shafik Islam.
I have nothing to declare.
Thank you all members. Can you introduce our guest?
Good evening, my name is Sarah Murphy, Principal Social Worker in Adult Social Care.
Thank you.
Hello, I'm Bridget Cameron, I'm the Interim Director for Commissioning in Adult Social Care.
Kat Slasabina, Actor, I'm the lead member for Health and Adult Social Care.
I'm also covering Georgia Chinbani, Corporate Director of Health and Adult Social Care.
I'm Councillor Abdul Manan, I'm shadowing Sabina as the Deputy. Thank you.
Thank you everyone. Can the Ministry of the Meeting be agreed as a true record?
minutes of previous meeting. Are there any comments from the members? No? Thank you.
So to summarise, recommendation, Naseema please noted that the minutes are a true record please.
Thank you. Action Lord. Members will have received recommendations from the HSC which was circulated by the scrutiny officer.
The NHS has also sent something today, so there are no outstanding actions.
Members never have outstanding actions.
NHS has sent something in their views, so I think everyone should know.
So action log. Members will have received consideration from the...
there is one outstanding action from NHS North East London Code.
I ask Jo Farjah to please provide a brief update on where we are at in receiving this
response, please.
If I may, Chair?
If I may?
If I may just update the committee that there are no outstanding actions because the NHS
North East London has also sent their response.
Just to note that for the committee.
Thank you Julia.
Are there questions online?
Have we got hands up?
I think, yeah.
Go ahead.
Councillor Wai, so you can ask your question.
Can you hear me, Councillor Abdul Wahid?
Yes, Councillor, I can hear you. Thank you. I put my hands up because I think some of
us are online. We haven't introduced ourselves. So as an introduction, I'm Councillor Abdul
Wahid and I don't have any declaration to make. Thank you.
Sorry for your political issues.
Sorry, Councillor Abdul -Ahed.
So I think online, Councillor Mustak and Councillor Amin Ali and I don't know his name.
Yes, Chancellor Fazia.
Yes.
Thank you for joining us for online.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Chair. I have a question too, in relation to the Northeast London response.
Yes, go ahead.
So, Chair, at the last meeting, as I understand, the subcommittee asked NHS Northeast London
for a written response which we have received. But my question is whether NHS Northeast London
can provide some measurable evidence of how effective those arrangements are in practise.
For example, whether disabled residents and people who struggle to engage with services
are actually experiencing improved access, fewer barriers and better outcomes.
The concern raised previously was not only about what processes exist,
but also about the waiting times, same day appointments and digital exclusion.
So if the committee members could have a more detailed response, that would probably be excellent.
Thank you.
Thank you for your question.
Can you drop your response, please?
Yes, that's it.
So for people who don't know me, I'm Jo Fraser -Wise.
I'm the neighbourhood development director
for Inner Northeast London.
And apologies, I'm not able to be there in person today.
But Jordan is there in the room.
We can look at, I'm not sure we capture
all that level of data around those specific categories you
asked, but we'll certainly have a look and try and provide
a more detailed data -driven response if that's helpful.
Thank you for your response.
Thank you very much.
committee is that agreed? The whole committee needs to agree that.
The whole committee can you agree?
Is that agreed members?
I do.
Okay.
Councillor Aminali, do you have interest to declare?
Interest to declare?
Councillor Aminali, can you help me?
Yes, thank you, Chair.
No, thank you, and I don't have anything to declare.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Her hand is up.
basically Blanca is 101 supposed to have to
keep up with that.
statues ?OUTING
OF
from the director of adult social care,
Sinal Arkut and the corporate director of health and adult social care,
Georgia Chambani and I now invite
Councillor Sabina Kedemir,
cabinet member for health, caring and inclusive committees
and officer from health and adult.
Okay, we have the presentation now.
Okay, thank you very much.
Could we have the presentation now, please?
The CQC findings?
Okay, that's fine. Okay.
I think one of them, what this is going to do.
Okay, so as the lead member for health and adult social care, extremely proud of our good rating that we received as over rating of good, paying 10 hammers for our care quality commission CQC.
and before we had the inspection we did a lot of work.
So we're really proud with the staff, the officers from the corporate director level
to all the way across the health directorate.
Really, really happy about the work that we continue to do to achieve the good rating that we did.
So really proud, really has shown the workforce, the commitment level.
And you know, as a borough, we should be really proud of ourselves.
It's been the first kind and really proud to say we've been in the top 25 overall in the London, in the borough of London.
So it should be something that we should be, we're in the top 25, quartile.
Yeah, just top 25 percent quartile. So something that we should really be proud of.
Obviously there's room for improvement and you know, we do have an improvement plan ahead.
we'll get officers to kind of say more about it.
But in terms of the strength of highlight is, you know,
the committed workforce, we've had a good leadership,
we have had good partnership working,
we've had good reduction in inequalities,
we've had a good work plan for safeguarding support
for unpaid carers.
Obviously there's room for improvement,
as from the report you can see,
which was care provision, safe pathways,
and the transition from children to adults.
And I'll get the officers to give more of a depth into that.
So just in general, we should be really kind of this overall good rating,
because it kind of really shows that validation of the good committee work staff,
and we have good officers to kind of lead that way.
I'll get Bridget to kind of tell us more about the strengths and the weaknesses from the report.
Thank you for the presentation.
Are there any further comments from the officer?
Yes, please go ahead.
Thank you.
If I could ask you to move on to the next slide, that would be lovely please.
Thank you.
So there were some really good strengths that were featured in the CQC report.
So the highlights are really committed workforce, so staff were quoted as being well trained,
dedicated to the community and person centred, which is exactly what we need and what we want.
Leadership were visible, capable and compassionate and there was an inclusive and positive culture
of continuous learning and improvement. Again, that isn't seen in all reports, which is really positive.
But also our partnership working was highlighted.
So for that our voluntary community faith sectors were praised and we value and involve them in those strategic discussions and that was acknowledged.
Residents' voices were central to the planning of future services and partners reflected on the strong relationships at practitioner level which supported the best outcomes for people.
So that is something I come in and I feel that's really quite unique to hear, our relationship,
it's really good.
Reducing inequalities was something which the council prioritised and definitely focusing
on equity within the strategic plans and partnerships, and that was noted, and proactively engaging
with the people and groups where inequalities had been identified so that what we can do
is to understand and address those specific risks
and any needs and issues experienced by those people.
Positive experiences, people talked about
the positive experiences.
You usually get people more willing to come
and tell you what's wrong, so the fact that they told you
what was right is really powerful.
And they talked about positive experiences of care
and support and their human rights, they felt,
were respected and protected and they were involved
throughout in their decisions.
and people were assessed, it was noted they were assessed in a timely way
and that has caused issues in other authorities,
so that's really positive here,
and with minimal weight for Care Act assessments,
so that's really positive.
Safeguarding, the safeguarding processes work well,
you don't often see it as such a simple statement
but one that is so powerful,
and risks were identified and managed proactively.
And then support for unpaid carers,
again, it's not just those who have assessed care needs and are receiving a care quality
service, a regulated service, it's for those who do unpaid care.
And there were robust support options for those who are unpaid carers with significantly
more carers accessing support than across England, which is, and for them to make a
note on that, that really shows there was a difference.
Findings wise, if I could get you to, thank you.
So the report also highlighted the areas we can improve in,
and although three is good, and it is good,
for most quality statements, we also had two areas
that were scored at a two, which is requires improvement,
and that was for care provision, integration and continuity,
and safe pathways, systems and transitions,
as Councillor Actau mentioned.
But we didn't get any that were a four, and a four is outstanding, so that's why we're
aiming upwards.
So you can see some of the points that they focused on when they were saying you could
be a little bit more focused in these areas.
Waits for annual reviews, for equipment and occupational therapy assessment was something
they wanted us to focus on.
Young people transitioning, we were doing that too late.
many authorities, they do that from 14, 15 years and upwards,
and we were invited to really look at that with our children's colleagues.
Delays to fee uplifts impacting on provider sustainability was noted,
and a need to coordinate pathways for autistic people,
that latter one is one that many authorities are still working on,
but we recognise and acknowledge that.
When you look at the next slide, if you will,
so what does that mean for us for areas of focus?
We've just mentioned transitions.
What they've noted was that the assessment for adult care comes in around the age of
18, and like I was saying, in many authorities that's at 14, 15.
You start the conversations, you talk about the intent, especially for young people who
may be having a high package of support within children's services but wouldn't necessarily
meet Care Act eligible needs when they're 18.
We have to start those conversations, work with those families, those individuals to
support them and to think in different ways about meeting their needs of support.
So we're working with children's services, you'll be pleased to know, and through the
Transitions Board, we're starting assessments earlier, we're improving the overall transitions
offer, and the Transitions Board will monitor and continue to look at the progress made.
Autism pathway and strategy, we're updating the strategy.
as the current strategy is outdated.
And we want to be much more coordinated
to have expectations around coordinated support.
And this seems a little bit disparate in view.
And alongside this, we're working to develop
stronger, clearer pathways for residents with autism.
Governance and scrutiny, this has been picked up.
Leadership understands the adult social care risks,
but inspectors did note the broader need for political engagement and stronger scrutiny,
and I believe we're sitting in an example of how we're addressing that currently,
and you having the deep dive and that spotlight on this area really helps with this.
And so what they'd suggested was member development support via envoys will support improvements,
but also this focus works really well.
Market capacity and commissioning processes, an area close to my heart,
Although commissioning governance has improved,
fee uplift delays, care waits, and out of area placements
remain a challenge, and they do.
Commissioning and brokerage teams are addressing them
with a stronger fee uplift process and improved oversight
of out of borough placements.
We're also working with the market to develop options
to try and find more alternatives that are closer
to tower hamlets, if not in here.
Accessibility of information.
There's various variable knowledge in staff group
around what's available in different languages.
So that was noted.
So we'll be focusing on improving staff awareness
of translation opportunities and options and standardising
how the guidance and documents are made accessible.
So that is an ongoing process and piece of work.
If we go into the next one, the improvement plan.
This is an area that we've got a number of highlighted improvement paths that we're looking
at at the moment.
You can see the list on the left, those of you with very good eyesight can see the list
on the left.
Hopefully it's in your packs as well.
So their plan includes focusing on access and waiting times.
It's got the commissioning challenges I've mentioned.
It mentions strengthening the safeguarding oversight.
Although safeguarding was considered good, what we need to do is we need to look at how we oversee and govern that.
And putting in place leadership and strategies where they've been missing.
And some of that is refreshing where they've been out of date, like the autism strategy.
It doesn't mean we didn't have them, it's just they've lapsed.
So there's a whole stream of work around this.
I'm going to hand over to Sarah now, who will take you through the last couple of slides.
Thank you, Richard.
So the inspection process is also changing and important to flag that.
The CQC have said they'll change a number of elements within the inspection
and how they conduct assessments going forward.
And these will include focus on ministerial priorities.
So examples of those are the ministerial priorities, of course, on prevention and unpaid carers.
of whom we work very closely here in the borough.
They're working to do more streamlined reports and I think give greater narrative
that go alongside their outcomes and their findings in various areas.
There'll be more flexibility around the type of assessment and actually how they engage with our communities,
how they engage with the people we're here to serve and also our partners of course.
Better evidence gathering, again we had to submit a very high number of documents last time.
They're looking at that to see how they streamline that further.
It's expected that there will be longer site visits.
They were with us for three days last time, so that may, I imagine, run into more like a week.
Clear communication, pre -onsite inspections and post -inspections, so communication in terms of timescales,
and I would imagine also in terms of when we're likely to get the report.
That varied significantly from borough to borough last time.
and a greater focus on people's experience and voice, and hearing very much from the people we are here to serve
in terms of their experience of working with us, what they feel is strong and what they might like to be different.
So the focus from improvement to outstanding and moving from good to outstanding is obviously a very clear priority for us.
The improvement plan helps us to address the specific areas where CQC point out we need to improve.
We are obviously looking at those point by point and thinking about how we build further improvement.
Outstanding of course won't be achieved by an improvement plan alone.
If it is to be achieved that will happen through our culture and actions, everyday decisions, behaviours, ideas and leadership shown across the organisation.
and us preparing each time for inspection as part of what we do day in and day out.
What we say a lot here in Tower Hamlets is clearly we're preparing for inspection all the time,
but we work very hard to achieve outstanding because that's very much what we're here to do.
Thank you.
May I just add one thing, which is that we are likely to have the Care Quality Commission back in a year.
So just to give you a sense of time scale.
Thank you for the nice and lovely presentation.
Thank you committee member and thank you for your time.
Thank you very much.
Are there any questions for members?
I think Councillor Wahid, you may ask your question, please.
Councillor Wahid, can you hear me?
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Chair.
Can I seek your permission to keep my camera off
because my internet is really bad.
So having the camera on gives me a good connexion.
Is that okay if I have my camera off?
Yes, no problem.
Go ahead.
Okay.
All right, thank you.
I want to first congratulate the team
for the really brilliant achievement
of achieving a good for the CQC rating,
which is a testimony to the hard work, dedication of officers, the current lead member and also
the previous lead member, Gulab Kibreya, they've put in a lot of hard work, so well done on
that.
I've got a couple of questions.
First one is the CQC rating is good, which is clearly a positive, but scrutiny also needs
to understand the residents' experience behind the rating.
What are the three areas where officers believe residents
are still receiving the standard service which they want?
And what measurable targets have been set to improve them?
That's my first question.
that may allow, is the CQC highlighted tower hamlets. The over 65 population is expected
to rise significantly in the next 20 years. Our outdoor social care workforce, care provision
and finance prepared for that increase. And where do officers see the greatest risk? So
So, for now, these are my two questions.
Thank you for that question.
Thank you, Councillor Abdul -Mahib.
Yes, so obviously like you said, we've got a good rating,
but obviously we wanted to go towards that outstanding rating
at Children's Services and we've got a plan,
we've got an improvement journey, but when we do speak to residents
or the community, or the feedback that we got, even from the report.
It's the initial assessment, for example, we have a lot of delays,
doing the assessment, for example, occupational therapies,
or needing equipment assessment, or the assessment,
we do get a lot of, sometimes, that feedback,
like can we have that fastened process, or can we have a quicker,
we need to have an occupation fair base for this requirement.
Sometimes that's a delay, so that's something that we've taken on board and we want to improve on.
So again, the waiting lists, but we do have a dedicated team working on the backlog.
And a lot of times the transition from children to adults, and one of my questions to officers was,
So yes, we've kind of recognised that, but what work can we do to work with the Children's
Directorate team to work together with the adults to improve that journey?
Because a lot of people do come to us as early members, and I'm sure to other members,
of having that transition move.
I've had someone, for example, the Mayor's surgery the other day, where someone came in,
it's over here, like really that transition process for me.
and I'm sure that you guys are aware of.
I know we are doing a lot of work on that,
but if we can have a dedicated kind of team
to kind of have the children's service and adult social,
because of working together on that cross -pathway work,
I think that would be another improvement.
Anything else, Bridget, that you want to add?
I think what I would say is we're looking to recruit
a couple of extra occupational therapists,
so that should help with some of the waiting times,
and we're looking at different ways of doing that.
But we also are conscious that we have...
You're right, we have a long way to go in certain areas.
And I think there's annual surveys, I'll hand over to Sarah in a moment.
There's annual surveys, but we also have different touch points.
So if someone receives a package of care and it's new or it's changed,
you do a six -weekly dip in just to see how it's going,
phone calls, that sort of thing, as well as your annual reviews.
So we are making sure that we're up to date with our annual reviews. We're making sure that we've got our six -week play
We're making sure that our assessments are face -to -face so that we're actually hearing and seeing what that person
And their needs are so we are looking at that. You're right. It's a longer process
the we're considering a
14 to 25 service. That's a it's not a done deal. We have to talk about it
There's an awful lot around that, but it's that working pathway.
It doesn't mean that you necessarily do things differently or have different management,
although you can go to that extreme, but you do need that sort of pathway where children's
and adult social workers work shoulder to shoulder alongside that family and that young
person into adulthood.
So there's quite a lot happening.
If I can hand over to you.
Thank you for the question, cancer.
Indeed, hearing from people we're here to serve is incredibly important to us, and we
We also try to do that via our quality assurance approach where people we work with are contacted
via a what do you think form to feed back to us directly in terms of what they think
has worked well, what they think could be done differently.
The feedback from surveys, again we build very much into our improvement plan and thinking
about with every intervention colleagues are encouraged to leave a what do you think leaflet
with the person they've worked with so that they can give that feedback directly to us.
And it's that kind of face to face interaction, like you said, Bridget, so that you have that
empathy and so that they feel cared for and we really want to show that and our inspection,
you know, we did kind of, you know, relay that.
It's really important that we have that sense of feeling and empathy which is really important
to our residents.
contract monitoring officers will talk at the moment they talk to our people in
receipt of home care and they go out and they do a survey with them and they use
that information to feedback, they escalate any issues. What we're looking
at is how we borrow that model or adapt it to go into other type of care
provisions so it's not just for home care so that's something the team are
working on over the next few weeks to hopefully develop a model that could go
into other care sectors as it's proven really quite a useful way of gathering information.
It's just an alternative source for those who are trying to get as many options as we can.
Sorry, Councillor, I didn't catch your second part of the question.
Thank you, thank you. The second part was regarding the
Our elderly population is expected to rise significantly.
And are we, is our adults social care workforce, care provision, finance prepared to meet that
increase?
And where do officers see the greatest capacity risk?
That's a good question.
Good question.
I think what he's meaning about the capacity of the whole meeting of minds is also options for types of care.
Yeah, I would probably come back at that. It's a really good question. Thank you.
I would say it's always difficult because you've got to balance need with wants and then with the parent.
And so it's helping people to look initially at their community, their family, the people around them to see what they...
It's not saying they don't need it, but they may need it, but we just may need to connect people to other voluntary community sectors,
other groups that are out there, other commission services.
So it doesn't mean that we have to do always a care package that would be home care, care homes, extra care,
you know, the traditional bed -based or domiciliary care services.
So, my goodness me, we are on that from a money point of view as well.
We're looking to get our value for money.
We are reviewing at the moment the cases and doing sample testings.
We have targeted review teams.
We're looking to meet people's assessed needs under the Care Act,
but we're looking at creative ways to do that.
So and the population you're right is rising which means we've got to somehow
Do more with less and that's going to be always a challenge, but that's the part where we're working the market
We're working with public health colleagues to understand the need coming forwards as well. We are going through the most kind of financial
difficulty time, but we have a rigorous kind of
Planned work path where you know
We're having a lot of spend reviews with the Mayor, with the team, the whole directors team as well,
to kind of assess care packages, assess the assessments that people require,
and kind of really making sure, of course, we're dealing with the most vulnerable residents.
So yes, we need to imply the financial kind of pressures that we have, but we are dealing with the most vulnerable,
and we have to really make sure that we're giving the best value service and the best service that we can provide.
And like going moving on, like now I sit on the care packages panel, so we're going from that level for,
we have the top senior management team, Chanel, who sits on the care packages levels,
where we're kind of reviewing each kind of requirement or a need that is coming forward to us.
So each care package is really looked into and sometimes we're seeing where they don't
need that kind of package perhaps, but sometimes we're seeing that perhaps that resident needs
more support.
So it's initially to kind of give that best service and I'm sitting on those panels now
as well and we're constantly meeting weekly in our kind of spending reviews panel to kind
of really make sure that we're having that best value efficiency work done as well.
Thank you.
I guess it is just worth being aware that in Tower Hamlets, as across the country, there
is a rising demand for adult social care.
In Tower Hamlets, it's particularly acute in the under -65s with an increased complexity
in older people.
But it's a trend everywhere, and I think one of the national policy developments recently
is the acceleration of the Casey review which is looking at the adult social care system
across the country.
I think we've been, I mean like all local authorities, we've been asked to kind of produce
a response and so I think this whole issue about the resourcing of adult social care
is a national issue as well and I think probably we'd want to contribute to that discussion.
As identified by CQC, our commitment to strength -based practise is also very much about working with
people and meeting them where they are at and thinking about what resources they have
within themselves, but also their families, their communities and their networks to think
about how they continue to live the fullest life they can for the longest period of time
possible.
That's very much in that came out from our inspection around our commitment to what's referred to as strength based practise
which is a key practise approach across adult social care and one that we're very committed to here.
Good morning for your attention.
Councillor Abdul -Wahid and thank you for good response.
Committee member Sabinaktar and officers, thank you very much.
I think two more questions.
Yes, first of all, you may ask your question.
Thank you, thank you, Chair.
Thank you very much.
My question is more direct with a timeline goal,
focusing on page 28, what you have mentioned.
First and foremost, let me congratulate your entire team
on a wonderful presentation with deep touch points,
as you mentioned.
Now, you have identified numerous improvement areas here.
However, your papers, I have observed, do not provide
numerical baselines, specific performance targets,
completion dates for each action,
named accountable offices for individual actions,
and rag ratings, you know rag ratings,
or progress percentages.
You know, it lists many actions,
but I've grouped it in five main points,
taking all these numerical points into action.
My basic question is what dates, timeline dates,
like you have in mind to achieve and deliver this.
That's the ESC improvement plan. Am I clear?
Thank you.
Thank you, Ashish.
Thank you.
So thank you, again good question, but just to assure you we're absolutely determined
to, like we said we've got a continuous working plan and absolutely we have a time frame as
well which you, going forward you guys will receive with proper numerous numbers and the
kind of time frame that we're expected. Obviously like we said we've got the next inspection
coming through within a year so we need to really, we are continuously doing it and we
are on top of it and we've got a dedicated review team and we've got the
whole journey kind of planned out in terms of you know waiting times to kind
of covering all the access the commissioning and the markets.
It's a proper plan every item so all the areas that have you know we've been
notified that requires that improvement we do have a plan and we come forward
we perhaps come back and inform. Bridget, do you want to comment?
Well, only just to reinforce what you've said, there is a plan behind every line and there's
lead officers, there's any budgetary implications, there's clear actions, each area is broken
down into the tasks that would need to be done, so I just reassure you.
So we're having those vigorous meetings, the schedule, the reviews are going on.
We are all set to kind of go for the next inspection, so we have to be on top of it.
And over the time we can give you more of an exact time frame.
But we are on top of it, we just want to reassure you.
Chair, I just propose that we monitor this part and keep it in our dashboard as to cheque
on the progress timeline on this matter.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for your opinion.
Thank you for serving.
Thank you officers.
I think one more question with online Councillor Mustaq Ahmad.
You may ask your question, please.
Thank you, Chair.
Chair, we can see from page 29 that inspection process is changing and helpfully it also
gives us some information how it is changing. My question is are we confident that Tower
Hamlets is ready for those changes, particularly the greater focus on residents' actual experiences
and where do officers think we still have work to do or we are lacking? Thank you.
Yeah, so I really believe on the team. Like I said, before this current resubspection that we had,
we were prepared and we had that continuous journey plan, improvement plan, and we worked towards it.
So we didn't just wait for the assessment to come, we were pre -planning before.
And now we are absolute. And like Hannah said, some of the areas that will be changing.
For example, this time we had three days, maybe it will be a week or more.
So they'll have more time to kind of be on our sites, so they'll be reviewing for much longer.
There'll be other changes which we are aware of, and we do know it may be much harder.
So kind of our strengths, we need to really capture on them and kind of improve those.
And the areas that we really need to improve kind of eliminate that as well.
Hannah, did you want to come in?
I would say absolutely.
It's difficult because when the framework first comes out,
it's new to everyone.
And so the LGA, the Government Association, and ADAS,
as the Association of Directors of Adult Social Care,
are working to understand what that means at the moment.
There's been workshops, there's been webinars at the moment.
We're all attending in our different guises, in our different roles to get what that will mean.
We've got the first couple of authorities going through the new inspection and we're all lined up,
Brent's one isn't it, and we're all lined up ready to understand and learn from that experience
with other boroughs who are under that new framework.
it's not quite as easy as to say, you know, going from one to another and planning it.
As Sarah was saying, we've got to understand the nuances of it,
exactly what they're going to be asking for in different areas,
and some of that we still don't quite know what that looks like in reality at this stage.
So it's learning as we go, which it was with the first inspection,
and Tower Hamlets did really well on preparing pretty much for every eventuality.
It is difficult because the goalposts have changed and they're coming in longer and so
that means they'll be following more lines of inquiry and that's what we're also trying
to work out, what that looks like when they're here.
So I know I'm putting a word of caution on but it's more we're just waiting to learn
from and with our other colleague authorities really.
Do you want to come in Sarah?
I think again just to provide further assurance that we do work very closely with other boroughs and as Principal Social Worker for the local authority I work very closely with my counterparts in other local authorities who are going through that process, who have been through that process to learn.
Because again CQC would very much want us to work in partnership with each other's local authorities to learn, to continue to improve and to build on any improvement plan we have already.
Thank you very much. Are there any recommendations to be considered?
Thank you.
There were two of them.
I picked up chair, so there was a response from the budget.
And for the recommendation from Leo,
he wanted to cheque with the committee
if they are in agreement with that.
Thank you.
So to summarise our recommendation,
can we note the presentation?
Are there any likely recommendations to be considered?
Thank you, Chair.
If I may, Chair?
Yes, please.
Thank you, Chair.
So there were two points. There was the response from Bridget, which was noted, and if members are in agreement to receive that response.
If you could just indicate that for the minutes.
And the suggestion from Mr. de Souza as well, Chair.
Is that agreed with the committee?
Are we ready everyone? Thank you. Move on to the next agenda.
So NHS winter planning arrangement. I now welcome the guest speaker from NHS.
N .H .S. Inner Annual Inter -
Next item, welcome Jordan Oliver and I believe your colleague Frida Ush is joining us online.
about the youth then please.
Hello, yes I'm John Oliver, lovely to meet you all.
Do you want me to start off with the presentation?
Great stuff.
I'm here to talk about winter planning for 2026, 2027.
I just wanted to acknowledge the fact that this plan was very much developed in collaboration with our partners across the system
and stakeholders as well who have been involved in winter planning not only this year but many, many years before now.
and it's really built on the work that has happened previous years, which basically stands as in such a good stead in Tower Hamlets for our winter planning.
But just for information, some of the partners that have been involved in our winter plan this year are like Barts, ELFT, both mental health and the community health sector,
our VCFSC colleagues, our PCN colleagues, adult commissioning and social care.
So it's definitely been a partnership and team approach to doing our winter plan this year.
I think one of the main things to know is that we've got real commitment from all of our partners
to continue to work together. Obviously we're just in early September now and it feels sometimes a little bit weird
to be talking about winter so early but I think it just shows the fact that we've been able to do this
like I say in partnership, saw early on,
shows the dedication and commitment
from all of those partners to be really proactive,
but then also acknowledging the fact that there will be,
or there may well be the need to be quite reactive
in how we respond to some of the winter demands
and pressures that do come our way.
So we've got a governance route,
so all of this work is sat under our Agent Care Working Group
but there's also the commitment to stand up meetings
as needed if we do need to be a bit more reactive to what comes our way in
those winter months. What I've done is I've developed the plan across sort of
core areas which you'll see in the pack. So the first one is neighbourhood health,
the second one is CMD access and admissions and conveyance reduction, the
third is hospital floor and discharge management, then intermediate care
pathways and then post discharge support.
I think the key thing to acknowledge
across those slides and the services that
are captured within the slides is
that all of these services are operational
throughout the year.
And actually, Tower Hamlets has such a strong offer
to support our population and our patients
throughout the year.
And actually, what these services are all
very experienced at doing is sort of reviewing and responding
to that demand and capacity.
So for example, like our colleagues in BART, they will sort of stand down any sort of elective
surgeries to make sure that they've got additional capacity and those kinds of things.
But yes, obviously like I said, everything's in the slides and it's very much an overview
of the services that are available across those areas.
But yeah, obviously open to any questions and comments if there are any.
Thank you for the presentation. Are there any questions?
Any member?
Not me.
I think Councillor Mustak.
Okay. After Councillor Mustak, I come to you.
No, no, Chair, I said I don't have a question, Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Chair. Can I?
Can I? Thank you, Chair.
My basic question is, is this a sufficiently operational plan? Why do I say that? The paper
describes many services, but I don't see any demand forecast, capacity figures, targets,
workforce assumptions, funding and named accountability.
Could you just enlighten me on this, madam?
Thank you, Che.
Yeah, of course, thank you so much for the question.
I suppose one of the things that we were very reflective on
when building the plan was that actually the plan
will sort of give us actions around what we need to do
in the sort of next couple of months
to truly prepare for winter.
I think this is a very much a high level plan
and it was the plan that was sort of required by us to submit to the integrated care board
which is then used within NHS England's wider planning. But we acknowledge locally that
there is sort of more to sort of definitely learn around what the specific actions are
with regards to even specifically around how some pathways interface and those kinds of
things and it might be that we can do that work now in preparation for winter but it
also informs a longer term plan around how we actually just work together in terms of
those services. Acknowledge that we don't have any data. I think sometimes when we talk
about winter data it can be quite difficult to think about projections and those kinds
of things but if there's something specific around data that you'd be interested to see
would be more than happy to look at that and bring that back if that's helpful.
Just a follow up to what you have said, will we be entitled, you know, to have a
quantified winter assurance dashboard before the peak winter pressures begin?
Do you have a plan in mind? I'm not too sure about winter assurance dashboard, I
look to Jo to see if she knows of anything from a more system level.
Yes, so thanks Jordan. So it's also worth saying that every partner also has a winter plan. So the
Royal London will have a winter plan, East London Foundation Trust will have a winter plan. So what
we've been asked by NHS England is as an ICB, that's for Tower Hamlets, that's what this is.
It's a sort of collation of the key themes from those plans.
So they are underpinned by other more detailed plans.
We are working on what kind of dashboards look like.
So yes, we would expect to see some data.
Where we are in that, I will need to come back to you on,
but I'm sure we can provide some data
around how operationally the system is working
during winter.
If anyone next time has any questions, make any questions come through me, please. Thank you.
I was going to ask Joe to respond to your question.
I have a good question.
Sorry, Jo, I just wondered whether you could just quickly describe the governance of the
winter plan.
So I think that would just be helpful to the committee to understand how we oversee this
in Tower Hamlets.
Jo, is that…?
Yes, I can do that.
So the winter plan has been developed through Tower Hamlets Urgent Care Working Group and
a partnership approach.
it will continue to be monitored and managed through that,
which sits under and as part of Tower Hamlets together.
Within the ICB, there is responsibility in the proactive care section of the ICB,
which provides that assurance to NHS England.
So it has both a local governance route and ownership within Tower Hamlets,
but it also has a north east London system wide governance and assurance as well.
Thank you. Next question, Councillor Waihi, please.
Thank you, chair. I just wanted to understand, firstly, thank you for the presentation for
winter planning. In regards to vaccination, in terms of what sort of preparation do we have,
and I know sometimes we within the entire Hamlets have a low rate of vaccination and there may be
issues surrounding that in terms of accessibility, et cetera. So what sort of planning and we do in
publicising in terms of the importance of the winter vaccination, etc, and how we work with
the council and NHS and all the different partners in order to highlight the importance of the
winter vaccination, etc. Thank you. Immunisations and vaccinations
came up a lot in all of the winter planning. I think one of the key things to note is the
fact that there are obviously vulnerable cohorts, especially around those who might be housebound
or those in care homes. So I know our primary care network colleagues and our GPs already
work very proactively to make sure that those more vulnerable populations access their vaccinations
and immunisations. We're also working really closely with our public health colleagues
to think about what their vaccination campaigns are as well. And then also the integrated
Care Board itself has a communications campaign to make sure that we can publicise and make
sure that immunisation and vaccinations are very well known about, how to access them
alongside all of the other different offers that we've got. So we appreciate that that
is an area of concern but we have plans to address those.
Thank you for your good response.
Thank you.
So what is the missing one, please?
Why is hockey such an exciting sport?
Why have Channel 4 invested money into international hockey for their own relations?
What is it about hockey? Compared to when I started playing 55 years ago, what is it about hockey?
Is it about promoting skillful play continuity?
Excuse me, is that a different word?
Oh, I'll take it from the different word, yeah. Excellent.
Okay, so we need to apply the rules of the game to create the safe throw and senders.
They are the key three words of umpiring.
safety is the most important part of the game.
There's been a moment in our own game.
I was wondering how much you work across departments with people like housing, for example, to
make sure that all repairs are up to date by the time that winter comes, putting pressure
around social housing associations to make sure that they're doing things like
making sure their windows are secure and then more long -term looking
at retrofitting buildings with better heating plans and things like that.
Yeah so we engaged housing in part of our winter planning as well so we've
definitely brought them into the conversation but probably a bit more
specific and high level around the homelessness element as well and so
maybe actually that's something we can take back and reflect on to see how we
can but yeah work a bit more practically and collaboratively with with those
colleagues so yeah we'll take that back so thank you.
I was just gonna come in there, as a council we have various housing projects
for example the 120 project where we speak to certain families and we can
adapt homes according so if it's someone elderly and they require like a you know
or warm room or enclosed environment that will be adapted.
So we have really supported a lot of families through that,
a lot of elderly families as well to kind of be adapted
working with housing.
I just wanted to raise about the warm hubs that we have
in the borough.
How can we really ensure that people are aware
of that availability?
Because not a lot of people do,
because I've had a lot of people coming to us,
Where is the nearest warm harbour? Where can we go to sit down?
So sometimes not a lot of people can afford heating during winter times as well, especially our elderly.
So if we do a lot more combs or awareness where people can actually access warm harbours, we need them.
So I think that would be something good in our partnership working as well.
Thank you, sir. To summarise our recommendation, can we note the presentation? Do you agree
a dashboard? Yes, right.
Yes, go ahead.
Chair, you have time for one question?
Yes.
Thank you very much.
It's a bit challenging, but I'm sure you'll do your best.
Now, what lessons have we learnt from winter 2025, 2026?
What basically I am interested in from the Health Watch, Tahamlet point of view is
What are the three principal failures or pressures last winter and what has changed as a result?
I may have one follow up question depending on how you answer your question madam.
I think it is a really important thing to have
Thank you.
To be completely honest, I don't want to have
three principal feelings.
That is not something I have got at the top of
our heads.
As we started on this task to start
into planning, we went through to
colleagues and said what worked well and what
didn't work well last year.
I think one of the key things that we heard was
But then something that could be better was basically that sort of governance and bringing people together,
which is why we've made a real commitment this year to put things, have a bit more robust governance under the urgent care work and group
and make sure that there's capacity from our integrated care board team to have that resource to stand up meetings in a much more reactive way.
But yeah, we don't have those three to feed back on unfortunately.
Just a minor follow -up. Could the post winter evaluation for 2025 -2026 be circulated to
members which includes actions completed and actions outstanding and why? Is it possible?
Could you repeat that? The what from 2025 -26?
Yeah, we see the post winter evaluation for 2025 -2026. I have not seen it madam.
Could it be circulated to members which includes fundamentally actions completed, what you achieved and what actions are still outstanding, still to be achieved?
and what were the bottlenecks, obstacles,
like that prevented it,
and how are you going to surmount those obstacles?
Am I clear?
Yeah, it's clear.
Thank you.
Sorry.
No, I was just thinking, as you're asking that,
because we've been obviously planning for winter
for quite a few years,
it's one of those things that to do an annual
written report, it happens very rarely, so I've been in quite a few authorities and
I've not, and systems, and I've not seen one that's typically written these days.
You would have done a number of years ago, and sometimes when you have a spotlight or
you bring in an organisation who's looking at how well the flow is going, usually because
it isn't.
If the flow isn't going well from hospital to the community, you usually have someone
brought in to, and that will produce a review.
But I'm not sure, I've come across a written review in other authorities and I'm not sure
there's one here.
I can't speak to one nor of one in Tower Hamlets.
Sorry, George Scott.
Yeah, no, I was just going to thank you for your support of what's been said.
So it would be difficult for us to provide that because also winter isn't just a set
period now.
You know, as Jordan's pointing out, it's September, we started the winter planning process at
the beginning of August.
It carries on. We've already, you know, we also recognise that summer now has similar challenges due to heat.
And so some of the winter things we put in for winter are as relevant in the summer as they are in the winter.
So I think the challenge is good in terms of needing to evaluate what worked well, what didn't, and be able to feed that in.
So I'm committed that we can do that for Tower Hamlets and we can pick that up as part of the process we are now in.
but we do not have any kind of written report that provides a review of last year's interplan.
Thank you everyone.

4 b) NHS Winter Planning Arrangements

If everyone agrees or recommendations, can I have a question?
Julia, can you give some words?
Thank you, Chair.
Yes, there was just one action. I believe it was Joe online that suggested some dashboard information for the committee.
If that's agreed? Thank you, Joe.
Thank you, Julia.
We can move to the next agenda.

5 a) HASSC Work Programme 2026/2027

the work programme for 2026 -27. The work programme is included in the agenda pack and it reminds
a draught unit till it is considered by the overview and scrutiny committee later this
I welcome the Scootoony Officer to update members about how this was developed and to
confirm or to change since it was published.
Julia, over to you then, please.
Thank you Chair. So yes, just to outline for the committee that the draught work programme,
as you may recall, was first provided to you at the last meeting on the 6th of July, and
the overview and scrutiny committee actually agrees the work programmes for all of the
subcommittees, so once it's looked at at this meeting it will then be considered by
the overview of the scrutiny committee on the 22nd of September.
So since that discussion in July, discussions have taken place at a scrutiny workshop.
Some of you may recall we were in this room with officers and other members looking at
various topics to go into the work programmes.
So those topics have been collated and prioritised and discussed with the chair and officers
and that's the template that you have before you in the agenda pack.
The scrutiny team held a series of additional workshops that were held with residents and
community groups and so another list of topics has been taken and prioritised and discussed
with the chair and that's been put into the agenda pack as well, just to let you know.
So there are just a few changes since that list was published and I'll run through them
very briefly, adult social care performance transformation commissioning and savings plan.
That was on the unallocated list but it's been suggested that that needs to come off
of that list and put under a meeting. So it's proposed that perhaps the 2nd of November
but that needs to be discussed tonight with yourselves and officers. The other change
is ELFT, indicative financial savings as well. You may have seen correspondence that came
around to you by email.
And it's suggested that that needs
to come up on the allocated list and perhaps be put
under the 19th of April meeting.
Again, that needs to be discussed with yourselves
here tonight and with officers.
And also heat health, and that was suggested by the chair
as a challenge session, again, for discussion tonight.
And those are all the changes, sir.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you for your update, Chen.
Thank you.
Are there any comments from members?
Any comments from members?
I don't know whether this is the right part of the meeting to make a suggestion for an addition to the agenda or not.
Yeah.
There's nothing on the agenda at the moment about clean air and the impact on breathing in health.
I wonder whether that could be added on to the agenda at all.
Thank you, Councillor. That topic has been suggested for the student lead member for environment and climate emergency.
So it may be a cross -cutting piece of work, but that has been taken on board as part of the overall long list of topics.
and there may be some impact for members of this committee and officers as well to look into that.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you, Vishaal. Are there any comments from the cabinet member?
Yes, thank you, Chair. So I just wanted to add that obviously listening to concerns from the community,
I did want the Health and Adult Social Care scrutiny to have on the GP Access and Women's Commission,
which has been addressed.
So thank you for that.
So I'm really happy to see that on the work plan.
Thank you.
Are there any comments from officer?
No, any comment?
Thank you, sir.
To summarise our recommendation,
can we note the report and the overall report?
amended to the work programme provided by the scrutiny officer.
Agenda number one.
Agenda number two agreed the work programme
and amended for referral to the OMBARBU and scrutiny comment.
Number three request that the scrutiny review
and scoping papers in relation to health in licence with myself and key members and officers.
Number 4 request that the scutin officer agreed any site visit.
Any other business date of next meeting any other business?
There are no other business schedule for this meeting. The date of the next meeting is 2
November 2026. I now call this meeting to a close. Thank you everyone for attending
Webcast Finished - 1:16:38
and to those watching online. Good night. Thank you everyone. Thank you.