Agenda item

To debate the motions submitted in accordance with Standing Order 41.

 

Members are asked to note that the motions submitted will be circulated as a supplementary paper in advance of the meeting, in accordance with Standing Order 41(c).

16.1    The following motion submitted by the Conservative Group was approved:

 

Protecting and Raising the Quality of Adult Social Care in Brent

 

This Council notes:

 

·             The unprecedented times that the country is facing and the role local government has in providing local stability and leadership in these tumultuous times.

 

·             The irreplaceable role that local council plays at the heart of communities, providing key public services that protect the most defenceless in society – children at risk, disabled adults and vulnerable older people and the services we all rely on, like clean streets, libraries and children’s centres.

 

·             That councils up and down the UK are at breaking point, with disproportionate reductions in local council funding and comparison to the rest of the public sector.

 

·             That councils had to spend an extra £800m in the last financial year to meet the demand on vital services to protect children and that, with an ageing population and growing demand, adult social care faces a gap of over £2bn in the next financial year.

 

·             In Brent, as with all other council departments, adult social care has had to make significant budget savings in the past, and continues to need to make savings in the future, with a target of reducing the overall spend by £4.1m on adult social care by 2021. This is in the context of an aging population and increasing demand for services.

 

·             Brent has an estimated prevalence of 2,470 patients living with dementia, of whom only 1,834 (74.2%) are diagnosed. This leaves an estimated 1034 undiagnosed patients living with dementia who could benefit from early diagnosis and follow up and support in the community. Brent seeks to address this gap in service with a view to providing early interventions to support people with dementia and their carers to live longer in their own homes.

 

·             The extra £1.5bn for social care in the Government’s recent spending round - £1 billion through a new grant and £500 million through the adult social care precept.

 

·             To implement reform – which will involve difficult choices about how to raise money to pay for services – the Government must set up an independent, cross-party inquiry on social care funding, as the Institute for Government recommended last year. This would be the best mechanism to build the public and parliamentary support needed to deliver change, with the last major attempt to reform social care funding. Then, once political support is secured, legislation will have to be passed.

 

·             This council also notes and commends the work done with partners progressing Brent as a Dementia Friendly Borough which has been recognised nationally. This will include GP practices, leisure services, libraries, the Alzheimer’s Society, supermarkets such as Tesco, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, London Ambulance Service, Metropolitan Police, London Fire Brigade, local cinemas and art venues.

 

The Council therefore resolves:

 

To write to the Health Secretary Matt Hancock MP and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid MP.

 

The Council requests that the Leader of the Council:

 

(1)        Asks the Health Secretary for the Social Care Green Paper which includes a range of options for securing a sustainable funding solution for adult social care, financial protection and support for informal carers.

 

(2)        Asks the Health Secretary for increased accountability and regulatory powers for the Care Quality Commission.

 

(3)        Ensures the Council sign up to the Ethical Care Charter which establishes a minimum baseline for the safety, quality and dignity of care by ensuring employment conditions support a more stable workforce.

 

(4)        Improve access to care support through the Brent Dementia Steering Group in order to ensure that health professionals inform patients of the support available to them at the point of diagnosis.

 

(5)        Continue to work with our strategic and community partners to progress actions which provides leadership on being a Dementia Friendly Borough.

 

16.2 The following motion submitted by the Labour Group was approved:

 

Small Changes, Big Impacts – Community Wealth-Building in Brent

 

This Council notes:

 

·             The Public Services (Social Value) Act was introduced in 2012. It provides a legal basis for public authorities to look for wider social, economic and environmental benefits when undertaking procurement exercises.

 

·             Last year, councils across London spent hundreds of millions of pounds buying in essential goods, services and expertise from the private and third sectors.

 

·             Insourcing, can, involve lower costs, a public sector ethos, economies of scale and an enhanced level of democratic accountability to local residents.

 

·             After years of strife, Preston Council took a different approach to how they operate, and this is now starting to bear fruit. Similarly, we want to see as much of Brent’s money invested, in every sense of the word, in this borough.

 

·             This authority has joined the Co-Operative Councils’ Innovation Network, a collaboration of 25 like-minded authorities, collectively holding budgets of £8.75 billion – with a view to finding better ways of working for, and with, people to the benefit of their communities.

 

·             Community wealth-building aims to revive local economies, renew trust in local services and deliver a renaissance of local government; by giving local businesses and local communities a bigger stake in the local economy.

 

·             The Labour Party has published a report entitled “Democratising Local Public Services: A Plan for Twenty-First Century Insourcing” setting out its radical blueprint to support and rebuild public services under a future Labour Government.

 

This council further notes:

 

·             In procuring services over the last two years we’ve created 164 jobs through contracts; 94 new apprenticeships and 277 training opportunities at BTEC and NVQ equivalent level.

 

·             Over the next two years, through diligent contract management a further £26m will be spent in Brent’s local supply chain.

 

·             We have driven up social value, by connecting the widespread regeneration of Brent with the supply chain at our regular “Meet the Buyer” events; with contracts worth a cumulative total of £100m on offer to over 140 small and medium sized enterprises.

 

·             We work with local anchor institutions, recently providing finance to the United Colleges Group for a new site, enhancing post-16 Education and potentially unlocking over one thousand desperately needed homes, at their site in Willesden Green.

 

·             We are proud to have been an accredited a London Living Wage employer through the London Living Wage Foundation since 2013; and, we continue to offer the first business rates discount in the UK for accredited Living Wage Employers in the borough.

 

·             We continue to make in-house and Brent-based options for the services we provide; with this Labour Council insourcing amongst a crowded field: the estate cleaning service, housing management, uniformed street litter patrols, council tax collection and crucially our procurement service.

 

This Council believes:

 

·             That residents are 8 times more likely to trust local councillors to take decisions on their behalf over and above MPs and Ministers. Furthermore, 5 times more people trust their local councils over and above Government to take the best decisions on their behalf.

 

·             That while residents support their local councils to run services and redistribute wealth, Local Government still requires the financial resources to catalyse new social contracts and make public services, local.

 

This Councils resolves to call on Cabinet:

 

(1)        To develop a Social Value and Ethical Procurement Policy setting out how this council can ensure that our local community is central to the way we purchase goods and services, setting out how our small changes can have big impacts across the local economy.

 

(2)        To demystify the Council’s procurement process, through regular training sessions, upskilling more local businesses on the tendering process – to enable Brent based traders to compete on a level playing field with larger corporations and work with Brent Council to provide vital works, services and goods.

 

(3)        To continue to make provision for in-house services the default option, whilst setting out the strong standards for tendering, bid evaluation and contract management for any other alternative.

 

16.3The following motion submitted by the Labour Group was approved:

 

Our Community. Our Health Care

 

This Council notes:

 

·             The Government has presided over the longest funding squeeze in the NHS’ history; deepened by cuts to Public Health Services and Adult Social Care.

 

·             There are currently over 100,000 staff vacancies in NHS England, including 41,000 nurses and nearly 10,000 doctors. This figure could easily rise to 350,000 by 2030 according to research conducted by The King’s Fund, the Health Foundation and the Nuffield Trust.

 

·             There are similarly 17,000 fewer hospital beds now than in 2010.

 

·             The impact of Conservative cuts to public services and rising poverty are evident in the new Long Term Plan, with NHS England calculating that socioeconomic inequality causes £4.8 billion a year in greater numbers of hospitalisations.

 

·             Nine years of austerity, cuts and privatisation have resulted in nearly 2.8 million people waiting over 4 hours in A&E last year, over 540,000 patients waiting over 18 weeks for treatment and NHS waiting lists growing to over 4.3 million.

 

·             The underlying deficit of nearly half of the NHS trusts which provide secondary care to patients referred by a GP is close to £5 billion.

 

This Council further notes, the consequences of these swingeing cuts:

 

·             North West London Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) face a significant deficit in the forthcoming year, with a projected deficit of £112m. The clinical commissioning group for Brent represents £9m of this debt.

 

·             While North West London’s population has grown by 5%, funding is stagnant, and worsened by unplanned emergency care rising by 25%.

 

·             In 2018, London North West Healthcare Trust received a second Requires Improvement report from the CQC.

 

·             Proposals to merge eight CCGs in North West London into one CCG by April 2021 will lead to yet more re-organisation, change and ultimately disruption to residents.

 

·             Public Health funding for Brent services such as smoking cessation and alcohol recovery treatment have again been cut by the Government, by £0.5m for the next year.

 

·             Age UK states there is a “perfect storm” in the Adult Social Care sector with parts facing “total collapse”; with £8 billion needed to stabilise the system and tackle increasing complex care. The latest promised Government green paper on the sector has been delayed at least six times over the last 18 months.

 

·             According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Mental Health Trusts have less money in real terms to spend on mental health now than in 2012 and the number of mental health nurses has fallen by 4,000.

 

·             IFS analysis indicates that if we leave the EU, the public purse is likely to lose enough money each year to fund the whole of NHS England for 3 months.

 

This Council believes:

 

·             The NHS belongs to the people; it is Labour’s proudest achievement, designed for universal healthcare for all on the basis of need, free at the point of use - the NHS should always have the resource to provide a comprehensive system, where everyone counts.

 

·             The NHS should work across organisational and geographical boundaries, to facilitate services for every resident.

 

·             The Government has passed the buck with cuts to public services delegated to our local NHS, resulting in a hollowing out of services in Brent and the surrounding area.

 

·             Residents and members of the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny committee are concerned about the styming of access to GP services across the borough and upon its boundaries: with Cricklewood GP Centre under consultation to cease its walk-in provision; and Central Middlesex Urgent Care Centre consulting to curtail its hours of operation; and Pembridge Hospice in Ladbroke Grove closing its doors to new admissions.

 

·             The reduction of services from Central Middlesex UCC will impact on our poorest residents, without access to their own vehicles, with alternative services involving lengthy journeys by public transport at night, upwards of an hour.

 

·             These changes will be felt far and wide across the health economy, as more residents seek support through accident and emergency or via their general practitioner.

 

·             The sustained reduction in the ability of the NHS to provide essential services affects everyone, young to old and certainly those most vulnerable.

 

The Council resolves:

 

To work with Brent’s Members of Parliament, to voice our opposition to any future arrangements in which alterations to local NHS services threaten the safety of patients or residents alike, and re-affirm the need for health services to put people at the heart of any future plans.

Before moving on to consider the motions listed on the summons, the Mayor reminded members of the changes agreed last year to the way in which the debate on motions would be undertaken.  He advised that a total of 30 minutes would be set aside for the consideration of all three motions submitted for debate, based on an initial allocation of 10 minutes per motion.  Should the time taken to consider the first motion be less than 10 minutes the remaining time available would be split between the other motions on a rolling basis.

 

16.1    Motion from the Conservative Group – Protecting and Raising the Quality of Adult Social Care in Brent

 

The Mayor invited Councillor Colwill, Leader of the Conservative Group, to move the Motion on behalf of the Conservative Group.

 

Councillor Colwill stated that the Conservative group recognised that there were unprecedented circumstances related to adult social care with over 2,470 Brent residents diagnosed with Dementia and Learning Difficulties.  He welcomed and felt it important to recognise the additional Government funding that had been allocated to local authorities in respect of adult social care, which he would be seeking to ensure was ring-fenced in order to protect those most vulnerable and support carers. Councillor Colwill concluded that there were a great many people suffering from Dementia and resources should be encouraged toward early diagnosis.

 

Councillor Muhammed Butt advised he would be formally seconding the Motion.

 

The Mayor then invited other Members to speak on the motion, with the following contributions received.

 

Councillor Farah, responding on behalf of the Labour Group as Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, advised that he welcomed the motion, which he felt represented a rejection of austerity and highlighted the issue of the national lack of funding for social care. He thanked Councillor Colwill for submitting the Motion and confirmed he would be willing to write to the Minister outlining the concerns raised and explore how best to take forward the other recommendations.

 

As no further Members had indicated they wished to speak, the Mayor invited Councillor Colwill to exercise his right of reply.

 

In summing up, Councillor Colwill thanked Councillor Farah for his support and reiterated the seriousness of the issue.

 

The Mayor then put the motion (as set out below) to a vote, by show of hands, which was unanimously declared CARRIED.

 

“This Council notes:

 

·             The unprecedented times that the country is facing and the role local government has in providing local stability and leadership in these tumultuous times.

 

·             The irreplaceable role that local council plays at the heart of communities, providing key public services that protect the most defenceless in society – children at risk, disabled adults and vulnerable older people and the services we all rely on, like clean streets, libraries and children’s centres.

 

·             That councils up and down the UK are at breaking point, with disproportionate reductions in local council funding and comparison to the rest of the public sector.

 

·             That councils had to spend an extra £800m in the last financial year to meet the demand on vital services to protect children and that, with an ageing population and growing demand, adult social care faces a gap of over £2bn in the next financial year.

 

·             In Brent, as with all other council departments, adult social care has had to make significant budget savings in the past, and continues to need to make savings in the future, with a target of reducing the overall spend by £4.1m on adult social care by 2021. This is in the context of an aging population and increasing demand for services.

 

·             Brent has an estimated prevalence of 2,470 patients living with dementia, of whom only 1,834 (74.2%) are diagnosed. This leaves an estimated 1034 undiagnosed patients living with dementia who could benefit from early diagnosis and follow up and support in the community. Brent seeks to address this gap in service with a view to providing early interventions to support people with dementia and their carers to live longer in their own homes.

 

·             The extra £1.5bn for social care in the Government’s recent spending round - £1 billion through a new grant and £500 million through the adult social care precept.

 

·             To implement reform – which will involve difficult choices about how to raise money to pay for services – the Government must set up an independent, cross-party inquiry on social care funding, as the Institute for Government recommended last year. This would be the best mechanism to build the public and parliamentary support needed to deliver change, with the last major attempt to reform social care funding. Then, once political support is secured, legislation will have to be passed.

 

·             This council also notes and commends the work done with partners progressing Brent as a Dementia Friendly Borough which has been recognised nationally. This will include GP practices, leisure services, libraries, the Alzheimer’s Society, supermarkets such as Tesco, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, London Ambulance Service, Metropolitan Police, London Fire Brigade, local cinemas and art venues.

 

The Council therefore resolves:

 

To write to the Health Secretary Matt Hancock MP and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid MP.

 

The Council requests that the Leader of the Council:

 

(1)        Asks the Health Secretary for the Social Care Green Paper which includes a range of options for securing a sustainable funding solution for adult social care, financial protection and support for informal carers.

 

(2)        Asks the Health Secretary for increased accountability and regulatory powers for the Care Quality Commission.

 

(3)        Ensures the Council sign up to the Ethical Care Charter which establishes a minimum baseline for the safety, quality and dignity of care by ensuring employment conditions support a more stable workforce.

 

(4)        Improve access to care support through the Brent Dementia Steering Group in order to ensure that health professionals inform patients of the support available to them at the point of diagnosis.

 

(5)        Continue to work with our strategic and community partners to progress actions which provides leadership on being a Dementia Friendly Borough.”

 

16.2Motion by the Labour Group – Small Changes, Big Impacts – Community Wealth-Building in Brent

 

The Mayor invited Councillor Johnson to move the first motion submitted by the Labour Group.

 

Councillor Johnson opened by stating that Labour’s values and principles were built on a borough of culture, empathy and shared prosperity and that Brent had been an accredited Living Wage employer since 2013, and had been the first to give a business rate discount to employers in the Borough who paid their staff the living wage. With austerity continuing, Councillor Johnson felt that local business needed to be supported.  As a result, the motion was calling on the Council to adopt a community wealth builder approach to support revival of the local economy having already joined the Co-Operative Councils’ Innovation Network (a collaboration of 25 authorities, collectively holding budgets of £8.75 billion) with a view to finding better ways of working with people to the benefit of their communities.

 

Councillor Johnson continued that the aim was to provide local businesses with training on the Council’s procurement processes and to make in-house and Brent-based services the preferred option. As part of this approach, the motion was also calling on the Council to develop a social value and ethical procurement policy and to continue to make provision for in-house services.

 

The Mayor then invited other Members to speak on the motion, with the following contributions received.

 

Councillor Ethapemi, in seconding the motion, felt the approach outlined would improve employment in Brent and provide mutually beneficial opportunities with local businesses.

 

Councillor Miller also welcomed the motion and acknowledged Councillor Johnson’s long-standing work with diverse organisations towards the aim of improving wealth in the Borough.  He was also keen to ensure that Brent become a trailblazer in transforming the local economy and, while highlighting the many related initiatives that were already in place, recognised the need for a single policy that brought all the current and future ventures together.

 

As no further Members had indicated they wished to speak the Mayor invited Councillor Johnson to exercise his right of reply.

 

In summing up, Councillor Johnson thanked those Members who had contributed to the debate and outlined the mutual opportunities that could be gained by getting more Brent residents into work.  On this basis, he urged all Members to support the motion.

 

The Mayor then put the motion (as set out below) to a vote, by show of hands, which was declared CARRIED.

 

“This Council notes:

 

·             The Public Services (Social Value) Act was introduced in 2012. It provides a legal basis for public authorities to look for wider social, economic and environmental benefits when undertaking procurement exercises.

 

·             Last year, councils across London spent hundreds of millions of pounds buying in essential goods, services and expertise from the private and third sectors.

 

·             Insourcing, can, involve lower costs, a public sector ethos, economies of scale and an enhanced level of democratic accountability to local residents.

 

·             After years of strife, Preston Council took a different approach to how they operate, and this is now starting to bear fruit. Similarly, we want to see as much of Brent’s money invested, in every sense of the word, in this borough.

 

·             This authority has joined the Co-Operative Councils’ Innovation Network, a collaboration of 25 like-minded authorities, collectively holding budgets of £8.75 billion – with a view to finding better ways of working for, and with, people to the benefit of their communities.

 

·             Community wealth-building aims to revive local economies, renew trust in local services and deliver a renaissance of local government; by giving local businesses and local communities a bigger stake in the local economy.

 

·             The Labour Party has published a report entitled “Democratising Local Public Services: A Plan for Twenty-First Century Insourcing” setting out its radical blueprint to support and rebuild public services under a future Labour Government.

 

This council further notes:

 

·             In procuring services over the last two years we’ve created 164 jobs through contracts; 94 new apprenticeships and 277 training opportunities at BTEC and NVQ equivalent level.

 

·             Over the next two years, through diligent contract management a further £26m will be spent in Brent’s local supply chain.

 

·             We have driven up social value, by connecting the widespread regeneration of Brent with the supply chain at our regular “Meet the Buyer” events; with contracts worth a cumulative total of £100m on offer to over 140 small and medium sized enterprises.

 

·             We work with local anchor institutions, recently providing finance to the United Colleges Group for a new site, enhancing post-16 Education and potentially unlocking over one thousand desperately needed homes, at their site in Willesden Green.

 

·             We are proud to have been an accredited a London Living Wage employer through the London Living Wage Foundation since 2013; and, we continue to offer the first business rates discount in the UK for accredited Living Wage Employers in the borough.

 

·             We continue to make in-house and Brent-based options for the services we provide; with this Labour Council insourcing amongst a crowded field: the estate cleaning service, housing management, uniformed street litter patrols, council tax collection and crucially our procurement service.

 

This Council believes:

 

·             That residents are 8 times more likely to trust local councillors to take decisions on their behalf over and above MPs and Ministers. Furthermore, 5 times more people trust their local councils over and above Government to take the best decisions on their behalf.

 

·             That while residents support their local councils to run services and redistribute wealth, Local Government still requires the financial resources to catalyse new social contracts and make public services, local.

 

This Councils resolves to call on Cabinet:

 

(1)        To develop a Social Value and Ethical Procurement Policy setting out how this council can ensure that our local community is central to the way we purchase goods and services, setting out how our small changes can have big impacts across the local economy.

 

(2)        To demystify the Council’s procurement process, through regular training sessions, upskilling more local businesses on the tendering process – to enable Brent based traders to compete on a level playing field with larger corporations and work with Brent Council to provide vital works, services and goods.

 

(3)        To continue to make provision for in-house services the default option, whilst setting out the strong standards for tendering, bid evaluation and contract management for any other alternative.”

 

16.3 Motion by the Labour Group – Our Community, Our Health Care

 

The Mayor then invited Councillor Daly to move the final motion submitted by the Labour Group.

 

Councillor Daly began by recalling the ‘Shaping a Healthier Future’ initiative of 2012, which, she pointed out, had been declared a failure and abandoned by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. She spoke of the poor state of healthcare in Brent and particularly highlighted the chronic delays in diagnosing curable cancers due to cuts in services. She went on express concern about the plans recently announced by the North West London Collaboration of Clinical Commissioning Groups to redress their vast deficit, which, whilst difficult to identify the exact scale of given the sparse nature of the information currently available, she felt would result in more reductions and delays to accessing health services.

 

Councillor Daly felt that the ethos of the NHS was being eroded and urged Members to support the campaign against the cuts.  In recognising the strength of feeling and level of opposition to any further reductions in local health services she felt that an additional meeting of the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee should be convened in order to fully scrutinise the CCGs financial recovery plan and impact on the residents of the Borough.

 

The Mayor then invited other Members to speak on the motion, with the following contributions received.

 

Councillor Kabir advised that she fully supported the opposition to any further reductions in local health services with specific concerns raised about the proposed termination of overnight services at the Central Middlesex Hospital Urgent Care Unit.  She went on to detail other areas falling victim to the budget deficits including the closure of the Cricklewood Walk-in Centre, the reduced patient intake at Pembridge Palliative Care Unit and limited capacity at St Luke’s Hospice, poor access to GP services and limitations in patient consultant referrals along with the reduction in social care. Councillor Kabir therefore felt it was important for the Council to oppose any further reductions in health provision and work to engage with the North West London Collaboration of CCGs to secure better services for residents and ensure that any risks were minimised.

 

Councillor Nerva spoke of the pride in the NHS and how it should be uniting the Country.  He was concerned, however, that health care provision was becoming a two-tier system in terms of those who could and could not afford care and supported the ongoing challenge towards local reductions in health services. Recognising the challenging position in North West London compared to other areas, he felt there was also a need to explore why the North West London CCG had been so badly affected.

 

Councillor Kansagra advised that whilst not agreeing with some of the detail within the motion, he would be supporting the resolution.

 

Councillor Mitchell-Murray spoke about her own personal health issues and experiences in accessing health care and advised that as a result, she was fully supportive of the motion.

 

Councillor Maurice took the opportunity to praise Northwick Park Hospital for the personal treatment he had recently received.  Whilst highlighting that the private sector was not always the best option he did feel there was a need to recognise the level of health funding wasted by successive governments in seeking to implement new systems.

 

Councillor Kelcher in referring to the comments raised in relation to waste and inefficiency felt it was important to recognise that the implementation of new systems and a more top down approach towards the management and delivery of health care had involved ideological and political decisions.  Given the high approval rating for the NHS prior to the last coalition and subsequent Conservative Government, he felt this could have been avoided.

 

Councillor Farah, in concluding the debate as Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, thanked Councillor Daly for moving the motion and highlighted the wide ranging and detrimental health outcomes being caused by funding reductions to local health care services.  Acknowledging the cross party cooperation on this issue he advised that he looked forward to campaigning in opposing any further reductions and in support of local health services.

 

As the remaining time available for the debate on motions had expired, the Mayor then invited Councillor Daly to exercise her right of reply.

 

In summing up, Councillor Daly echoed that she also had excellent experience of using the NHS and wanted to pay tribute to the NHS workforce whom she said, at all levels, were keeping the service running.  Given the impact on local residents, she urged all members to support the motion.

 

The Mayor then put the motion (as set out below) to a vote, by show of hands, which was unanimously declared CARRIED.

 

“This Council notes:

 

·             The Government has presided over the longest funding squeeze in the NHS’ history; deepened by cuts to Public Health Services and Adult Social Care.

 

·             There are currently over 100,000 staff vacancies in NHS England, including 41,000 nurses and nearly 10,000 doctors. This figure could easily rise to 350,000 by 2030 according to research conducted by The King’s Fund, the Health Foundation and the Nuffield Trust.

 

·             There are similarly 17,000 fewer hospital beds now than in 2010.

 

·             The impact of Conservative cuts to public services and rising poverty are evident in the new Long Term Plan, with NHS England calculating that socioeconomic inequality causes £4.8 billion a year in greater numbers of hospitalisations.

 

·             Nine years of austerity, cuts and privatisation have resulted in nearly 2.8 million people waiting over 4 hours in A&E last year, over 540,000 patients waiting over 18 weeks for treatment and NHS waiting lists growing to over 4.3 million.

 

·             The underlying deficit of nearly half of the NHS trusts which provide secondary care to patients referred by a GP is close to £5 billion.

 

This Council further notes, the consequences of these swingeing cuts:

 

·             North West London Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) face a significant deficit in the forthcoming year, with a projected deficit of £112m. The clinical commissioning group for Brent represents £9m of this debt.

 

·             While North West London’s population has grown by 5%, funding is stagnant, and worsened by unplanned emergency care rising by 25%.

 

·             In 2018, London North West Healthcare Trust received a second Requires Improvement report from the CQC.

 

·             Proposals to merge eight CCGs in North West London into one CCG by April 2021 will lead to yet more re-organisation, change and ultimately disruption to residents.

 

·             Public Health funding for Brent services such as smoking cessation and alcohol recovery treatment have again been cut by the Government, by £0.5m for the next year.

 

·             Age UK states there is a “perfect storm” in the Adult Social Care sector with parts facing “total collapse”; with £8 billion needed to stabilise the system and tackle increasing complex care. The latest promised Government green paper on the sector has been delayed at least six times over the last 18 months.

 

·             According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Mental Health Trusts have less money in real terms to spend on mental health now than in 2012 and the number of mental health nurses has fallen by 4,000.

 

·             IFS analysis indicates that if we leave the EU, the public purse is likely to lose enough money each year to fund the whole of NHS England for 3 months.

 

This Council believes:

 

·             The NHS belongs to the people; it is Labour’s proudest achievement, designed for universal healthcare for all on the basis of need, free at the point of use - the NHS should always have the resource to provide a comprehensive system, where everyone counts.

 

·             The NHS should work across organisational and geographical boundaries, to facilitate services for every resident.

 

·             The Government has passed the buck with cuts to public services delegated to our local NHS, resulting in a hollowing out of services in Brent and the surrounding area.

 

·             Residents and members of the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny committee are concerned about the styming of access to GP services across the borough and upon its boundaries: with Cricklewood GP Centre under consultation to cease its walk-in provision; and Central Middlesex Urgent Care Centre consulting to curtail its hours of operation; and Pembridge Hospice in Ladbroke Grove closing its doors to new admissions.

 

·             The reduction of services from Central Middlesex UCC will impact on our poorest residents, without access to their own vehicles, with alternative services involving lengthy journeys by public transport at night, upwards of an hour.

 

·             These changes will be felt far and wide across the health economy, as more residents seek support through accident and emergency or via their general practitioner.

 

·             The sustained reduction in the ability of the NHS to provide essential services affects everyone, young to old and certainly those most vulnerable.

 

The Council resolves:

 

To work with Brent’s Members of Parliament, to voice our opposition to any future arrangements in which alterations to local NHS services threaten the safety of patients or residents alike, and re-affirm the need for health services to put people at the heart of any future plans.”