Issue - meetings

The Board received a report from John Craig, CEO of Care City on the work and future initiatives of the organisation in Barking and Dagenham which is focused on Barking Riverside through what is known as the Healthy new Town Project.  He explained that with a Borough population expected to rise to 275,000 by 2037, continued poor health outcomes, an ever-growing demand for health and social care with substantial pressures on budgets against the backdrop of the impact of austerity measures over the past seven years; health and care integration and innovation has never been so important.

Care City is the only healthy ageing project in London testing digital innovation for the benefit of patients with the aim of producing real health benefits at lower costs.  The focus is on long term conditions such as dementia. Care City organises its work around three activities namely research, innovation and education.  Mr Craig outlined a number of the projects currently being worked on such as the development through GP practices and chemists of a mobile ESG linked to smart phones to test for those persons at risk of strokes and a full risk assessment of a gadget to assess the level of falls with a view to falls prevention through the development of personalised exercise programmes.

Longer term the aim is to make Care City self- funding and a sustainable health care provider and to secure a permanent base within the Borough.  Mr Craig has been inspired by the support and response he has received and going forward he is looking to actively engaging with the Board around potential collaborations.

The Chair is very pleased to have Care City in the Borough and looked forward to working with them.  In terms of future arrangements, the Strategic Director commented that she was aware that Jane Milligan the STP lead for NE London has indicated that she would very much like to see Care City as a partner and that this could lead to some funding opportunities.