Agenda item

To receive a presentation and discuss an update on Integrated Community Networks.

The Interim Deputy Director One Croydon Alliance, Laura Jenner, introduced the update and explained that the programme was being carried out with voluntary and community partners. She stated that the Integrated Community Network Programme and Locality work aims rooted from the Croydon Health and Care Plan moving services locally to connect and support with the community. The aim was to focus on prevention, unlocking community and putting services back into the heart of the community within the six Integrated Care Networks (ICNs).

This work had commenced within Thornton Heath and was now rolling out within the other five localities. Within Thornton Heath, staff had been co-located with community nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacists, network facilitators, Age UK PICs and also mental health PICs as well as under 65 social workers who had recently joined. Talking therapists were available to speak on subjects such as anxiety and loneliness. A huge amount of work had been carried out to connect with the local community to support the clients in a multi-disciplinary way which had resulted in excellent outcomes.

It was recorded that some colleagues were apprehensive, but the feedback had been positive and this approach to working was found to be beneficial.

The model was an asset based model using a person centred point of view. A Talking Point had been set up which had been virtual during the pandemic.  This brought together voluntary groups with referrals from GPs to support people with housing, benefits and connecting them with the community which had been very successful in Thornton Heath.

The CVA CEO gave an overview of the work being carried out with the Kings Fund Programme, which had resources to support the wider work across Croydon.  This had taken place across the borough and food relief had been provided from early on in the pandemic with the emphasis on people in the community supporting each other. He said that this was Croydon’s unique contribution to devolution in the borough.

The Healthwatch Croydon CEO added that this brought together representatives from the statutory bodies involved in the One Croydon Alliance with the voluntary sector partners to deliver this model.  There were challenges in the large and diverse range of organisations within Croydon, supporting people in the community to develop a model of leadership, which was being worked through.

In addition, there was a need for the ICNs to work together with a range of voluntary organisations to ensure people were connected with their communities which puts less demand on statutory services. Money is tight for all organisations concerned and there was a need to develop a range of preventative services which could only be done by diverting resources from statutory services.

·      This was being worked on through the Funding and Commissioning Group to effect change and deliver improved outcomes for individuals.

·      Cllr Hopley asked how data was being tracked regarding the different needs of residents within the 6 localities. 

·      In response, JL said a broad needs assessment analysis had been carried out which could be shared.  This highlights the different needs of localities such as falls within the South and Diabetes and Hypertension in the North of the borough.

·      The district nurses and social workers were asked what they were faced with and they had provided priority areas such as hoarding and self-neglect, especially during the pandemic and the teams are starting projects to address these issues.

The Chair thanked LJ for the presentation and asked her to join the meeting again at a later stage to give an update.

The Chair said that in future the Board would like to make a statement to highlight what had been achieved through the meeting, to ensure it had relevance and was a good example of what was to come in the future.

The CVA CEO said that if these models were developed there was a way to enable people to feed into local planning from the neighbourhood level across the whole borough.  It was hoped that in meetings to come it would be evident how this has paid off.

The Chair suggested people from the community could talk to the Board about what had happened within their area and asked for any ideas for the forward plan, especially from the community board members.