Kingston Council spent more than £10,000 commissioning a risk assessment for the needle exchange at Surbiton Health Centre, only for its councillors to go against one of its key recommendations.

The 69-page document, which cost about £140 per page, recommended that “Surbiton Health Centre and Lime Tree School continue unchanged for a period of six months”.

But a top council director was tasked with finding alternative locations before the report, carried out by consultants RSM Tenon for £9,990 plus VAT, was presented to the council’s health overview and scrutiny panel last week.

Surbiton Hill councillor and chairman of the Surbiton neighbourhood committee, Malcolm Self, said: “Of course we have to take note of it. It would be foolish to say we have got a risk assessment and ignore it.

“I am not quibbling with those factual findings.

“I am disagreeing with their findings about where the service should be. I think that is outside the scope of a risk assessment.”

Berrylands Councillor Karen George said: “The report was a whitewash. I think that the report was totally biased and it was unbelievable that they chose to disregard the concerns of parents.”

According to RSM Tenon’s report, its scope included: 

- Completion of an on-site risk assessment to identify the risks

- Completion of a control review to establish how effectively the risks are being managed, including by whom and when 

- Development of a risk management action plan to enhance risk mitigation, including what when and who 

- An assessment of assurances that can be relied up for assisting with keeping in check the risks and controls profile

 

Every six months the wellbeing service’s future should be assessed based on a log of incidents, the report added.

A spokeswoman for Camden and Islington NHS Foundtion Trust, which provides the wellbeing service, said: "The trust continues to work with all partners to ensure that service users receive the best possible care."