Agenda item

Councillor Tim Mitchell, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health to provide a verbal update to the Committee on current and forthcoming issues in his portfolio and to answer questions from Members.

4.1     Councillor Tim Mitchell provided a briefing on key issues within his portfolio relating to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Committee held detailed discussions on the following topics:

·     Cases within Westminster – The Committee was updated on the number of Covid-19 cases reported in Westminster and the resulting mortality rate.

·     Care Homes and Care Providers – It was explained that an incident management plan had been implemented for those people classified as vulnerable or sheltering in order to mitigate against the impact of the pandemic. All care homes had also been engaged with on a daily basis to assess the health of residents and staff and ensure there was adequate provision of care and equipment for both. The Committee noted that staffing levels at care homes remained in excess of 95% and in terms of domiciliary care, families and volunteers had been working to ensure adequate care was provided. It was confirmed that since 6 March 2020 all care homes had been requested to shelter with no non-essential visitors permitted from 9 March 2020. The Council had been working closely with all care homes to look at measures to control and limit the spread of the virus. The domiciliary support sector had also been identified as vulnerable and this area had been carefully liaised with to help provide PPE equipment and other services as necessary. A review process would be initiated following the pandemic and this would analyse areas of success and weakness in the response provided and learn lessons for the future. The Committee requested a note following the meeting providing details on the number of care home deaths in Westminster related to Covid-19 including subsequent hospital deaths.

·     Test, Track and Trace – This was a Government introduced initiative where the Council would be responsible for implementing a plan by the end of June 2020 setting out details on preparations for dealing with local outbreaks and supporting those classified as vulnerable. Care home residents and staff had all been provided with testing and regular fortnightly testing would be implemented in conjunction with the North West London CCG.

·     Recovery Planning – A thorough review process would be carried out across all areas in order to examine the impact of the virus and the response provided with a particular focus on why the BAME community had been disproportionately affected. The Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board mechanism would be used to lead this analysis in conjunction with health partners and the voluntary sector.

·     Other Developments – It was confirmed that work had begun on the Beachcroft Care Home and its first residents were expected in September 2020. Also, a paper had recently been published by NHS London on a proposed organisational restructure of the CCG structure. The Council was currently lobbying for future CCGs to be in line with borough boundaries so that only one CCG would cover the Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea area therefore simplifying the structure.

4.2      The Chair expressed the Committee’s thanks to all those involved in the response to the Covid-19 pandemic for their efforts and hard work in extremely challenging circumstances.