Apologies were received from Dr Arumugaraasah.

There were no matters arising.

Kaz Obuka, Head of Patient and Public Engagement  presented the Improving Kidney Care item.

?     Kidney doctors from St Helier and St George’s hospitals have put forward a proposal to build a brand new £80 million specialist kidney unit at St George’s Hospital in Tooting to improve patient care and experience

?     the unit would improve care for kidney patients who need hospital (overnight) care - this is about 5% of a patient’s contact with kidney services 

?     there would be no change to 95% of treatment or care in kidney services in South West London and Surrey at local hospitals, units or at home

?     ...but some kidney patients would need to travel further for this specialist care in the new unit. 

The proposed new unit based at St George’s Hospital aims to improve care for kidney patients who need specialist inpatient (overnight) care. A small number of outpatient appointments would also be run from the unit.

The unit will provide more beds and more dedicated theatre sessions. Patients will also get 24/7 access to expert clinicians and a larger team will help patients get their treatment and go home faster.  Also a larger team will strengthen local kidney services.

The proposed changes will come into effect in  2025 at the earliest.

Q: What is being done about kidney donations from BAME communities?

A: KO will find out and report back.

Q: Is the aim to combine all the kidney services and deliver them from one point.

A: Inpatient will be at St Georges but most services will stay as they are.

Q: Has an Equality Impact Assessment been done.

A: Yes, an EIA has been done, transport issues particularly in Merton was highlighted and mitigation is being considered.

Q: Are we taking away key services from St Helier , have the views of these been canvassed?

A: There has been outreach to kidney care associations and patients, analysis is still be undertaken.  Patients’ views will be fed back.

Q: Could patients at St Helen be contacted directly to get their views.

A: KO undertook to make further enquiries but thought that this has probably been done.

Q: Why are the dialysis patients moving to St Georges. Improve the St Helier clinic  is a good idea to prevent people having to travel. Leave people close to home.

A: 95% of service will remain the same, it is those with acute needs that will be going to St George’s.

Kiran Vagarwal  and Katy Saunders presented the Hate Crime update.

Hate crime is defined, by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) as: “any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a personal characteristic; specifically actual or perceived race, religion, sexual orientation, disability and transgender identity”

Hate crime is a strategic priority for the Community Safety Partnership and Mayor of London as stated in the MOPAC Police and Crime Plan 2017-21.

Data from the MPS hate crime dashboard shows that for the financial year 2020-21 Merton saw 392 reports of hate crimes made to Police, an increase of 9% compared to 2019-20. For the MPS as a whole the rise was 16%.

Nearly 80% of hate crimes in Merton are under the racist strand.

Merton’s Hate Crime Strategy Group continue to meet quarterly. The group is made up of organisations in Merton representing the different strands of hate crime. The Police South West BCU Hate Crime Lead also sits on the group.

A priority of the group is to continue to work on expanding Merton’s Hate Crime Third Party Reporting scheme. AFC Wimbledon, Tooting and Mitcham FC and 10 Coaching Academy have signed up this year.

Hate Crime Advice Surgeries take place with partners including Tell MAMA, Polish Family Association, BAME Voice, Inner Strength Network and Merton CIL on a monthly basis (currently over the phone, moving back to face to face in Merton Civic Centre once restrictions allow).

A new strategy running 2022-26 and an annual work plan are being developed.

Actions on the work plan will be updated by the Hate Crime Strategy Group each quarter, with an annual report at the end of each year – highlighting key achievements and recommendations on what work continues/ stops. The aim is for this to be shared with the community.

The Hate Crime Strategy Group have recently finalised the work plan for 2021-22 (circulated prior to meeting).

The work plan is based around the following four themes:

Coordination - Ensure that the response to Hate Crime is shared by all stakeholders, embedded into service plans, and coordinated effectively

Prevention - Preventing Hate Crime through a change of people’s attitudes and proactive policing

Provision - Improve provision of specialist support and reporting centres

Protection - To provide effective response to perpetrators outside of and within the criminal justice system

Key work in the year ahead

Hate Crime Awareness Week (HCAW) 2021 runs 9th-15th October 2021.

This year there will be a mix of online events and engagement stalls. The launch event ‘Challenging Transgender Hate Crime – Free to Be’ will take place on Monday 11th October 2021 and will focus on the national theme for HCAW which is Transgender hate crime.

There will be a number of engagement events throughout the week covering the different strands of hate crime, including an event focusing on race hate crime, a coffee morning with Polish Family Association and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Evereth Willis gave an overview of the approach to refreshing the Equality Diversity an Inclusion strategy.

Merton has a statutory duty to produce equality objectives (Equality act 2010) every four years. It is proposed to rename the new strategy, calling it an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy.  This aligns with the Administration’s current priorities and will incorporate actions that contribute positively to community cohesion in the borough.

An Equality Charter will be adopted that will be developed alongside the strategy, but will be a standalone document.

The refreshed strategy will outline 5-10 objectives.  Each objective has equalities outcomes that are linked to service plans. This approach enables equalities outcomes to be aligned with departmental service plans and is the approach taken for the current strategy that has worked well.

It is proposed that the strategy be informed by:

1.            Evidence of existing inequalities in the borough and opportunities to continue to narrow the gap in outcomes for disadvantaged residents.

2.            The findings from the Your Merton engagement that will provide analysis of residents’ experience of life in Merton, their experience of the pandemic and their aspirations for the future.

3.            .Learning from the Covid-19 pandemic that has highlighted issues such as:

a.            Health inequalities

b.            Digital exclusion

c.            Food poverty

4.            Findings from the research commissioned by the Health and Wellbeing   Board looking at the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on protected groups, in particular ethnicity, age and disability.

5.            Issues raised through the Black Lives Matter protests

6.            Implementing the Local Outbreak Management Plan

7.            The learning and recommendations of the Workforce Race Equality   Standards pilot

8.            The work of the Transforming How We Work With Communities project to increase community resilience and delay / prevent demand for acute services.

It is proposed to change the scope of the Equality Strategy slightly with a focus on equalities, diversity and inclusion which is in keeping with the priorities of the administration.  This removes the focus on community cohesion but equality, diversity and inclusion are key drivers for a cohesive community.  Equality, diversity and inclusion are terms that are clearly understood and align with our own in-house approach.

The strategy will be monitored by the Corporate Equality Steering Group, Corporate Management Team, Departmental Management Teams, an annual update to the JCC and to the Overview and Scrutiny Commission.

Q: How is the responsibility being shared so that it does not all sit with Evereth.

A: Evereth will be working with the departmental representatives of the Corporate Equality Steering Group. The representative act as equality champions and will be working with Departmental Management Teams to identify equality priorities to include in the strategy.

Q:Can councillors help to spread awareness?

A: Councillors can promote the public consultation.

Q: We need to have conversations about Cultural Awareness and competency.  Some people don’t seem comfortable with the term ‘Unconscious Bias’. What is happening within Merton and within the strategy to create a level playing field.

A: Head of Learning and Developent and Organisational Development has been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

None.