The North West London Joint Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee (JHOSC) convened to discuss several key healthcare issues affecting the region. The agenda included discussions on dentist commissioning and children's dental health, the future of place-based partnerships, and special school nursing. The committee also planned to review the recommendations tracker and the 2025/26 work programme.

Dentist Commissioning and Children's Dental Health

The committee was scheduled to discuss a report on dentist commissioning and children's dental health across North West London. The report was expected to address concerns about the accessibility, equity, and effectiveness of dental services for children and young people. It was also set to consider the impact of the pandemic, rising oral health inequalities, and changes to commissioning under Integrated Care System (ICS) arrangements.

The report included data on:

• Contracted and delivered Units of Dental Activity (UDAs) across London and within the North West London Integrated Care Board (NWL ICB).
• Additional UDAs commissioned by the NWL ICB, with investment figures.
• Numbers of patients seen on a 12-month rolling basis, comparing figures to February 2020.

It also provided an overview of Community Dental Services (CDS) provided by Central London Community Health Care Trust (CLCHT) and Whittington Health, including services for adults and children with special care needs. Acute contracts, secondary care dentistry, and patient flows within and outside the NWL ICB area were also scheduled for discussion.

The report highlighted Oral Health Promotion (OHP) activities delivered by Whittington Health NHS Trust and CLCHT, as well as collaborative work between local authority public health teams and NHS dental services. Two dental service pilots were also scheduled to be discussed: targeted access for children across NW London, and targeted support for people living in temporary accommodation in Hillingdon.

The report also included data from a May 2025 report on dental public health, including:

• Demographic factors.
• Oral health data.
• Existing access to dental services.

The report recommended providers in certain wards be given additional NHS dental activity, including Stonebridge, Harlesden, Church Street, Barnhill, Westbourne/Harrow Road, Heston West/Cranford, Feltham West/Bedfont, Wormholt and White City/Shepherd's Bush Green, Acton Central, and Colville.

The report noted that 80% of patients who had tried to get an NHS dental appointment in the last 2 years were able to, which it said was in line with the national average of 84%.

The Future of Place Based Partnerships Delivering Health and Care Services

The committee was scheduled to discuss a report providing a comprehensive overview of Place Based Partnerships across the North West London region. The report set out a maturity model for Place Based Partnerships in NWL, and outlined a shared framework to support local authority, health, and voluntary sector partners in each Place to assess the Partnership's current state, identify development needs, and plan its journey towards greater maturity. The aim was to enable consistency while respecting the diversity of local contexts and the strengths of individual partnerships. A process to confirm roles and responsibilities within each partnership was also outlined.

The report noted that Place Based Partnerships are stakeholders within communities that work together to deliver better outcomes and improved health and well being for residents, patients, and communities. They consist of:

• Local Authorities
• NHS Providers
• Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations
• NWL ICS representatives from ICS Borough based teams

The report stated that by April 2026, every borough in NWL should be operating as a mature Place Based Partnership with:

• Shared strategic priorities rooted in population need
• Integrated neighbourhood teams at the heart of delivery
• Clear accountability and inclusive governance arrangements (across health and local authority)
• Coordinated infrastructure and resources to deliver effectively

The report detailed what NWL Place Based Partnerships have already achieved, including:

• Integrated Neighbourhoods Driving Proactive Care in Hillingdon.
• Tackling Inequality and Delivering Outcomes in Brent.
• Rebuilding Trust and Integration in Hammersmith & Fulham.
• Better Discharge, Better Lives in Ealing.
• Driving Change Through Joint Leadership and Targeted Investments in Hounslow.
• Better Discharge, Better Lives in Harrow.
• From Fragmentation to Focused Delivery in the Bi-Borough area.

The report also detailed the role of the Place-based 'Integrator' function, including:

• Operational coordination & integration
• Facilitating Population Health Management
• Collaboration, alignment and learning
• Leadership & delivery
• Infrastructure, risk and sustainability

Special School Nursing and Update on SEN Provisions

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the current position of Special School Nursing provisions across North West London.

The report stated that a Core Offer for community services is a key contributor to improving outcomes and reducing variation for the NWL ICS. It said that Community Providers, through the collaborative, have committed to developing a consistent core offer for any place to reduce unwarranted variation and drive service consistency across North West London.

The report said that all NHS-funded adults' and children's services are in scope of the core offer, and that 9 adults' services and 2 children's services are in the tranche 1 services.

The report outlined a review process, including:

• Collective review of the clinical model of each service historically commissioned across 8 NWL boroughs
• Core model proposal agreed at high level for each service
• Subject specific work stream informed by subject matter experts to progress from high level outline to full specification
• Review of best practice to further inform model
• Engagement with stakeholders including local authorities, primary care, acute trusts, plus other partners as appropriate to each service to inform model to inform model
• Impact analysis on service users and stakeholders/partners to inform model and implementation plan
• Gap analysis by each borough of current to proposed model to identify scale of change
• Demand and capacity review for each borough to identify:
• Productivity opportunities
• Investment or resource reduction position per borough
• Sign-off off by Collaborative Chief Operating, Medical & Nursing Officers and NWL Clinical Advisory Group
• Implementation/mobilisation plans and timeframes agreed with partners

The report also included a summary of changes and boroughs affected, milestones, timelines, progress, and mitigation strategies related to special school nursing. It noted that the service specification outlines a delegation model in line with national guidance in the Children and Families Act 2014¹, with delegation of tasks to healthcare assistants and school staff. The report also included a special schools engagement work plan, with details on:

• Designated Clinical Officers for SEND²
• Directors of Children's Services and Local Authorities
• Special Schools
• All partners and stakeholders including JHOSC ### Recommendations Tracker and Work Programme

The committee was also scheduled to review the North West London JHOSC Recommendations Tracker for 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26, and the North West London JHOSC 2025/26 Work Programme. The tracker provides a summary of scrutiny recommendations made during the previous two and current municipal years, and tracks decisions made by NHS colleagues and gives the committee oversight over implementation progress. The work programme outlines the decisions and health policy areas the committee plans to review during the municipal year.