Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Chaplin, Vice Chair.

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

No declarations of interest were made.

The minutes of the meeting of the Adult Social Care Commission held on 12 July 2016 have been circulated and the Commission is asked to confirm them as a correct record.

AGREED:

that the minutes of the previous meeting of the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission held 12 July 2016 be confirmed as a correct record.

The Monitoring Officer to report on any petitions received.

The Monitoring Officer reported that no petitions had been received.

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

The Monitoring Officer reported that no questions, representations or statements of case had been received.

The Strategic Director, Adult Social care submits a report that provides Scrutiny with an update on six strategic priorities for Adult Social Care reported in May 2016, our quarter one financial performance and other aspects of departmental performance.

The Commission is asked to note the areas of positive achievement for the quarter and areas for improvement.

The Strategic Director, Adult Social Care submitted a report that provided the Scrutiny Commission with an update on six strategic priorities for Adult Social Care as reported in May 2016, the quarter one financial performance and other aspects of department performance.

The Deputy City Mayor, with responsibility for Adult Social Care, Health Integration and Wellbeing, presented the report explaining that this was the first report of its type. Given the pace of change, the financial situation and the challenges that were being faced, he felt that the report’s findings were very positive. The Deputy City Mayor acknowledged the efforts of Directors and Heads of Services and added that much of the report was based on people’s experiences and not just statistics.

The Chair also commended the report and invited comments and questions from Members. A series of comments and questions were raised including the following:

·      A Member referred the Deputy City Mayor to the six priorities, as listed in section 3.1.1 of the report and asked him what he considered was the number one priority for the Service.

The Deputy City Mayor responded that he considered the most important priority was SP1: ‘Improve the experience for our customers of both our own interventions and the services we commission to support them’.  This priority spoke directly about the customer, with the aim to continually improve the service and not to remain static. This principle sat behind all the remaining priorities; there was a need to continually try to improve and to be mindful of the experiences of real people.

·      In response to a query relating to complaints and how the council learned from those complaints, Members heard that Strategic Priority 6 addressed the need to learn, improve and innovate. Where concerns, rather than formal complaints, were raised, they were usually dealt with by the practitioner. However, if they were not addressed, they would progress to a formal complaint.

·      Members queried the work being undertaken to support the transition of young people, with care and support needs, into adulthood. The Strategic Director explained that they were working with officers in the Children’s Services to enable an earlier intervention and to improve the dialogue with young people and their families.

·      A concern was raised that there had been an increase in the number of reviews that were overdue by 12 months, from 1207 at the end of March 2016 to 1288. The Strategic Director explained that the performance report related to the first quarter of the year which ended in June 2016. The number of reviews overdue by 12 months had now decreased and the situation was back on target.  A Member asked why there had been so many overdue reviews and the Strategic Director explained that the departmental focus had been on meeting immediate, high risk and crisis referrals / casework and subsequently the work on annual reviews had lagged behind over the previous two years.  However, in order to improve, on this position, new initiatives had subsequently been put into  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

The Strategic Director, Adult Social Care, submits a report that provides the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission with an analysis of service user engagement completed as part of the re-procurement of domiciliary care support services.

The Commission is recommended to note the content of the report and to provide feedback.

The Strategic Director, Adult Social Care submitted a report that provided the Commission with an analysis of service user engagement completed as part of the re-procurement of domiciliary care support services. The engagement exercise was undertaken for both Adult Social Care and health service users, as consideration was being given to jointly procuring domiciliary care support with the Leicester Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

The Deputy City Mayor, with responsibility for Adult Social Care, Health Integration and Wellbeing, presented the report explaining that the Council wanted to continue to provide good domiciliary care and to meet as many of the criteria set out in the care charter, as possible. There had been a 30% response rate to the consultation, which was considered to be very high for a consultation of that nature. It was expected that a decision would be made within the next two to four weeks regarding the joint procurement with the Leicester CCG. The contract to be awarded was very considerable and it was important that the right decision was made.  Joint procurement could show immediate benefits but there was a need to consider what it would mean for service users.

In response to questions raised, the Deputy City Mayor explained that he had approached the proposed joint procurement exercise with an open mind; consideration needed to be given as to whether there were sufficient advantages in departing from the Council’s current practice. If domiciliary care services were jointly procured and resulted in greater stability for service users, then this would be a good outcome.

A question was raised relating to the budget, and the Director for Adult Social Care and Commissioning explained that currently about £10.5m was spent on domiciliary care. When the Council tendered the contract, they would offer a financial envelope and invite tenders within that.  The tender would state what training was necessary and there would be quality control checks to ensure that this was carried out. As part of the Quality Assurance Framework, care provider’s training records would be checked and views of service users and their families were also taken into account.  The Strategic Director added that the service providers were also regulated by the Care Quality Commission.

A Member questioned how language difficulties were managed and heard that as part of the tendering process, would be providers were asked how they would be able to provide people with the appropriate language skills.     

A concern was expressed that where a service was procured, rather than being offered ‘in-house’, it took longer to resolve problems. A suggestion was made that the Council needed to be more robust with providers where issues and problems were raised. The Strategic Director responded that whether in-house or with a provider, any problems or issues would be dealt with, with the same timeline and expectations. It should not take any longer to get a resolution with a provider, but if this happened, he would want to be informed.

RESOLVED:

1)    that the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission note  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

The Strategic Director, Adult Social Care submits a report that provides an overview of the issues relating to a rise in demand for Adult Social Care services from people aged under 65.

The Commission is recommended to note the contents of this report and make any comments.

The Strategic Director for Adult Social Care, submitted a report that provided an overview of the issues relating to a rise in demand for Adult Social Care services from people aged under 65.

The Chair expressed some disappointment that the printed agendas were in black and white, which made it difficult to understand some of the graphs because they had been designed in colour.

The Deputy City Mayor, with responsibility for Adult Social Care, Health Integration and Wellbeing, presented the report. The Commission heard that nationally there had been growing concerns about the ability of social care and health services to manage the cost and capacity issues that arose from an ageing population. Further to those concerns, in Leicester there had been a significant growth in demand for support from people of working age. This led to questioning whether people were able to care for their elderly relatives; and what it would mean for those elderly people where their families could not provide that support.

The Chair asked how Leicester compared with others in the East Midlands. The Director of Adult Social Care and Safeguarding responded that she had data for the East Midlands region, but comparisons with similar national authorities were more informative; Leicester was very diverse and could not therefore be realistically compared with all parts of the East Midlands, such as shire authorities.

Comments were made that it was important to promote healthy lifestyles and if preventative health work could be carried out with children, they were less likely to have health problems in adulthood.

Members heard that there was a higher prevalence of mental health issues in Leicester than elsewhere. The Deputy City Mayor expressed concerns about a person’s general wellbeing if s/he had to wait for a year to receive treatment for mental health problems. A view was expressed that adults with mental health issues had often been reluctant to ask for help when they were younger. The Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission responded that she believed that children had asked for help, but that help had not been forthcoming because the child had been considered to be naughty. The Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission was currently undertaking a Task Group Review into the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

RESOLVED:

                        that the report be noted.

The Strategic Director, Adult Social Care submits a report that provides an outline of Disability Related Expenditure (DRE) and the means test and to present the findings from a 12-week consultation on changes to DRE that was carried out between 19 January 2016 and 12 April 2016.

The Commission is asked to note the report and comment as it sees fit.

The Strategic Director, Adult Social Care submitted a report that provided an outline of Disability Related Expenditure (DRE) and the means test, and which presented the findings from a 12-week consultation on changes to DRE that was carried out between 19 January 2016 and 12 April 2016.

The Deputy City Mayor, with responsibility for Adult Social Care, Health Integration and Wellbeing presented the report and commented that the findings from the consultation did not produce any great surprises. Currently there were no plans to change the current DRE arrangements, though the Deputy City Mayor added that he could not guarantee that this issue would not be considered again in the future.

General concerns were expressed that the National Health Service needed to provide some of the resources or services that they currently left to the individual or to the local authority to provide.

The Chair asked that if in the future, any changes to DRE were to be considered, a further report be brought back to the Scrutiny Commission.

RESOLVED:

1)    that the report be noted; and

2)    that a further report be brought back to the Scrutiny Commission, should any changes to DRE be considered.

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.

The Chair asked Members to email her if they had any suggestiosn for additions to the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission work programme.

RESOLVED:

                        that the work programme be noted.

The meeting closed at 7.20pm.