Agenda item

(To receive a report by Glen Garrod, Executive Director Adult Care and Community Wellbeing, which provides a detailed understanding of the full year activity in Adult Care 2019)

Consideration was given to a report which provided a detailed understanding of the full year activity in Adult Care for 2018/19 via a spreadsheet attached at Appendix D to the report.  Members were advised that this form of presentation had been used for four years and allowed senior officers within the Directorate to understand the 'flow' of people through adult care and the interplay between various activities; for example the impact prevention services had on longer term care activity.

Members were guided through the spreadsheet and were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         In relation to residential homes, it was queried whether there was a difference between the price that private individuals paid and the price paid by the local authority.  Members were advised that the Council set a schedule of fees for residential homes and these fees were often lower than what the homes charged privately. 

·         It was queried what the justification was for the difference between the private fee and the local authority fee, and members were advised that this had been the subject of national debate for many years.

(NOTE: Councillor C L Strange left the meeting at 12.20pm)

·         Those people who were buying their care and support privately would typically not have an assessment.  However, it would be preferred if everyone had an assessment, as an assessment could indicate that the person did not need residential care at that time.  A lot of people entered residential care too early.

·         When the authority became involved with those people with fewer resources, the aim was to provide wraparound care to help them stay in their home.

·         Residential care could sometimes be too easy an option.  There was a need to ensure that the public were aware that assessments were for everyone.

·         64% of the carers supported by the County Council were caring for someone who was not receiving their own support, as they were not known to the County Council.  Carers were targeted with support to prevent people going into residential care too early as the carer could no longer cope.

·         In terms of people having assessments, it was commented that some people thought this process would be intrusive, particularly in terms of their finances. A new way was being piloted, which meant that a financial assessment would only be carried out if a person's needs required state support.  An assessment would look at what help could be provided to help people to stay independent at home.

·         It was highlighted that there were a number of school children who were carers and Members were advised that they would be covered by the Young Carers Service which was part of Children's Services.

·         There were approximately 6.5million carers in the country, and of these around 10% were children.

·         Support to carers was critical to preventing people going into very expensive services that they may not need.  It was important to support working age adults who wanted to stay in employment.

RESOLVED

            That the spreadsheet setting out the activity in Adult Care for 2018/19 be noted.