Agenda item

To consider the latest trends, priorities and pressures in terms of departmental performance as reported in the QSR for the third quarter of 2016/17 (October to December 2016) relating to Adult Social Care and Housing.  An overview of the fourth quarter of 2016/17 will also be provided.

Panel members are asked to give advance notice to the Overview and Scrutiny Team of any questions relating to the QSR where possible.

The Chief Officer: Commissioning and Resources introduced a presentation to the Panel which highlighted the excellent performance and the challenges relating to Adult Social Care and Housing.

• The Panel noted the results of the annual Adult Social Care Survey for 2015/16.  In relation to Satisfaction with Care and Support Bracknell Forest received the best feedback of all Local Authorities in its comparative group and was the fifth highest out of all 159 English Authorities.  The Panel noted the continuing improved performance in this area over the last two years.
• The 2014/15 Adult Social Care Survey showed that Bracknell Forest came top in its comparative group in relation to Carers Satisfaction with Social Services and twelfth highest out of all 159 English Authorities.
• In relation to Adults with Learning Disabilities in Employment, Bracknell Forest had 17.7% of its cohort in employment which equated to 46 individuals.  This compared to an average of 8.1% in the South East region, 6.7% in England and maintained Bracknell Forest’s position as the highest out of all 159 English Authorities.
• The Panel noted thatEast Berkshire Clinical Commissioning Group had commissioned Bracknell Forest Community Team for People with a Learning Disability to support individual’s health care needs by way of a Personal Health Budget and that 37 people now received their care and support in this way.
• Excellent feedback had been received in relation to Welfare and Housing customer satisfaction with services.  215 face to face surveys had been completed since March 2016 and showed 68% scored 10/10, 24% scored 9/10 and 8% scored 8 and below. 
• In relation to Forestcare customer satisfaction, 100% of customers were satisfied with the service, 92% thought it was value for money and 91% were happy with the response provided in an emergency
• Since October 2016, Housing had met all emergency accommodation needs for homeless families within Bracknell Forest, avoiding the disruption and additional costs of placements outside the borough.

Adult Social Care Challenges

• Permanent admission to residential and nursing homes 65+ (per 100,000 population) 2015/16: The Panel noted that in this area Bracknell Forest was approximately in the middle of the table for all English Authorities but the Amber rating provoked a slight concern and the figure of 611 was higher than the previous year.
• Delayed Transfers of Care attributable to adult social care (per 100,000 population) 2015/16: The score of 2.2 was approximately in the middle of the table for Authorities in the South East region and the Panel was advised this outcome was attributable to the inability of domiciliary care providers to recruit and therefore offer packages of care.

Housing Challenges

• In relation to maintaining a supply of accommodation for homeless households, the Panel was advised that Downshire Homes was in the market to purchase properties and currently had offers accepted on 8 properties intended for the sole use of homeless accommodation.
• The Panel were advised that Forestcare would now be inspected by CQC and in advance of their first visit by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) a mock inspection was planned to take place in April.

In relation to people having as much social contact as they would like, the Adult Social Care Survey (2015/16), indicated that Bracknell Forest’s score of 42.3% was below the mid-point in its comparative group and below the average of 45.4% in England.  The Panel was reminded that the Public Health team had started work on a ‘"community asset"’ development programme to identify community assets and resources – groups and clubs in the local area – that people could turn to.  These assets ranged from large organisations such as Age UK through to local chess clubs and Public Health had been identifying and building relationships with over 70 local groups which were now on a new interactive map, with information and contact details..

At the last meeting in January, the Panel had received a demonstration of an on-screen ‘dashboard’ being developed that would provide a simple to use tool to give an up to date view of performance and progress in Adult Social Care and Housing.  Following on from discussion in January about access to the dashboard, the Business Intelligence Manager advised the Panel that originally the dashboard had been developed in Excel which was found not to be suitable for distribution.  However, a more robust method of producing the dashboard had been identified by way of an interactive PDF though there was still a question as to whether its functionality would be compatible with tablets and iPads.  It was agreed that Members would be surveyed as to what platform they used and wished to receive the dashboard on in order to keep up to date on the progress of Adult Social Care and Housing services and projects.

Whilst the dashboard contained anonymised and unrestricted data, there was some discussion about the protection of headline data results if Members had the ability to drill down into the different displays to see more detailed data.   Councillor Peacey advised the Panel that she had used an interactive data spreadsheet that she had been able to manipulate without altering the results and she agreed to meet with the Business Intelligence Manager outside of the meeting to discuss this further.

The Panel commented and asked a number of questions from which the following arose:

• The phrase ‘Co-production with residents’ was referred to in the presentation and the Panel was advised that this was in reference to the investigation of a new model of domiciliary care, the development of which, Bracknell Forest residents would be invited to participate in.
• The proposed charges for the Forestcare responder service in order to provide emergency home care were felt to be at a level the market could bear whilst recognising few other providers offered the same service.  The basic charges would be £8.70 per week (plus basic lifeline rental) – 1 call out per month, £15 per week (plus basic lifeline rental) – 2 call outs per month and additional visits £31.00/£46.50 on Bank Holidays including Christmas and New Year.
• Between now and July 2017, 7 young adults, including care leavers, would require housing once coming into Adult Social Care.  The Panel were advised that ongoing dialogue was in progress with Downshire Homes to address the housing needs of these individuals who all displayed challenging behaviour in order to avoid residential placements being sought.
• A project was being undertaken to identify where assistive technology could be used instead of a physical staff presence.  This included sensors linked to the internet which provided data that built up a pattern of behaviour which would define the type and level of support that was required and which would flag up the changes in a person’s needs.  Examples given were the number of bathroom visits made during the night or the number of times an individual sought food or drink in the kitchen.

The level of staff sickness across Adult Social Care & Housing was perceived to be high particularly when compared to other departments in the organisation.  It was noted however that the figures took account of long term sickness and that front line staff who felt unwell had a duty to exert particular caution by being off sick from work when their role was predominantly focused on visiting vulnerable residents in their homes.  In future, a breakdown of long and short term sickness would be provided to better explain the high numbers.