Agenda item

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Adult Social Care, Health and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 24 July 2018.

To review the Actions Log arising from the Minutes, to include an update on the Task & Finish Groups’ progress and to provide an update on any issues arising since the last meeting.

To note the recommendations in the report from the Director of Adult Social Care, Health and Housing which advises the panel on the outcome of the sensitivity analysis of the impact of changes in homeless demand and effective prevention activity.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Adult Social Care, Health and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Panel held on 24 July 2018 be approved as a correct record, and signed by the Chairman.

Arising from the Actions Log, Action 1, Rohan Wardena, Transformation Programme Lead: Adult Social Care, Health and Housing provided the Panel with an update. 

The Panel were provided with a data set that illustrated the level of detail that could be provided and the key performance indicators (KPIs) being used to track the effect of the conversations approach. The Panel were reminded that this reporting system had only been in place since April 2018 following a systems upgrade and that this level of detail was not necessarily available prior to this date. The primary indicator being used was the number of new client contacts per month and the data represented an overall view of the effect of the conversations approach.  The Panel were advised that the data indicated that the conversations approach was making it easier for people to contact the Adult Social Care team and more people were being connected to support earlier with fewer clients going on to require long term care.

The Panel acknowledged that the conversations approach was widely welcomed and that the effects of the conversations approach were being monitored.

Rohan Wardena, Transformation Programme Lead: Adult Social Care, Health and Housing further described how across the country demand for health and social care was spiralling due to a growing and aging population and more complex needs, and this was putting the entire health and care system under pressure. However, through the transformation work, Bracknell Forest appeared to be bucking the national trend and demand for adult social care had gradually been reducing over the last 7 months although there had been a spike in June 2018. This was mainly due to the seasonal increase in demand from clients transitioning from Children’s Services to Adult Social Services. There had also not been the usual spiral in demand during the peak winter pressure period leading up to January 2018 that had been seen in previous years. The changes that had been delivered in Adult Social Care over the last 12 months had appeared to have been received positively and the risk of an increase in customer complaints had not materialised.

As a result of questions from the Members, Rohan Wardena, Transformation Programme Lead: Adult Social Care, Health and Housing explained:

• Spikes in demand could now be broadly anticipated because the management information system that had been developed was extremely powerful with a high level of granularity which enabled data to be tracked and analysed at customer level and included indicators to help identify individuals that might be at higher risk of crisis and would benefit from early intervention.  Not actively managing demand or focusing on prevention could result in a potential demand pressure £1.5m costs by year end.
• Social care is not free at the point of delivery and a person’s financial situation is taken into account as part of the care assessment process.  20% of the overall total cost that was included in the illustration was made up of contributions from clients.  Funded nursing care was part of this percentage.  This proportion had not been benchmarked against neighbouring authorities. However, in a lot of instances the Council will contribute towards the majority of a person’s care costs.
• During June 2018 total care costs had spiked but now demand was heading downwards for long term care clients and £155K of short term interventions had been made so far this year.  The effect of the conversations approach was that potential long term care services clients were being supported prior to requiring long term care.
• Breaking down the data to show what the level of financial contribution from clients was and what the level of cost to the council was as separate elements of the costs of care; was currently not available, as the new system  had only been in place since January 2018.

Arising from the Actions Log, Action 10, Development of Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme 2018-19, the Chairman delayed discussion of this item until later in the meeting.

Arising from the Actions Log, Action 11, Nikki Edwards, Executive Director: People provided an update for the Panel explaining the cause in the discrepancy between the data in the report and QSR data.

• There had been a discrepancy in the data used to compile the sickness absence records previously reported in the Quarterly Service Report (QSR).  One reporting period used had been an annual benchmark and one was a quarterly figure.  The data had now been aligned and sickness levels would now be reported quarterly.
• The Adult Social Care Team had taken on board the Panel’s concerns about sickness levels and managers and the Human Resources team were implementing a training programme for absence logging with staff. 
• Managers’ ability to manage staff absence was being addressed and the absence trend was now downwards.
• Wellbeing reinforcement was taking place and Public Health were providing support.
• People on multiple contracts had now had their contracts aligned and only one contract would show for sickness logging purposes.
• Sickness data had not been input to the systems correctly and the readjusted data should demonstrate a reduction in the reported sickness levels.
• The core data that was recorded was not inaccurate.  The recording periods were the cause of the discrepancy.  The data reported in the QSR was accurate for the quarter in which it was reported.  The other sickness level data reported was for a period of a year.  For the next quarter’s report, the reporting issues had been addressed and the sickness levels were down.  Even though the sickness levels reported in the current QSR were still high, it was stressed that the discrepancy in reporting periods was the cause.
• All anomalies and cases of inaccuracy had been audited and the sickness figures were now coming down and the reporting problems had been addressed.
• Small numbers of staff sickness could skew the results.

RESOLVED that the recommendations in the report from the Director of Adult Social Care, Health and Housing which advises the panel on the outcome of the sensitivity analysis of the impact of changes in homeless demand and effective prevention activity be noted.