Issue - meetings

(To receive a report from the Executive Director - Adult Care and Community Wellbeing which seeks approval to procure a new contract for home based reablement)

That the Executive:

1.    Approves a procurement be undertaken to deliver a contract to be awarded to a single provider of a county-wide home based reablement service for a period of three years with a possibility of a further two year extension.

2.    Delegates to the Executive Director of Adult Care and Community Wellbeing, in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health & Children's Services, the authority:

                      i.        To approve the entering into a pilot with the contractor to assess the effects of broadening eligibility for the services; and

                    ii.        To determine the final form of the contract and to approve the award the contract(s) and the entering into of contract(s) and other legal documentation necessary to give effect to the above decision.

Consideration was given to a report by the Executive Director Adult Care and Community Wellbeing which sought approval from the Executive to procure a new contract for home based reablement.

The Commercial and Procurement Manager – People Services introduced the report and advised that the Home Based Reablement service (HBRS) was designed to help people learn or relearn the skills necessary for daily living, which had been lost through illness, deterioration of health and/or increased support needs.  The HBRS offered outcome-focused, person-centred care and support in the service user's own home, designed to optimise their independence, for a period of up to six weeks per user episode.  Current performance was based on an average of around three weeks.  In addition to reablement support, the service required the provider to offer a 'provider of last resort' (POLR) service to support people with long term needs in their own homes; and was intended to provide a contingency at times of market failure in the home care market and was designed to be on a short term basis.

The Executive was advised that following a procurement process in 2015, a contract for a countywide home based reablement service was awarded to Allied Healthcare, commencing in November 2015 for a maximum duration of five years.  Allied Healthcare went into administration in December 2018, resulting in the novation of the contract on an interim basis to Alderson Libertas to secure continuity for this vital service.  Since November 2015, performance of the service had improved significantly, in particular since the current provider took over the service.  The current contract would expire on 30 June 2020 and therefore it was necessary to make decisions regarding the future scope and procurement of the service.  It was proposed that the new contract would commence on 1 July 2020 for three years with the option to extend for a further two years.

Reference was also made to the intention to include within the contract, a pilot scheme relating to the broadening of eligibility criteria to enable a period of reablement to all individuals who had been assessed as requiring a level of County Council funded community care.  This would effectively encompass all individuals referred into homecare with the exception of those on an end of life pathway or with advance dementia.

In response to a question, the Executive was advised that success of the pilot scheme would be measured by the proportion of people that received reablement and then did not require any further funded care.  Under the Council's Business Plan measure for reablement, currently over 88% of people who received the service did not require any long term care as a result.  It was confirmed that a control group would be established as part of the pilot.  Officers would also be looking at the costs of care for newly eligible people compared with if they had not received reablement.

The Executive was informed that there was a substantial amount of evidence nationally around intermediate care and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 62