Agenda item

The Strategic Director, Adult Social Care, submits a report that presents the Leicester Adult Social Care Local Account for 2015/16. The report summarises key developments, achievements and performance over the course of the year and sets out future plans in response to the challenges faced.

The Commission is recommended to note and comment on the report.

The Strategic Director, Adult Social Care submitted a report that presented the Leicester Adult Social Care Local Account for 2015/16. The report summarised key developments, achievements and performance over the course of the year and set out future plans in response to challenges faced.

Members raised a number of comments and queries on the report to which responses were given. These included the following:

·      A Member praised the Shared Lives scheme and asked whether there were plans to increase the number of service users. The Strategic Director responded that there was no fixed upper limit on how many people could be supported under the scheme, but it took a special type of person who would want to be a carer and welcome other people into their own home. There were campaigns to attract more carers, one of which had just been held. A Member suggested that a ‘drip drip’ feed would be more successful than occasional campaigns and  asked whether the officer with responsibility for publicity schemes for fostering children might have capacity to do something similar for Shared Lives.

·      In response to a query relating to Independent Living Support, Members heard that this was a very specific service which was contracted out. The council were looking at how effective this was and as such it was an area of review.  Service users would be consulted as part of this review.

·      The Chair commented that some people were selling their homes to move in with their parents in order to care for them, or were making adaptations to their homes to accommodate their parents. She asked whether the council could do anything to encourage this. The Strategic Director explained that they would always support such initiatives and they also worked with the Housing Service to try to help where appropriate. However, there may be financial considerations for families to consider. Carers involved in the Shared Lives scheme, received a payment from the local authority, but this payment did not apply to families caring for one of their own.

·      A Member questioned whether reviews and re-assessments were on track. The Strategic Director explained that the aim was that by the end of the year, there would be no outstanding reviews exceeding a period of 15 months. However, because of the current financial and resourcing pressures and a fluctuating demand and workload, this might not be achievable. Efforts would be made to achieve that aim as quickly as possible on a sustainable basis.  

A Member suggested that a firm target should be set and the Commission heard that this was a firm and very ambitious target. There were pressures within the department, but the Strategic Director added that ambitious targets should be set to help the service achieve high standards.  A Member expressed some surprise that the setting of a target was acknowledged, when previously the Commission had been informed that this was unnecessary. The Strategic Director responded that he had set a target, after his appointment to this post, because he needed an assurance that progress was being made.  Further information on reviews would be reported back in regular Quarterly Performance Reports.

·      Concerns were expressed that as part of the vision for Adult Social Care, from reading the report, it appeared that the council did not provide any funding towards prevention and intervention, although money was made available from other sources. The Strategic Director confirmed that the Council did fund prevention and intervention and agreed to clarify the text in the Local Account.

·      A Member asked how ‘soft’ complaints were recorded. The Commission heard that there were various ways in which these were picked up, including team meetings and team leaders’ forums. Informal complaints might be due to a failure to understand the decision made. A suggestion was made that team meetings include an agenda item to discuss complaints; it might be that one team was more affected by such complaints than others.

AGREED:

1)    that the report be noted; and

2)      that the Strategic Director, Adult Social Care clarify the text in the Local Account regarding funding for prevention and intervention initiatives.