The Enfield Health and Wellbeing Board met to discuss the Enfield Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy action plans, and to approve the draft of the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) for public consultation. The board reviewed the progress of actions within the action plans for three life stages, and approved the commencement of the formal consultation process for the PNA.

Enfield Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy Action Plans

The Health and Wellbeing Board received an update on the Enfield Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy (JLHWS) action plans from Dudu Sher-Arami, Director of Public Health, and Mark Tickner, Senior Public Health Strategist.

The Enfield Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2024-2030 focuses on three key priorities:

• Start Well: Support children and young people to maintain good emotional wellbeing and mental health.
• Live Well: Support residents to manage their major conditions.
• Age Well: Help every Enfield resident prevent the risks of age-related ill health.

The operational action plan for 2024-26 details specific commitments and actions under each priority, with progress measured using process measures and wider outcome measures.

Some of the key commitments and progress updates include:

• Start Well:
  • Supporting the early years and school age workforce to implement trauma-informed practice[^1]. [^1]: Trauma-informed practice recognises the impact of trauma on individuals and aims to create safe and supportive environments.
  • Coordinating the implementation of an integrated antenatal, post-natal, and perinatal mental health and emotional wellbeing offer within Family Hubs.
  • Refreshing the local Suicide Prevention Plan and Partnership.
  • Improving young people's access to resources and services that support good mental health and emotional wellbeing, including the creation of an Access Mental Health guide.
  • Conducting research to identify how housing quality impacts the emotional wellbeing of young people in Enfield.
  • Ensuring effective transition pathways from paediatric to adult services.
  • Delivering support within community and GP settings through the BEH CYP Wellbeing Hub[^2]. [^2]: It was noted that North London wellbeing service is exceptional small with low level data and still being evaluated
  • Expanding 'Mental Health Support Teams' to cover all mainstream primary and secondary schools in Enfield through the My Young Mind Enfield (MyME) programme.
  • Completing the full operability of the NLMHP SPOA[^3] for CAMHS services. [^3]: CAMHS is Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services. NLMHP SPOA is North London Mental Health Partnership Single Point of Access.
  • Supporting the mental health and wellbeing of young carers.
• Live Well:
  • Improving the condition of Enfield homes through cross-departmental working between Public Health and housing services.
  • Supporting active wellbeing by providing better standards, facilities, and opportunities for residents to remain active.
  • Supporting a healthy food environment in Enfield through initiatives like the Healthy Catering Commitment (HCC) and the Good Food Retail – Convenience Stores Project.
  • Providing low-intensity support to in-work and out-of-work residents with primary mental or physical health needs through the WorkWell Pilot.
  • Supporting people with mental and physical health conditions into employment through the Thrive into Work programme.
  • Working towards achieving a Smoke-Free Enfield 2030 ambition.
  • Improving access to primary care by improving community knowledge of alternative services.
  • Undertaking an analysis into why individuals miss cancer screening appointments and working to improve participation in breast, bowel, cervical, and lung cancer screening.
  • Working with providers to promote and encourage HPV vaccination.
  • Developing the North Mid Tobacco dependency programme to support people to quit smoking.
  • Developing Heart Failure and Diabetes Enfield Community Services.
  • Improving access to mental health care and treatment.
  • Supporting carers to access and maintain education and employment opportunities.
  • Working to increase the proportion of carers who report that they have been included or consulted in discussions about the person they care for.
  • Identifying, reaching, and offering information and advice to more carers of all ages and backgrounds.
• Age Well:
  • Supporting independence and inclusion through the commissioning of new early intervention contracts.
  • Promoting and increasing the take-up of digital and Assistive Technology (AT) across Health and Social Care.
  • Improving proactive care services to ensure they meet the proactive community frailty service standards agreed for London.
  • Implementing a needs-led approach within Older Adult Community Mental Health Teams.

Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) 2025

The Health and Wellbeing Board approved the draft of the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) 2025 for a 60-day public consultation. The PNA is a statutory document that assesses the pharmaceutical needs of the local population and informs the commissioning of pharmaceutical services.

The key findings of the PNA 2025 include:

• Pharmacy Provision: As of the report, Enfield has 52 x 40-hour pharmacies, 3 x 100-hour pharmacies, and 2 x Distance Selling Provider (DSP) pharmacies. Two pharmacies in the Enfield southwest locality have closed since the 2022 assessment, and four have changed ownership. One DSP pharmacy is temporarily closed. Overall, the PNA finds that there remains adequate provision of service for residents of Enfield.
• Evening and Weekend Provision: Most pharmacies (56) remain open until 6pm on weekdays, with 21 open until 7pm and one supermarket pharmacy open until 10pm. On Saturdays, 45 pharmacies open in the morning, reducing to 30 after 1pm. Nine pharmacies open on Sundays. The PNA notes that all residents have access to a pharmacy within 30 minutes via public transport and within 5 minutes by private transport after 7pm.
• Public Opinion: In a public questionnaire, 86% of respondents said that their local pharmacy had convenient opening hours. The most convenient times to visit a pharmacy were weekdays between 8am and 5pm (79%), Saturday daytime (50%), and weekday evenings (5pm to 8pm) (44%).
• NHS Advanced Services: There is good uptake of NHS Advanced Services[^4] in Enfield, including the Pharmacy First Service, New Medicine Service, pharmacy contraception service, and influenza vaccination service. [^4]: NHS Advanced Services are additional services that pharmacies can provide to patients, such as medicines use reviews and minor ailment consultations.
• Locally Commissioned Services: The ICB[^5] and local authority commission enhanced services such as palliative care medicines, self-care medicine scheme, supervised consumption, needle exchange, emergency hormonal contraception, and condom distribution. The PNA finds reasonable delivery of these services in Enfield, but suggests there may be opportunities to encourage provision and raise awareness across the borough. [^5]: ICB is Integrated Care Board.

The PNA concludes that there are no gaps in the current provision of necessary services¹ during or outside normal working hours, and no gaps have been identified in the need for pharmaceutical services in future circumstances across Enfield. The PNA also finds no gaps in the provision of advanced or enhanced services that would secure improvements or better access in Enfield. The Health and Wellbeing Board approved the draft PNA for a 60-day statutory consultation, which will gather views on the accuracy and content of the report, test assumptions made regarding access, gaps, and service provision, and ensure transparency and inclusiveness. The consultation will be shared with stakeholders, the public, neighbouring HWBs, and Healthwatch. Following the consultation, the steering group will review all responses, update the PNA draft, and present it to the HWB for approval prior to publication, planned for 1st October 2025.