Agenda item

To consider the latest trends, priorities and pressures in terms of departmental performance as reported in the QSR for the first quarter of 2017/18 (April to June 2017) relating to Adult Social Care and Housing.  An overview of the second quarter of 2017/18 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 Panel considered the latest trends, priorities and pressures in terms of departmental performance as reported in the QSR for the first quarter of 2017/18 (April to June 2017) relating to Adult Social Care and Housing.  The Chief Officer: Commissioning and Resources introduced a presentation highlighting some key activities across the service, expanding upon some of the areas covered in the QSR.

In particular the Panel noted:

Adult Social Care

• The Heathlands Procurement Plan in respect of the joint development of a care home facility at the site had been agreed between the Council, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and the CCG and a Memorandum of Understanding was in the process of being signed by the parties, and the next stage would be to work on a binding agreement between the parties.
• The new Domiciliary Care contract had gone live on 14 August 2017 and users of the service were in the process of being moved from their existing providers to new providers, or providing a direct payment.  Recruitment of staff continued to be difficult for the new providers; it was thought that the necessity for staff to have a car/own transport was a possible barrier. 
• Work was continuing, jointly with Bracknell and Ascot CCG on trialling personal health budgets for people with learning disabilities, autistic spectrum disorders or mental health conditions, to allow them to choose how to spend to support their condition.
• A shadow team were working to bring into use a Connection Hub which will be a resource for all operational practitioners to use when supporting individuals to improve their heath and wellbeing by using the resources available within their local communities.
• The new Model of Intermediate Care was being implemented, with the Bridgewell Centre due to close at the end of November 2017, four care beds commissioned at Astbury Manor Residential Care Home to support reablement, and community based care and rehabilitation for individuals in their own homes.
• A programme had commenced to identify people who could be transferred to the 16 block commissioned long term residential beds at Astbury Manor, to reduce high cost placements, together with other improvements for care of people with long term conditions.

Housing

·         Forestcare had received a Good CQC rating, a real achievement for a new service.  Forestcare would be taking on the out of hours Emergency Response service for Clement House which was more economic for the Council.

·         BFC My Benefits was due to go live on 2 October – this would allow customers to apply for benefits online, advise changes in circumstances and track processing of claims.  The telephone and face to face service would remain available for those customers who preferred it.

Public Health

·         Four very pleasing recent achievements were highlighted:

-       a decreased rate of ‘inactive adults’

-       an increased rate of weight loss among obese adults

-       the lowest rate of teen conceptions in the country

-       reduced social isolation (as measured by the Adult Social Care survey)

·         Public Health have been identifying and building relationships with over 200 local groups, many of them very small independent groups.  Each group was being supported through help with promotion, training or advice.

·         There was a continued good level of use/access to the Public Health portal.  Facebook contacts continued to rise month by month.

·         The Kooth online counselling service continued to be well used, with 245 young people logging in during the quarter.  The Panel recognised the valuable contribution of this service providing accessibility, anonymity and timely support (waiting times were consistently under two hours).

Arising from questions and discussion, comments were made on the following:

• Although a significant risk had emerged following the recent court ruling about the payment of carers providing sleep-in cover at the national minimum wage, it was difficult to quantify this; there were ongoing discussions at a national level regarding the impact on Councils and providers.  The first signs of providers increasing their costs had already been noted.
• Indicator NI155 (number of affordable homes delivered) showed a total of 5 against a target of 5 for the current quarter, substantially below the 49 delivered in Q4 last year.  Was this simply because of a low number of completions?  Why was the target as low as 5?  The Panel requested that an explanation be circulated.
• Indicator L178 (number of household nights in non-self-contained accommodation) showed a figure of 303 for the current quarter (rated red).  The Panel requested that further detail and an explanation be circulated.
• Although the figure of 41 vacant posts in Adult Social Care (15.29%) looked high, it was noted that some posts had been held vacant pending changes in the organisation to avoid the possibility of redundancies arising.
• Concern was expressed about high levels of sickness amongst Adult Social Care staff.  It was suggested that this may be a cultural problem which would need to be addressed.