Agenda item

The Strategic Director, Adult Social Care and Health submits a report that presents an overview of current Adult Social Care performance by providing information on the effectiveness and efficiency of the service along with the ‘customer journey’ or ‘care pathway’. The Commission is recommended to note the contents of the report and feedback on any further information they would like to receive.

The Strategic Director, Adult Social Care, submitted a report that presented an overview of current Adult Social Care performance.  Members were asked to be aware that when checking data against other regional comparators, there may be inconsistencies due to the differences in interpreting data.   It was anticipated that a new system being implemented would result in greater consistency.  In addition, the performance data was only a snapshot of the situation at a specific moment in time. Referrals were always coming in and the situation was very fluid. Data for a full year, when available, would provide a much clearer and more accurate picture.

Members considered the report and made comments and raised a number of queries, which included the following:

·         Are service users still being allocated 15 minute home visits from domiciliary care workers?

Members heard that the council did not commission any 15 minute visits, unless they were for a very specific purpose, for example to assist with a hoist.

·         Does the council provide aids for people with mobility needs?

Members were advised that mobility aids were supplied where it was determined that such aids were necessary.

·         Concerns were expressed that equality implications were not included in the report.

The Commission were advised that the report was not a decision making report, but rather provided an overview of performance; however equality issues were at the heart of the report. Views were expressed that equality implications looked at a number of different areas as well as ethnicity, and such information should have been included in the report.

The Deputy City Mayor suggested that the Commission might find it helpful to have a paper on the demographic profile of service users.  This could include information on gender, ethnicity, geographical and economic data. This could be circulated to Members, who could then decide whether they would wish to consider it further.

·         A comment was made that it was very useful to be given this information now rather than at the end of the year and that the reduction in the number of people being admitted into residential care was impressive.  Concerns were expressed however at the number of service users who had not been reviewed for 12 months or more, though it was acknowledged that efforts were being made to address this.

·         The Deputy City Mayor commented that it was important to measure people’s qualitative experience as well measuring quantitative information. The Chair added that it was also important to remember that the Local Authority was dealing with people with individual needs.

·         A Member commented that there was a shortage of carers and she questioned how people’s needs could be met, where they needed long term care.

The Deputy City Mayor responded that there was a need to ensure that carers received the support they were entitled to. The council would be carrying out a Carers’ Census, which would lead to an understanding of the landscape in the city. Quantitative information was available but so far, not enough was known about the carers’ experiences. From listening to their voices, the council would be better able to understand their needs. The Commission would be updated on how that work was progressing.

·         A concern was raised that a few incidents had been reported where domiciliary care workers had been disrespected and subjected to verbal abuse. Respect and dignity needed to be a two way process, from the Service User as well as the Carer.

The Deputy City Mayor responded that it was a priority for carers to be treated with respect. As part of this it was aimed that they should have a proper career pattern. When the council re-procured domiciliary care contracts, they would ask about the national living wage and conditions for the carers. Where there were concerns that a care worker had been mistreated, the service user had been contacted. The Deputy City Mayor added that a small number of incidents had been brought to his attention and each of those cases had been dealt with.  The Strategic Director for Adult Social Care informed the Commission that some incidents may arise from service users with dementia or behavioural problems, and these also had to be managed.

·         Is there a timescale from an initial telephone call requesting assistance, to an assessment to finalising personal budgets and direct payments?

The Strategic Director responded that the Care Act stated that the authority should respond within a reasonable time scale, though no specific details were given as to what this time frame might be, The Care Act also stipulated that the local authority should explain the process around assessments, personal budgets and direct payments.  As part of this, he believed that the authority should stipulate what a reasonable timescale would be, to enable people to fully understand the process.

·         Members referred to the diagram in Appendix 1 of the report, which illustrated the pathway following the receipt of a referral and it was suggested that it would be useful to display such information in the community for members of the public to see. The Deputy City Mayor suggested that a more user friendly diagram with less jargon might be more helpful to members of the public. He further suggested that the Task Group’s current review into Models of Community Screening and Assessment might wish to help with this.  The referral and assessment process was complicated and he commented that the people who understood and could navigate the system possibly did better than others. This was a concern and something that they needed to try to address.

The Chair thanked officers for their excellent work and a very interesting report. The Chair added that she had recently attended a Shared Lives event and had been very impressed with that initiative. 

RESOLVED:

1)    that the report be welcomed and noted; and

2)    that a paper on the demographic profile of service users be circulated to members of the Commission.