Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room One, County Offices, Newland, Lincoln LN1 1YL

Contact: Cheryl Hall  Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

10.

Apologies for Absence/Replacement Councillors

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mrs P A Bradwell (Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services), Mrs P Cooper, M T Fido, Mrs M J Overton MBE and C E Reid.

11.

Declarations of Councillors' Interests

Minutes:

Councillor M A Whittington advised of his wife's role as a care assistant for a care provider, which provided services outside of Lincolnshire.

12.

Minutes of the meeting of the Adults and Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee held on 30 May 2018 pdf icon PDF 150 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

That the minutes of the meeting of the Adults and Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee held on 30 May 2018 be approved.

13.

Announcements by the Chairman, Executive Councillor and Lead Officers

Minutes:

The Chairman was pleased to announce that Canwick House Care Home had recently been awarded two prestigious national awards for two inspiring projects at the Care Home Awards on 27 June 2018.

14.

Homecare Customer Experience Survey 2017/18 pdf icon PDF 33 KB

(To receive a report by Carolyn Nice (Assistant Director (Adult Frailty and Long Term Conditions)), which presents the findings of a survey conducted by the Quality Assurance team into the customer experience of people who use Council-commissioned homecare)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report by Carolyn Nice (Assistant Director, Adult Frailty and Long Term Conditions) and Emma Scarth (Strategic Programme Lead for Mosaic), which presented the findings of a survey conducted by the Quality Assurance team into the customer experience of people who use the Council-commissioned homecare.  Alina Hackney (Senior Strategic Commercial and Procurement Manager – People Services) supported the presentation of the item.

 

The survey had explored the people's experience with care staff, the planning and communication of their visit and their provider's office and leadership.

 

It was noted that the Council's commissioned homecare was used by 2,800 adults of all ages with eligible care needs.  Over 65,000 homecare visits were made each week across the county by independent providers.

 

The survey, which had been undertaken between November 2017 and January 2018, had gathered the views of a representative sample of people who had received this homecare.  The Customer Service Survey summary of responses report was attached at Appendix A to the Committee's report.

 

The Committee was provided with an opportunity to ask questions, where the following points were noted: -

 

·       The Committee explored ways in which the performance of Planning and Communication could be improved, particularly improvements to notifications of staffing changes and times of visits.  Furthermore, it was recognised that this was a difficult area to improve, as there were often extenuating circumstances such a sickness, which could not be foreseen and prepared for.  The County Council was undertaking work with providers on how this area could be improved, which could be achieved via IT solutions;

·       It was confirmed that during the winter period, particularly during the heavy snowfall, all service users had received their care support;

·       It was confirmed that providers operated an Electronic Call Monitoring system, which helped improve the quality of care provided at home;

·       It was advised that part of the Better Care Fund had been used to improve recruitment across the care sector.  It was also confirmed that staff retention was monitored through contract Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), along with other performance measures concerning the workforce; and

·       It was advised that the sample of people who had used the service and completed the survey was a random selection of service users. The views of family members were also sought through the survey.

 

RESOLVED

 

That the findings of the Homecare Customer Experience Survey 2017/18 and the comments of the Committee be noted.

15.

Payment Arrangements for Residential Care and Residential Care with Nursing pdf icon PDF 79 KB

(To receive a report by Carolyn Nice Assistant Director (Adult Frailty and Long Term Conditions), which invites the Committee to consider an Executive Councillor Report concerning Payment Arrangements for Residential Care and Residential Care with Nursing.  The comments of the Committee will be presented to the Executive Councillor prior to taking the decision)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report by Carolyn Nice (Assistant Director Adult Frailty and Long Term Conditions)), which invited the Committee to consider a report on Payment Arrangements for Residential Care and Residential Care with Nursing, which was due to be determined by the Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services on 10 July 2018.  It was advised that the views of the Committee would be reported to the Executive Councillor, as part of her consideration of the item.

 

The Assistant Director (Adult Frailties and Long Term Conditions) advised that the Executive Councillor's report presented the outcome of a review of the Council's payment arrangements for residential care and residential care with nursing following findings and recommendations made by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. 

 

The report also sought a decision from the Executive Councillor on whether to accept the recommendations of the Ombudsman and change the payment arrangements to provide for no involvement in the collection of payments of Third Party Contributions or implement a modified form of its current payment arrangements for Third Party Contributions and Resident Contributions subject to variations being made to the Council's contract.

 

In response to a question, the Committee was advised that the review of the payment arrangements, referred to in option (c) as detailed in the Executive Councillor's report, was part of the usual contract process, and would be due to take place in 2020/21 in any event.  The Committee was further advised that a review of the payment arrangements might be necessary in advance of 2020/21, for example in response to revised legislation or exceptional circumstances.  Following this advice, the Committee agreed to suggest that the wording of option (c) might be revised to reflect the possibility that a review of the payment arrangements might take place in advance of 2020/21.

 

The Committee was given a further explanation of the legal position on statutory guidance, as set out in paragraph 5 of Appendix A to the report, and acknowledged that a cogent reason for departure from the statutory guidance had been set out in Appendix B to the report.

 

The Committee was provided with an opportunity to ask questions, where the following points were noted: -

 

·         Other local authorities had adopted a variety of approaches to their payment arrangements for residential care and residential care with nursing;

·         It was confirmed that the Ombudsman's report related to a single complaint and this should be borne in mind within the context of the overall number of service users;

·         There had been no increase in complaints similar to the one that had led to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report, since the publication of the report by the Ombudsman on 11 January 2018;

·         The expected publication of the Government Green Paper on Care and Support for Older People in the autumn of 2018 might impact on the national policy and the legislative position. 

 

RESOLVED

 

That support be given to recommendations (1) and (3), as set out in the report.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

16.

Adult Care and Community Wellbeing Quarter 4 2017/18 Performance Report pdf icon PDF 94 KB

(To receive a report by Theo Jarratt (County Manager, Performance Quality and Information), which presents performance against Council Business Plan targets for the Directorate as at the end of Quarter 4 2017/18)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report by Theo Jarratt (County Manager, Performance Quality and Development), presented performance against the Council Business Plan targets for the Directorate as at the end of Quarter 3 2017/18.

 

A summary of performance against target for the year 2017-18 had been provided at Appendix A to the report.  A full analysis of each indicator over the year had also been provided at Appendix B to the report. The County Manager, Performance Quality and Development presented the performance information to the Committee.

 

The report demonstrated that for the Adult Care and Community Wellbeing Council Business Plan measures in 2017/18: Nine had exceeded the target; ten had achieved the target or were within an agreed tolerance; six had not achieved the target or performed within the tolerance range allowed. 

 

The Committee was advised that for some measures, it would be the final report of performance, as a revised set of Council Business Plan measures to reflect the Directorate's priorities had been agreed for 2018/19.  Performance against the revised set of measures would start to be reported to the Committee from Quarter 1 at the meeting on 5 September 2018.  The changes in the measures would be circulated via email.

 

Members were provided with an opportunity to ask questions, where the following points were noted: -

 

·       Performance of carers who find it easy to find information about services – the Committee was advised that there were a range of projects exploring ways in which the performance of this measure could be improved;

·       Performance of alcohol users that left drug treatment successfully who do not present to treatment within six months – it was confirmed that there had been a change in provider and it was noted that despite the target not being achieved, there had recently been an improvement in performance;

·       It was requested that the Committee received information on the number of young carers supported by Carers First, Serco and Lincolnshire County Council;

·       The Committee recognised the importance of the role of informal carers;

·       Safeguarding cases supported by an advocate – it was commented that the target of 100% had been achieved consistently over 2017/18 and it was therefore queried whether it was necessary for this target to continue to be reported.  Officers agreed to take forward this comment;

·       It was queried what national support for the Public Health function that was available.  In response, the Committee was advised that the question would be put to the Director of Public Health and his response would be circulated via email;

·       The Committee was advised that Adult Care had seen a 4% increase in activity. It was advised that there was a graphic, which demonstrated where the 4% increase in activity could be seen.  It was suggested that this could be presented as part of the next performance report.

 

RESOLVED

 

That the Adult Care and Community Wellbeing Quarter 4 2017/18 Performance Report and the Committee's comments be noted.

17.

Adult Frailty and Long Term Conditions Review Performance pdf icon PDF 67 KB

(To receive a report by Carolyn Nice (Assistant Director (Adult Frailty and Long Term Conditions)) and Emma Scarth (Strategic Programme Lead for Mosaic), which asks the Committee to note the improved performance on review performance and the continued focus on reviews for 2018/19)

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report by Theo Jarratt (County Manager, Performance Quality and Development) and Emma Scarth (Strategic Programme Lead for Mosaic), which invited the Committee to note the improved performance on Reviews for Adult Frailty and Long Term Conditions and provided an update on the outturn position.

 

The Committee was advised that the year-end performance for 2017/18 had shown that 86.1% of Adult Frailty and Long Term Conditions customers had had their needs reviewed during 2017/18.  In total 4,004 customers out of 4,469 had had their needs reviewed during this period.  This had represented a significant improvement on the previous year 2016/17 where 77% of customers had been reviewed.

 

The improved performance had been achieved despite the service facing a number of challenges during 2017/18 including the implementation of Mosaic, which whilst now working effectively did initially take time to bed in. 

 

The Committee was provided with an opportunity to ask questions, where the following points were noted: -

 

·       Performance data about reviews would be a standing item at meetings in area teams so that they would be aware of the challenge and the achievement in completing the work in order to meet the targets;

·       It was confirmed that the target was set at 100%.  However, it was recognised that it would not necessarily be possible to achieve this target, owing to circumstances outside of the Council's control.  A list of potential reasons was cited.  However, it was hoped that the County Council could further improve on its performance;

·       The introduction of Mosaic had made improvements to the way in which reviews were recorded on the system and it was now easier for the Council to track progress with reviews.

 

RESOLVED

 

That that improved performance on the completion of reviews and the continued focus on reviews for 2018/19 be noted.

18.

Adult Care and Community Wellbeing 2017/18 Final Outturn pdf icon PDF 402 KB

(To receive a report by Steve Houchin (Head of Finance, Adult Care and Community Wellbeing), which invites the Committee to note the final budget outturn for Adult Care and Community Wellbeing for 2017/18)

Minutes:

A report by Steve Houchin (Head of Finance, Adult Care and Community Wellbeing) was considered which invited the Committee to note the final budget outturn for 2017/18. 

 

The report presented budgetary information on the following service areas for 2017/18: Adult Frailty and Long Term Conditions; Specialist Adult Services; Community Wellbeing; Carers; Safeguarding Adults; Better Care Fund; and Capital.

 

The Head of Finance, Adult Care and Community Wellbeing advised that the Adult Care and Community Wellbeing final outturn for 2017/18 was £206.960m, an under-spend of £1.483m against a budget of £208.443m.  It was reported that this was the sixth year in succession that Adult Care and Community Wellbeing had remained within its budgeted allocation.  The Committee expressed its gratitude to all those officers involved in ensuring Adult Care remained within budget.

 

In response to a question, it was confirmed that any recurrent cost pressures had been included within Adult Care's base budget.  Furthermore, the Committee was advised that the Head of Finance, Adult Care and Community Wellbeing, in conjunction with officers from the service area, continually reviewed budgets to monitor performance throughout the year.

 

The Committee was also advised that the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill, which covered Deprivation of Liberty, had received its first reading in the House of Lords on 3 July 2018.  It was confirmed that officers would follow the progress of the Bill through its various parliamentary stages.

 

RESOLVED

 

That the final Adult Care budget outturn for 2017/18 be noted.

19.

Adults and Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee Work Programme pdf icon PDF 223 KB

(To receive a report by Simon Evans (Health Scrutiny Officer), which invites the Committee to consider its work programme for the coming months)

Minutes:

A report by Simon Evans (Health Scrutiny Officer) was considered, which enabled the Committee to consider its work programme for the coming months.

 

It was advised that on 3 July 2018, the Executive had made a decision on the Commercialisation and Commissioning Strategies and as a result, the Committee was asked to consider making arrangements to consider the commissioning strategies in the following five areas during the autumn:

 

·    Specialist Adult Services;

·    Carers;

·    Adult Frailty, Long Term Conditions and Physical Disability;

·    Adult Safeguarding; and

·    Wellbeing.

 

It was noted that there were 14 commissioning strategies across the Council, five of which were in the remit of the Committee.

 

The Committee suggested that it considered: Specialist Adult Services; Carers; and Adult Safeguarding at its meeting scheduled for 5 September 2018 and Adult Frailty, Long Term Conditions and Physical Disability; and Wellbeing at its meeting on 10 October 2018.

 

RESOLVED

 

That the work programme, as set out in the report, be noted.

 

 
 
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