Housing bosses to streamline correspondence with GPs in time-saving trial

Islington’s director of housing operations, Ian Swift. Photograph: Julia Gregory

Housing bosses will only ask GPs to provide letters about residents’ health if they need more information, in a pilot designed to save time and money.

Islington Council’s housing department is launching the trial as part of its work to tackle health problems caused by poor housing and to deal with damp and mould.

Director of housing operations Ian Swift said some GPs charge for letters, and patients may also think they need a letter from their doctor setting out health reasons why they need work done on their home.

He told the health and wellbeing board yesterday that “people tend to go to the doctors for drugs to aid their depression and at the end of the day the reason they’re unhappy is because of their environment. That’s not what the NHS is for.”

The housing team will contact GPs if they need “clarity”, he said, in a bid to avoid unnecessary paperwork.

“People believe that a letter will help but it will not.”

The council is on a mission to cut problems with damp and mould after housing campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa highlighted some serious cases of housing neglect in the borough.

The housing ombudsman also stepped in last December to investigate how the council dealt with mould and damp. It made four maladministration rulings about cases of mould and damp in council homes between April 2021 and March 2022.

It is monitoring the council and will make recommendations. Ombudsman Richard Blakeway also held meetings with residents in the spring.

Council measures include training surveyors, customer service staff, gas engineers, roofers and decorators about damp and mould and its impact on health. It also increased the number of people dealing with complaints.

Councillors are also getting training to spot the problems and understand the risks to health.

The council is talking to residents’ groups about ways they can influence the work of the housing team.

A paper to the health and wellbeing board set out the council’s aim to “be the best housing service in England within the next three years”.

It manages 36,000 homes, whilst a further 17,000 households live in homes run by housing associations. Swift said the council aims to work in collaboration with them.

He was asked how residents can help avoid mould and damp problems and pointed out that poverty makes it harder for people hit by the cost-of-living crisis to heat their homes in order to dry washing. He said the council is keen to create places where they can dry washing on estates.

Housing teams made 159 home visits at the 1920s four-storey Halton Mansions in Halton Road in Islington this spring, in a pilot to find out the key housing issues there.

Residents in 49 homes reported problems with damp and mould, whilst 28 had other problems with their flats and three did not have working smoke alarms.

Swift told the health and wellbeing board: “We want to place our residents at the heart of everything we do. We passionately believe that.”