Agenda item

The Strategic Director, Adult Social Care submits a report that provides the Commission with information on various dimensions of adult social care performance in the third quarter of 2016/17.

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

The Strategic Director, Adult Social Care submitted a report that provided the Commission with information on various dimensions of adult social care performance in the third quarter of 2016/17.

The Strategic Director presented the findings and points made included the following:

·         The experience for customers - positive feedback had been received with 98% of service users saying that their needs were at least partially met and 97% saying that their quality of life had improved as a consequence.

·         The number of contacts to the department -  customers had been signposted to other services, where it was considered that it was not necessary for Adult Social Care to be involved, but it had been noted that some people were coming back within two or three months. The reasons for these recurring contacts were being investigated.   

·         Keeping people safe - the target for the completion of safeguarding enquiries was within 28 days. The measure for Quarter 3 was 44.7% (compared to 59% in Quarter 2) and it was hoped to improve on this figure.

·         Managing our Resources: Budget – a major challenge related to the frailty of the customer; some had multiple frailty indicators and were not all age related.

·         Managing our Resources: Workforce  - the workforce had decreased in size, but processes had been reviewed and reduced.  It was aimed that there would be no reviews outstanding for more than 15 months and while this had not yet been achieved, significant progress towards this had been made.

·         Customer Services – the number of complaints relating to practice decisions, delays to services and staff attitudes was currently forecast to be higher than the previous year and action was being taken to address this. If someone needed to be referred for Occupational Therapy, their referral would be made immediately. Some complaints were made because people believed that they had a need which should be supported by Adult Social Care, but the outcome of assessments indicated otherwise. Where customers were unhappy with the outcome, the case could be addressed through the council’s complaints process and then referred to the Ombudsman. It was expected that the Quarter 4 results would show an improvement in these figures.

The Chair commented that families could be in a difficult financial situation if they had funding towards adult social care withdrawn and they would need to be signposted to other services or organisations so that they could seek support.

In response to a question about a young person’s transition to adulthood and whether improvements to the process could be made, the Strategic Director explained that a Peer Review had taken place recently which had identified some areas for possible improvements. A report would be going to the relevant Executive Leads in due course. It was aimed for transition to commence at an earlier age than was the current practice, but there were also issues around what happened to that person in later years when perhaps their parents were no longer there to support them. The Deputy City Mayor added that this was a challenging area, with individual and complex issues and it was important that changes to policy were brought about sensitively. The Vice Chair commented that transition could be a frightening subject for a young person and if people were willing to have those conversations, it would be best to hold them early and before the age of 14 if possible. 

The Chair referred to the plans for extra care accommodation, which had been put on hold by the council. It was noted that the scheme was being reviewed in the light of recent announcements from the Government and the Vice Chair asked for the Commission to look at this again where more information was available.

The Chair noted that it was forecast that the measures for both mental health and learning disability service users in employment would fail to reach their target. The Director for Care Services and Commissioning explained that the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework indicator had changed and many local authorities were finding this target challenging. The city council however did refer people for employment; some had part time hours and some were volunteers. They were taking steps to improve this measure.

The Chair concluded the discussion and thanked officers for the report.

AGREED:

1)    that the report be noted; and

2)    the Adult Social care Integrated Performance Report 2016/17 Quarter Four be brought to a future meeting of the Commission