Issue - meetings

(To receive a report by the Executive Director – Adult Care and Community Wellbeing which seeks approval to procure a new contract for Lincolnshire Community Equipment Services)

1.    That approval be given to procurement to deliver a contract to be awarded to a single provider of a county-wide community equipment service including wheelchair provision, and the potential for Disabled Facilities Grant items such as stairlifts, to be incorporated into the catalogue of equipment, for an initial period of up to five years with the possibility of a further five-year extension.

2.    That approval be given to  the de-coupling of telecare from the current community equipment services contract and the re-procurement from 1 April 2023 of a separate, interim two-year, like for like telecare contract, with the intention of procuring a wider Technically Enabled Care (TEC) solution, to be in place by 1 April 2025.

3.    That authority be delegated to the Executive Director of Adult Care & Community Wellbeing in consultation with the Executive Councillor for Adult Care and Public Health, to determine the final form of the contract/s and to approve the award of the contract/s and the entering into of the contract/s and other legal documentation necessary to give effect to the above decisions.

The Executive Councillor for Adult Care and Public Health introduced a report which set out the need to procure a new contract for the Lincolnshire Community Equipment Service (LCES).  This was a jointly commissioned service between the Council and Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), and it was noted that the contract had been in place since April 2016.

The Assistant Director – Early Intervention and Prevention outlined the current service summary and advised that it was an all-age service providing equipment (including Telecare) on loan to help meet the health and social care needs of people with long term conditions and disabilities.   It was a statutory duty to provide this equipment where someone had been assessed as having a statutory need.  It was also highlighted that this was a critical factor in helping people to remain more independent and in their own homes as well as assisting with hospital discharge.

The Chairman of the Adults and Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee presented the comments of the Scrutiny Committee following its consideration of this item at its meeting on 6 April 2022.  The Executive was advised that the Committee fully supported all the recommendations.  In particular, the Committee had highlighted the benefits of seven day working and the joint working with the NHS.  The Committee acknowledged the potential budget pressures but felt that most of these had been covered and mitigated by the report.  Another area that the Committee highlighted as important was the recycling aspect of the contract and strongly supported the recycling arrangements.  It was commented that the use of Household Waste Recycling Centres was a good opportunity and more use could be made of them, by allowing people to drop items off at any time.  In conclusion, it was reported that the Scrutiny Committee fully supported the recommendations and would like to see the use of Household Waste Recycling Centres promoted as well as additional attention paid to hospital discharge.

During discussion by the Executive, the following was noted:

·       In terms of the recycling, this applied to a variety of items from walking sticks to high-cost specialised equipment.  The provider would be incentivised to collect and maintain equipment.

·       It was noted that there was flexibility built into the contract in relation to hospital discharge, which had supported extra demand at the acute sites. For example, the equipment service had expanded from six to seven days a week and performance in terms of delivery times were very good.

·       Incentivising the recycling aspect of the contract rather than paying a guaranteed management fee would place Lincolnshire in a strong position in comparison with other areas nationally.

·       The Executive was supportive of the need for equipment to be recycled and reused as much as possible, as there had been instances of residential homes keeping hold of specialised equipment provided for a particular resident after they had passed away.

·       Clarification was sought regarding the non-recurrent funding which had been used to support the cost increase.  Officers advised that this referred to funding provided  ...  view the full minutes text for item 84