Agenda item

The Board is invited to consider an update on the work of local community organisations such as H&F CAN.

Linda Jackson explained the Council’s dual approach of supporting local action and working at pace from the very start of the pandemic.  A prime example was the amazing response of the local community - residents, the local workforce and businesses.  This had provided huge support to families and communities.  Another major example was the H&F Community Aid Network (CAN) established by the Council together with two telephone hotlines for shielded and non-shielded residents respectively.  Some 9,000 shielded residents plus many hundreds of others had been supported by over 2,300 residents who had volunteered. 

A dedicated website had received over 18,000 hits, and there had been over 6,000 calls to the helplines.  Adult Social Care had included a “Conversation Matters” element to make daily contact with people who felt socially isolated.  This had supported 148 people. 

Self-organising Mutual Aid Groups (MAGs) of residents had worked to support shielding residents, telephoning people who felt lonely or isolated, and helping with daily shopping and food. The Council had reached out to them and coordinated with them.  The collective and unstinting efforts of local foodbanks, the Smile Brigade and numerous individuals and groups had achieved a huge amount for the benefit of residents. The UNITED in Hammersmith & Fulham charity had helped distribute funds, which had been fast tracked to support people in poverty or those with learning disabilities. This work would be ongoing as people continued to be supported through the expected economic downturn. 

Among future challenges was how primary care networks (PCNs) and GPs continued to support shielded groups. There were evolving plans on learning from the MAGs and increasing community resilience, bringing businesses, residents and the voluntary sector together with the Council and health partners. 

Cllr Patricia Quigley said she had been shielding throughout the pandemic and commended Linda Jackson and her colleagues, expressing her thanks for what the Council had achieved, including its agile and speedy response to requests to provide PPE.  Cllr Quigley was critical of the government’s response, which she felt had placed disabled people at risk. 

Jacolyn Daly, a MAGs administrator, explained how the MAGs had quickly mobilised by ward, using WhatsApp to communicate.  Co-ordinators met frequently, worked well and at pace with the Council, and developed and implemented ideas quickly. The MAGs were highly local, and people appreciated getting help from a neighbour. The process had worked seamlessly especially once they had linked up with H&F CAN, for example by creating a broad network of contacts between the Council, NHS and local pharmacies. 

Jacolyn Daly suggested three aims for the MAGs now: 

·       Sustain what had been achieved so far. Conversations were needed around social prescribing and the importance of longevity in the work, getting different people involved in community activity and taking the pressure off social care teams. 

·       Support people who were about to finish shielding by helping them to venture out again and giving them the confidence and strength to interact with neighbours and go shopping or just for a walk. 

·       Support testing and tracing by setting up a buddying system that could be accessed when people were required to isolate for 12-14 days, with daily support for meeting day-to-day subsistence needs.

Cllr Coleman described how the Council had reached out to the MAGs early on and supported their work without trying to take over, for example by setting up a simple system to reimburse volunteers for shopping expenses quickly on presentation of a receipt.  The Council had also worked closely with the H&F Foodbank, who had been extraordinary in their efforts to feed families and individuals in need.  United in H&F had been utilised as a funding resource and had supported many local charities. 

He commended the GP Federation and GPs, along with PCN link workers, the third sector and new community groups such as the Smart Brigade which had sprung up and done extraordinary things to help hundreds of residents. The borough now had a unique body of over 2,300 volunteers, hundreds of MAGs volunteers and PCN link workers/social prescribers. This needed to be co-ordinated as part of the recovery process.

Cllr Lucy Richardson asked about a bigger piece of work to “lock” the work into the Borough.  Linda Jackson said a working sub-group was planned to identify patterns, garner learning for supporting volunteers and enhance existing support.

Cllr Coleman asked the Board to confirm its interest in having a sub-group to look at building on what had worked well and identify what could be improved so as to build a compassionate and resilient community. The group could include the Council, health system colleagues including PCNs, resident representatives, and the third sector and community groups. He hoped the sub-group’s work would bring about specific changes and action.

Linda Jackson agreed to report progress to the next Board meeting.

RESOLVED

In co-production with residents and other stakeholders, to develop an action plan to ensure a collaborative, compassionate and resilient community in H&F, building on the close working between the Council, residents, health services and community and voluntary organisations during the Covid-19 pandemic.