Agenda item

The Director of Public Health submits a report that provides the Commission with an update on the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) inspection of Turning Point. The report also details the activity of the Contracts and Assurance Service (CaAS) to monitor the service.

The Commission is recommended to note the contents of the report and provide any comments necessary.

The Director of Public Health submitted a report that provided the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission with an update on the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) inspection of Turning Point. The Commission heard that the contract which brought together six different services was large and complex and Turning Point was used by a vast range or people of all ages and backgrounds.

The Group Manager for Contracts and Assurance provided an overview of the CQC’s findings and explained that Turning Point had a real desire to ensure that the service they provided was safe, effective and of the best possible quality. 

The CQC inspection in June 2017 had identified the mobilisation of the service as outstanding. Their report had praised aspects of the service but had also found areas of concern. Turning Point had resolved those areas of concern and the CQC had confirmed that those concerns had been met. A further CQC inspection was expected in 2018.

The Group Manager explained that the Council had a Quality Assurance Framework and would carry out monitoring visits. Any non-compliance issues identified would be included in an action plan with recommendations for improvement.

The Chair thanked officers for the report and expressed some concerns that the young person’s centre on Granby Street looked ‘tired’ and questioned whether there was any planned investment for improvements there. The Chair added that it was important that people with problems, such as mental health issues believed that they mattered.  The Director responded that Turning Point had carried out some work there and they wanted to see what feedback was received from the young people who used the centre.

 A Member reported that she had heard that potential service users were being turned away from Granby Street and she questioned whether people knew that the service there was for young people, as the main hub for adults was located on Eldon Street.  It was questioned whether more could be done to raise awareness on this issue, including clearer signing and the Chair stated that she would take this as a recommendation from the Commission.

Members heard that there had been a reduction in the number of people, including young people obtaining treatment. The Director of Public Health stated that there was a robust action plan in place to increase referrals into the service from routes such as the youth offending team and children’s social care and that Turning Point was also doing staff briefings and outreach to increase referrals into the service..

A Member asked how the Council could be confident that the monitoring systems were robust. The Director of Adult Social Care responded that the department acted as the contract monitoring agent for Public Health in terms of process and procedure, but overall accountability for the contract remained with Public Health. He further stated that there was a robust focus in the contract monitoring process used by the department on health and safety and that specific Health and Safety Advisors were utilised to support this focus.

A Member expressed concerns that there appeared to be service failures in a large number of areas and questioned whether the service was effective as it had been before the six contracts were brought into one. She commented that it was good that there was contract monitoring but questioned whether this was the best way forward.  The Director of Public Health responded that while the bringing together of contracts was partially about making services more cost effective, it was also with the intention to put in better pathways.  For example, before there had been issues relating to transition with young people who were moving from Children’s Services into Adult Services, but Turning Point had been able to improve the links between these services.  The Deputy City Mayor added that this was only the second year of the contract and prior to this there had been a churn of services which had led to instability.

The Chair commented that important points had been raised in the report and debate and she felt that there was room for some improvement.  In mental health, there had been much discussion about the need for the service to be joined up rather than fragmented and while there were some concerns over the performance data, she felt that there were also clear opportunities as well. The Director of Public Health commented that while they wanted more people to use the service, there were elements of the service, including the management of people with opoid issues, which were working well. If the service was failing, it would have been identified as such.  The Chair added that she hoped that the next performance report would show an improvement. 

AGREED:

                   that:

1)    the Commission recommend signposting at the centre on Granby Street and for staff to direct service users to the correct  centre if Granby Street was not appropriate; and

2)    the Commission request that a further report with performance data be brought to a future meeting of the Commission.

Councillors Chaplin and Osman left the meeting towards the end of the consideration of this item of business in order to attend another meeting.