Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were submitted from Councillors Dawood, Halford and Joshi. Tracie Rees (Director, Care Services and Commissioning) and Philip Parkinson (Healthwatch) also submitted their apologies.

Members are asked to declare any interests they may have in the business to be discussed.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting of the Adult Social Care Commission held on 4 August 2015 have been circulated and the Commission is asked to confirm them as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

that the minutes of the meeting of the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission held 4 August 2015 be confirmed as a correct record.

The Monitoring Officer to report on any petitions received.

There were no petitions.

The Monitoring Officer to report on any questions, representations or statements of case.

The following questions have been received from Philip Parkinson on behalf of Health Watch:

1)    Has it been possible for the number of service users having their care packages reviewed to be increased?

2)    Is there a means of knowing how many of the reviews resulted in an increase in support, a decrease or a maintenance of the current service?

3)    Has it been possible to increase the number of people with dementia attending community based services?

The following questions had been received from Philip Parkinson on behalf of Health Watch.

1)    Has it been possible for the number of service users having their care packages reviewed to be increased?

2)    Is there a means of knowing how many of the reviews resulted in an increase in support, a decrease or a maintenance of the current service?

3)    Has it been possible to increase the number of people with dementia attending community based services?

The response to the questions is attached to the back of these minutes.

The Commission will receive a verbal update from Mr Paul Bott from Vista on the Leicester Ageing Together initiative.

The representative from Vista who was going to provide an update on the Leicester Ageing Together Initiative was not present, so no discussion on this item took place.

The Director of Adult Social Care and Safeguarding submits a cover report which accompanies the Leicester Safeguarding Adult Board (LSAB) Annual Report for 2014/15. The Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission is recommended to:

1.    Note the LSAB arrangements in place to oversee safeguarding activity in Leicester;

2.    Note the content of the Annual Report; and

3.    Make any observations to the LSAB as a partnership or to ASC specifically regarding the delivery of safeguarding work.

Dr David Jones, Independent Chair of the Leicester Safeguarding Adults Board (LSAB) presented the Board’s Annual Report for 2014-15. Dr Jones explained that the Care Act 2014 had required Safeguarding Adult Boards to be established as a statutory requirement and it was also a statutory requirement for the Board to produce an annual report.

Dr Jones explained that because of the reductions in budgets, there would be an impact on middle and senior managers and that this would create pressures in maintaining partnerships. Members heard that Dr Jones was also Chair of the Leicester Children’s Safeguarding Board, and the responsibilities on this Board had taken up more of his time following a recent Ofsted inspection. Dr Jones stated that he would be shortly standing down as Chair of the Boards and there was an intention to appoint different Chairs for each of the Boards.

Members considered the report and raised the following queries and comments.

Dr Jones was asked whether any lessons had been learned from the recent Children’s Ofsted report that could also be applied to Adults Social Care.

Dr Jones responded that the central issue was in getting a framework of understanding as to how well services were delivered.  In order to do this, it was necessary to have a comprehensive set of statistics, qualitative information and analysis.  This challenge had been identified in the Ofsted report and it also applied to Adult Social Care across the country, not just in Leicester. A robust response to this was being developed.

A member referred to Dr Jones’ concern about the budgetary cuts and its impact on senior and middle management and the subsequent pressure in maintain partnerships. The Leicester Adults Safeguarding Board had been established before the Care Act made it a statutory requirement, and she questioned whether the extra time that the Board had been established had been helpful in embedding structures to maintain those partnerships.

Dr Jones responded that there had been a dedicated commitment to the Board, but all the agencies reported that it was getting harder to find the time to continue with that commitment.  A certain level of engagement was required and if the number of people available to do this was reduced, there was a risk to that level being engaged. He suggested that this was something that the Commission might want to monitor.

A Member referred to Strategic Priority Area 3, Participation and Involvement and questioned what had been learned from the partners working jointly in a whole family approach.

Members were informed that in respect of family working, it was always a challenge for front line staff to be aware of the needs of others in the households. While focussing on the person with the primary needs, the needs of others in the family could be overlooked. There may be, for example, a young carer in that family. He stated that research showed that these other members of the family were not always identified as well as they should be.  However,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

The Commission will be asked to consider and give their views on a progress update of the VCS Advocacy and Carers’ Review. A briefing note is attached at Appendix A.

Members considered a progress update on the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) Review.

As part of the review, consultation had been undertaken with the VCS Advocacy providers to consider the impact of the Care Act and to determine a future service model. The Deputy City Mayor stated that the findings from the consultation had demonstrated that the there was no consensus amongst the providers as to what they wanted going forward. This meant that it was likely that some of the providers would be unhappy with the outcome.

Councillor Cutkelvin stated that it would be helpful to see some outcomes from the consultation including information relating to the associated Equality Impact Assessment. The Deputy City Mayor responded that they could be shown to Members when they were ready, but at the moment the consultation had not been finalised. Concerns were expressed that by the time the Commission saw the findings of the consultation, it would be too late to feed in any comments.

The Deputy City Mayor stated that he would circulate a paper on the way forward along with the findings of the Service Users’ consultation from 2013-14.  Councillor Cutkelvin requested that there would be an opportunity to comment on the findings of the consultation in a public meeting, if required.

RESOLVED:

                        that the Commission:

1)    note the update on the VCS Advocacy and Carers’ Review; and

2)    request that the findings of the consultation and the Equality Impact Assessment be circulated to Commission Members or brought to the next meeting.

The Director of Care Services and Commissioning submits a report which gives the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission an update on the progress of Phase Two of the Elderly Persons’ Home (EPH) project.  A verbal update on this will be given at the meeting to provide an up to date picture on the progress that is being made. The Commission is recommended to note the progress made on each aspect of the EPH project.

Members were asked to consider an update on Elderly Persons’ Homes Project.

The Director of Social Care and Safeguarding stated that the residents were coping with the change. While it was an anxious time for residents and their families, they did feel supported. The Council were doing their best to help those affected through the process.

Members asked about the morale of staff affected by the closure of the Elderly Persons’ Homes. The Director explained that there was an organisational review taking place; the Council were working with the Trade Unions who were comfortable with the process. There were opportunities for the staff to be re-deployed.

RESOLVED:

                        that the update on the Elderly Persons’ Homes Project be noted.

The Commission is asked to consider a draft scoping document for a scrutiny review into ‘Models of Community Screening and Assessment’. The purpose and aim of the review is to establish whether a model of community screening and assessment would be appropriate in the city.

The draft scoping document is attached at Appendix D

The Commission was asked to consider a draft scoping document for a scrutiny review into ‘Models of Community Screening and Assessment’.

Members suggested that when gathering evidence from witnesses, the views of the current provider should also be sought. The Director of Social Care and Safeguarding explained that as the current provider was the Council, the scope included Council officers, so it had already been captured.

The Chair, Vice Chair, Councillors Cutkelvin and Khote all confirmed that they wished to be involved in the Task Group and the Chair said that the remaining members of the Commission would also be invited.

RESOLVED:

that the Commission agree the draft scoping document for the Task Group Review into  ‘Models of Community Screening and Assessment’.

The current work programme for the Commission is attached.  The Commission is asked to consider this and make comments and/or amendments as it considers necessary.

Members were asked to consider the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission Draft Work Programme for 2015-16.

A Member referred to the Voluntary and Community Sector Advocacy and Carers’ Review as discussed earlier in the meeting. She acknowledged that the findings of the consultation would be circulated to Commission Members, but asked that the review be added onto the work programme as a potential item.

The Chair added that there had been a recent Executive Decision relating to the Development of a Specialist Dementia Care Scheme, and she requested that this item also be added to the work programme.

RESOLVED:

that it be agreed that the following two items be added to the work programme:

1)    Voluntary and Community Sector Advocacy Carers’ Review (potential item); and

2)    the Development of a Specialist Dementia Care Scheme.

The Director of Social Care and Safeguarding submitted her apologies for the next meeting of the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission to be held on Tuesday 3 November 2015.

The meeting closed at 6.55 pm