Agenda item

(To receive a report by Caroline Jackson, Head of Corporate Performance, which  summarises the Adults and Community Wellbeing Service Level Performance for Quarter 2)

Consideration was given to a report by the Head of Corporate Performance, which summarised the Adults and Community Wellbeing Service Level Performance for Quarter 2

The Committee was referred to page 45 of the agenda which outlined the performance compared to targets set for quarter 2 and pages 49 to 87 which detailed the full information for each performance indicator.

Members were advised that there were 18 measures which could be reported in quarter 2, of which 13 had either achieved or exceeded their target and only 4 measures were not achieving the targets set.

The following three measured had exceeded their target:

·               The Percentage of people aged 40 to 74 offered and received an NHS health check is 61.0%.

·               Permanent Admissions to residential and nursing care home for those aged 65+ -  Requests for support for new clients where the outcome was no support or support of a lower level

·               Requests for support for new clients where the outcome was no support or support of a lower level

The 10 measures that had achieved their targets were listed in Appendix A to the report.

Further detail was provided for the 4 measure that had not achieved their target:

·       Carers supported in the last 12 months, which was due to changes in practice in completion of the Adult Care Client Assessment form which had led to a reduction in the number of carers identified as part of a client assessment. A joint assessment considered both the client’s needs and the carer’s need and it was important to now ensure that through the client assessment questions were directly asked of the carer as to whether their needs have been assessed/met during the assessment. This had resulted in 36% (1,048) fewer Joint Assessments being counted towards this measure. 2,013 Young Carers had been included in the measure due to joined up reporting with Children’s Services.

·       People supported to successfully quit smoking did not achieve its target as during the pandemic One You Lincolnshire (OYL) had adapted to deliver most of the quitters with minimal support from subcontractors such as pharmacies, GPs & practice nurses who have been required to divert to covid-related activity & vaccination programmes. During Q1 GPs and Pharmacies achieved 164 set quits and 62 four week quits, a success rate of 38%. OYL was working to re-engage with the GPs and Pharmacies to increase the number of subcontractors based quits as covid-related work settles.

·       Carers who have received a review of their needs had not achieved its target of 85%. Of the 918 Carers who received a Direct Payment during the last 12 months, 693 (75.5%) received a review of their needs in the same period.  648 (93.5%) of these reviews were undertaken by the Carers Service.  45 (6.5%) were undertaken by Adult Care. Changes to the practice and the informal care section of the Adult Care Review forms are underway to improve this outcome.

·       Adult Safeguarding concerns raised then lead to a Safeguarding enquiry against a target of 46.5%. This had previously been discussed by the Committee and Members were aware that previous conversations that work is ongoing to ensure that the Council’s partners trained their front line teams to understand the criteria for an Adult Safeguarding Concern and Enquiry. Given the large percentage of concerns that to did not progress to an enquiry, work was underway review the referral process and to increase stakeholder understanding of care act criteria.

• Adults aged 18-64 living independently could not be reported due to a definition change. Members were assured that the Council had worked with their partners at LPFT to redefine this measure and it was hoped this could be reported again from Quarter 3.

The Committee considered the report and during the discussion, the following points were noted:

• The percentage of people aged 40 to 74 who were offered and received an NHS health check was dependent on the NHS for its delivery, so recent details on the number health checks were not always available. Once a health check had been undertaken, some individuals would be referred to other routes, which was sometimes the consequence of poor diet or a weight issue. There was some national data which indicated the relevance of a health check, particularly in certain groups such as those with a learning disability.
• Members emphasised the importance of health checks and preventative care.
• The data on p49 – permanent admissions to residential of nursing care homes for those aged 65 or over related largely to the year in which Covid-19 had made a major impact and was not considered to show a trend. It was noted that nationally the use of residential provision had dropped significantly and in Lincolnshire there had been a growth in demand for Home Care Services alongside pressures for recruitment in adult care.
• Members were reassured that the Council was working closely with the carers through the Carers First provide, in particular where carers were seeking support. Respite care was usually provided in residential settings which was currently limited due to current concerns around the transmission of Covid-19.
• It was not known whether the NHS monitored data on the number of people who were unable to access a GP appointment due to high levels of demand. It was acknowledged that there were concerns both in Lincolnshire and nationally around access to GPs as well as difficulties in the recruitment of GPs. There were also concerns that lack of access to GP appointments was leading to an increase in people attending A&E departments, which was increasing the pressure on hospitals.
• As a result of Covid-19, the NHS had been unable to provide the same level of service in many areas which had led to longer wait times for treatment. The Chairman suggested that he liaise with the Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire to express the Committee’s concerns on treatment waiting times and the other concerns raised.
• Members highlighted the importance of providing support to full-time carers.

RESOLVED:

              That the report be received and the performance of the measures that               were above or below the target range be noted.