Agenda item

The Strategic Director of Adult Social Care and Health submits a report which brings together information on various dimensions of adult social care (ASC) performance in the third quarter (first nine months) of 2017/18. The Commission is requested to note the areas of positive achievement and areas for improvement.

The Strategic Director of Adult Social Care and Health submitted a report which brought together information on various dimensions of adult social care (ASC) performance in the third quarter (first nine months) of 2017/18. The Commission was requested to note the areas of positive achievement and areas for improvement.

The Director of Adult Social Care and Safeguarding presented the report, and made the following additional points and answered questions from Members:

·         In summary, performance had improved compared to 2016/17;

·         Some data for measures in Priority 5 (Transitions) could now be reported though further work on data quality assurance was required;

·         Admissions to residential and nursing care remained higher than planned, but the Council’s activity in terms of the proportion of people supported at home rather than in a care home compared favourably to other authorities, and numbers were reflective of higher need;

·         There had been a significant improvement in workforce performance, with sickness levels reduced by 15%. Absence management procedures were robust and could include referral to IPRS, or AMICA. Figures included those engaged in physical activity at work and could include small numbers of people on long term sick which would affect figures. There was also a need to support people facing issues, either at work or home life, but it was sometime appropriate that people left the organisation if necessary;

·         The national performance framework for ASC (ASCOF) published data for 2016/17 showed the authority compared favourably with other authorities with social care responsibilities in relation to self-directed support;

·         There was pressure from the number of people receiving some support after contact, though fewer people were in receipt of long-term support;

·         Results from assessment forms show customer feedback on interactions remained positive;

·         There were some challenges to be faced, for example, the number of people at home 91 days after re-ablement had worsened during Q3;

·         It was explained that re-ablement was for people with physical / functional difficulties. Enablement for people with learning / mental health difficulties or other needs impacting on their ability to connect and live independently within their community. Working with people in hospital, Adult Social Care staff decided on the correct pathway, and took part in ward rounds and conducting assessments;

·         It was expected that a proportion of people over the age of 85 would pass away within 12 months following a stay in hospital. ASC had to maintain an oversight to ensure people entering the re-ablement pathway could be re-abled, if not fully independent, if it was not more appropriate to access other service such as mainstream domiciliary care;

·         It was noted that a data error had been identified after the dispatch of papers, in relation to Enablement outcomes, with the actual figures being higher (better) than reported. This would be amended in future reports;

·         With regards to the number of alerts received in Q3 2017/18 of 578, there was nothing to suggest that the figure was an outlier against other regional benchmarks, and was not substantially different to the previous quarter’s figures;

·         There was no clear answer or single reason as to why numbers of new adult service users with mental health issues were increasing, but there were lots of issues around deprivation, employment, income, health, cuts in services, alcohol and drug use, as possible factors for the increase.

Councillor Cutkelvin left the meeting at this point.

·         During November there were no delayed transfers of care relating to adult social care. In December, Leicester was the top-ranked local authority, in January, a single day’s delay for one individual took the authority from position one to position four, indicating the small margins for change in the ranking process. However, the authority had ranked in the top five for performance for a sustained period of time;

·         Staff routinely worked in hospital on a Saturday, providing a wrap-around discharge service, and good feedback had been received from partners;

·         People requiring adult social care were not discharged late in the evening or during the night. Officers did provide unplanned and emergency support through Integrated Crisis Response Service, who were available to provide support to facilitate people going home;

·         A small income was received from the regional network for time colleagues gave to help other authorities understand how Leicester’s approach to safe transfers of care worked. It had also drawn in colleagues from other council areas to form a group to offer peer review;

The Assistant Mayor, Adult Social Care and Wellbeing, noted that in recent years adult social care had fundamentally improved. She added that looking at the data and report, the financial position was very challenging, and people were working in a very difficult environment, but managing, and had provided a very positive picture over the past few years.

The Chair asked that a letter be sent to the ASC Department to thank officers for their work. The Director of Adult Social Care and Safeguarding to meet with the Chair to agree the wording for the letter.

AGREED:

1.    That the report be noted;

2.    The Chair and Director of Adult Social Care and Safeguarding to meet to draft a letter of thanks to the ASC Department.