The Enfield Council Health and Wellbeing Board virtually met on 13 October 2025 to discuss an update from the Integrated Care Board, the community hubs, the Enfield Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy action plans, and to approve the draft of the local Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment. Councillor Alev Cazimoglu, Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, was scheduled to chair the meeting.

ICB Updates and Priorities

Clare Henderson, Director of Place- East, North Central London ICB, was scheduled to provide a verbal update on the ICB reorganisation position, noting that the schedule was subject to potential changes at short notice. She was also due to give a verbal report on the ICB Neighbourhood Model Update, including a short update on winter preparations. The supplementary agenda included a summary of the NCL Winter Plan 2025/26. The plan stated that NCL would focus on:

• Improve vaccination rates
• Increase the number of patients receiving care in primary, community and mental health settings
• Meet the maximum 45-minute ambulance handover time standard
• Improve flow through hospitals with a particular focus on patients waiting over 12 hours and eliminating corridor care
• Set local performance targets by pathway to improve patient discharge times, and eliminate internal discharge delays of more than 48 hours in all settings

The plan noted that NCL Trusts would be developing winter plans that include capacity planning and staff wellbeing, and that the ICS and LAS were working closely on development of the NCL and LAS winter actions.

Community Hubs

Karen Buttle, Community Hubs Manager, and Lee Shelsher, head of Customer Solutions, were scheduled to present an item on community hubs. The supplementary agenda included a presentation on the Community Hubs Relaunch January 2025. The presentation stated that the community hubs work alongside the four flagship libraries, and are currently based in Enfield Town and Edmonton Green Libraries. The hubs connect residents with support across four pillars: managing money, jobs and skills, health and wellbeing, and housing stability. The presentation included a case study of Mr K, a 58 year old man who was released from prison in 2023 and is currently unemployed. He was introduced to Community Hubs by one of their partners. Due to unpaid Council Tax, his case had been transferred to the Enforcement Agency and court proceedings were underway and he was concerned he would be evicted from his property. The Community Hubs listened and reviewed his case, spoke with Council Tax Officers and the Homeless prevention Manager, transferred outstanding debt to the Housing Benefit/Welfare Team, and provided advice, guidance and information on community Support. As a result, enforcement agency and court proceedings were cancelled, a payment plan was put in place, and Mr K was advised about Coffee & Chat meeting sessions to combat loneliness. The presentation also described how the Community Hubs address health inequalities through prevention and intervention. Prevention methods include regular weekly activities such as Coffee & Chat, and Stories, Songs, and Chat, pop-up community events, and access to library stock and resources. Intervention methods include Community Hub Ambassadors, who provide direct support and guidance and on-going follow-up. The presentation highlighted the importance of partnership working, noting that partners are crucial in the Community Hubs impact on Tackling Health Inequalities. Partnerships include collaboration across voluntary, community, statutory, and health partners to address health inequalities holistically, delivering health testing in welcoming hubs, and early intervention. The presentation also described the Coffee & Chat and Stories, Songs & Chat sessions, the Healthy Lifestyles Group, and the Stop Smoking service. It also described the work with Enfield GP Federation to deliver pop-up health events in libraries across Enfield, and the partnership with Cooperation Town to establish a new food co-op in Edmonton Green. The presentation described the role of Hub Volunteers, and included a case study of John, a retired 55-year-old, who joined the Hub through Coffee & Chat and has since volunteered for over a year. The presentation stated that from January to April 2025, the Community hubs had supported over 15,000 resident enquiries, made 805 referrals to jobs and skills support programmes, 2,284 referrals to welfare and debt support services, signposted 858 residents to relevant teams and services to support with housing assistance, and made 1,821 referrals to Health and Wellbeing Support. The presentation also described next steps, including a community garden in Edmonton Green Library, increasing the number of partners, and the LGC award for the category of Medium Team of the Year.

Enfield Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy Action Plans

Dudu Sher-Arami, LBE Director of Public Health, Mark Tickner, Senior Public Health Strategist, Roseanna Kennedy-Smith, Senior Public Health Intelligence Specialist, and Gayan Perera, LBE Head of Data and Intelligence, were scheduled to provide an update on the Enfield Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy Action Plans, and KPI Framework and Current Status. The supplementary agenda included a document providing Health and Wellbeing Outcome Framework updates. The document included a dashboard and progress updates for Start Well, Live Well and Age Well. For Start Well, the document noted that there had been 23 school drop-ins to promote emotional well-being, that 11 schools had achieved an E-TIPSS Silver Award¹, that 716 service users had accessed post and perinatal mental health services, that 14,535 people aged 0-17 had at least one contact with MH services in the previous 12 months, that there had been 59 contacts with the mental health crisis line, and that 74% of 2-2½ year reviews had been completed. For Live Well, the document noted that 19 fast-food venues had signed up to the HCC², that 156 healthier product lines had been implemented in stores, that there had been 284 repair orders raised concerning damp and mould, that the average Trust Pilot score for leisure centres was 4.0, that there were 440 people on the NHS Talking Therapies waiting list, and that there had been 2840 PharmacyFirst patients. For Age Well, the document noted that 87.5% of older people (aged 65 and over) who were still at home 91 days after discharge from hospital into reablement/rehabilitation, that 68.2% of patients aged 65 years or over and living with severe frailty who received a Structured Medication Review, and that 2157 safe and connected clients had been supported with digital and Assistive Technology (AT).

Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment

The board was scheduled to consider the LBE Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment 2025-2028 Draft V0.2 (Post Consultation) for approval. The supplementary agenda included the Enfield PNA 2025 Post Consultation v2. The document stated that PNAs play an important part in public health and healthcare planning, and are strategic documents used to inform the development of local healthcare planning and commissioning of services. The PNA examines the current provision of pharmacy services in Enfield and evaluates potential gaps in service delivery. The PNA covers the PNA process, an analysis of current and future health needs, a description of community pharmacies in Enfield, an evaluation of existing service provision, accessibility, and any gaps, insights into potential future roles for community pharmacies, an assessment of community pharmacy's contributions to the Health and Wellbeing Strategy, key findings from stakeholder engagement and the statutory consultation, and a summary of findings and the PNA statement. The document stated that for the purpose of this PNA, the Health and Wellbeing Board has agreed that as in the previous PNA, necessary services are defined as the essential services in the NHS Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework³. The essential services are dispensing medicines, repeat dispensing, disposal of unwanted medicines, promotion of healthy lifestyles, signposting to other services, support for self-care, Healthy Living Pharmacies, discharge medicines service, and dispensing of appliances. The document stated that Enfield has 57 community pharmacies, including two distance selling pharmacies. Combining these, Enfield has an average of 17.4 community pharmacies per 100,000 population, compared with 18.3 per 100,000 in England. The document concluded that there is no current gap in the current provision of necessary Services during normal working hours across Enfield to meet the needs of the population, that there is no current gap in the current provision of necessary Services outside normal working hours across Enfield to meet the needs of the population, that no gaps have been identified in the need for pharmaceutical services in future circumstances across Enfield, that there are no gaps in the provision of advanced services at present or in the future that would secure improvements or better access in Enfield, that there are no gaps in the provision of enhanced services at present or in the future that would secure improvements or better access in Enfield, and that based on current information no current gaps have been identified in respect of securing improvements or better access to locally commissioned services, either now or in specific future circumstances across Enfield to meet the needs of the population. The document included a statement of pharmaceutical needs assessment, stating that:

After considering all the elements of the PNA, Enfield Health and Wellbeing Board makes the following statement:

• For the purpose of this PNA, Enfield Health and Wellbeing Board has agreed that necessary services are defined as the essential services in the NHS Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (see section 3.3).

Provision of necessary services

• There is no current gap in the current provision of necessary services during normal working hours across Enfield to meet the needs of the population.
• There is no current gap in the current provision of necessary services outside normal working hours across Enfield to meet the needs of the population.
• No gaps have been identified in the need for pharmaceutical services in future circumstances across Enfield

Improvements and better access

• There are no gaps in the provision of advanced services at present or in the future (lifetime of this PNA) that would secure improvements or better access in Enfield.
• There are no gaps in the provision of enhanced services at present or in the future (lifetime of this PNA) that would secure improvements or better access in Enfield.
• Based on current information no current gaps have been identified in respect of securing improvements or better access to locally commissioned services, either now or in specific future (lifetime of this PNA) circumstances across Enfield to meet the needs of the population.

The document also recommended that community pharmacy services play an important role in supporting the services provided by GP practices and Primary Care Networks, that a number of community pharmacies provide advanced services that seek to improve the safe and effective use of medicines, that there is adequate provision of existing locally commissioned services across Enfield, although access and equity of provision could be improved for some services, that the public health team should work with partners to explore this further and scope any further work necessary, that the public health team should work with the ICB, Community Pharmacy Barnet, Enfield and Haringey, community pharmacies, and PCNs to ensure that services are commissioned to meet local health needs and that any changes serve to maintain or improve equity, access and choice, that commissioners of NHS as well as local pharmacy services should consider how to communicate about the availability of services with the population of Enfield and with other healthcare professional teams to increase awareness of engagement and interaction with services, and that out of area provision impacts not only the delivery of dispensing services but also the provision and accessibility of enhanced or locally commissioned services, especially where areas border each other, and that commissioners should take cross border issues into account and consult with relevant stakeholders when they are reviewing, commissioning or decommissioning services, to avoid or mitigate against creating inequity of provision for the local population.

Other Business

The agenda included an item to discuss future subject items for spotlight and discussion, including the utility of Green/Blue Spaces in future health and wellbeing plans and activity.