Agenda item

(To receive a report by Marie Kaempfe-Rice, Senior Commercial and Procurement Officer, which invites Committee to consider a report on Lincolnshire Sensory Services Re-Commissioning, which is due to be considered by the Executive Councillor for Adult Care and Public Health between 13 and 17 September 2021.  The views of the Scrutiny Committee will be reported to the Executive Councillor as part of her consideration of this item)

Consideration was given to a report by the Commercial and Procurement Manager, which invited the committee to consider a report on the Lincolnshire Sensory Service Re-Commissioning, which was due to be considered by the Executive Councillor for Adult Care and Public Health between 13 and 17 September 2021.

The Lincolnshire Sensory Services (LSS) was a preventative and re-ablement service for both adults and children with a sensory impairment, both cognitive and acquired and their associated disabilities where applicable.

The current contract had been delivered by RNID since April 2016 but had exhausted all options for extension within the current contract, it was therefore proposed that the Executive approve that a procurement be undertaken to deliver a contract to be awarded to a single provider of county-wide sensory services for adults and children for a period of three years, with the possibility of a further two year extension on a one plus one basis.

Members supported the recommendations set out to the Executive and during the discussion the following points were noted:

• Any feedback provided by service users would considered when procuring the new contract. 
• It was noted that there was not a KPI to measure a decrease in activity in individuals, which could potentially highlight an area for concern. It was explained that some of this information was contained within other KPI's, but acknowledged that it may be useful to have an individual KPI to monitor this data.  Areas such as increased opportunities for paid work; reduced isolation; and the number of volunteer hours were suggested as items where the procurement process might seek improved performance
• Members acknowledged the advantages of the service being provided by just one provider.
• Members welcomed the results of the survey in which 100% of service users were happy with the service provided.
• The committee emphasised the need for the alignment of services with the NHS, such as the low vision service and the eye care liaison officer. The council were working on the alignment of services to ensure that the service was as efficient as possible which involved joining up machinery and a referral pathway.
• It was suggested that the targets for the 'Individual Outcomes Increased Opportunities of Paid Work' were extremely low.
• Covid-19 had slightly impacted on the drop in volunteer hours, but there were also a range of other factors. In general, it was difficult to secure volunteers. A breakdown of the relationship between a joint group of providers had resulted in a direct impact on volunteers and it had not felt appropriate to penalise the provider for this.
• Volunteers were primarily those which were already registered to local charities and organisations. The council actively worked to meet targets but there were difficulties recruiting volunteers as a county.

RESOLVED:

1. That the recommendations to the Executive Councillor, as set out in the report, be supported;
2. That a summary of the comments made, as above, be reported to the Executive Councillor as part of their consideration of this item.

12:15 Cllr T Young left the meeting and did not return.