The Strategic Director for Social Care and Education will provide a verbal update on the Hastings Road Day Centre.
Members of the Commission are reccomended to note the update and pass any coments to the Strategic Director For Social Care and Education.
Minutes:
The Director for Adult Social Care and Commissioning introduced the item. It was noted that the consultation process had opened on 12 December 2022 and would be running for a 10-week period, this is following an intensive period of engagement earlier on in the year. It was also noted that all parents and carers of those who attend Hastings Road had been written to and notified of the consultation following which engagement sessions had been arranged for families and carers, which was well attended and a further 2 sessions arranged.
It was also noted that a session had been arranged in February for parents and carers to meet with alternative providers to see who else was available in the market place.
Additionally, a survey had been circulated to users and on the council website for additional engagement following which, analysis of the findings of the face to face sessions and survey responses would be used to produce a report which would go for a decision in the summer.
The Lead Commissioner noted that the session set up for family and carers with providers would allow for families and carers to talk directly to providers to understand what services were available and what would best suit their needs as this was a niche group with profound learning disabilities and it was important for families and carers to be confident in the service that other providers had to offer.
As part of the discussions it was noted that:
· No new referrals to the service had been received since 2016 due to people choosing a different model of services that best suited to serve for their loved ones
· Due to the level of need for the service users, individual families had been consulted and managed to ensure that they understood what alternatives were available to ensure the level of service they require is met should the centre close
· With individual plans developed carefully with families to make sure the level of need for the service users is met
· Financial implications on the running of the day care centre were also a reason that had driven the consultation
· Annual cost for the day centre was £1million with some users funded through CHC funding, with the health incomes declining the centre was overspending £142,000 in 2021 with a similar net spend for last year
· The private provider alternatives commissioned would be £18.70 per hour which was the framework rate compared to the £37.00 per contract hour
It was further noted that, the relationships that the service users had developed with the staff over the years were important as the service users had been attending the day care centre for many years due to the severity of their disabilities. It would be vital to work slowly and sensitively with the families to make sure should alternatives need to be put in place, they were robust and of high quality for the service user and their families.
The Deputy City Mayor for Social Care and Anti Poverty noted that before a decision was taken, following the consultation period a report would be produced and this would come back to scrutiny.
In further discussions it was noted that, there had been similar cases to this with elderly people homes and it was good to know that families were enable to see what alternative services were available and that the families were supported while choosing the appropriate service to make an informed decision.
The Strategic Director for Social Care and Education noted that people usually expect the in-house services to be better than what was available in the private sector but overall the quality of service was probably the same. Since the introduction of direct payments people have started to look for alternative providers and the team were making sure that the families were empowered to use service providers that they feel were most suited to meet their needs.
The Lead Commissioner took the opportunity to inform the Commission that during the consultation period some committed staff had come forward with ideas on how they could come together to continue to provide a service.
AGREED:
That the Commission request the Strategic Director for Social Care and Education to provide a report to the Commission following the consultation for Members of the Commission to provide comments for consideration before a decision is taken.