Agenda item

Domiciliary Care and Short Breaks Services for Children with Disabilities

(To receive a report by Jonas Gibson, Commissioning Manager, which invites the Committee to consider a report on Domiciliary Care and Short Breaks Services for Children with Disabilities which is due to be considered by the Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services between the 15 and 22 December 2017)

Minutes:

The Committee gave consideration to a report from Jonas Gibson, Commissioning Manager, which invited the Committee to consider the services commissioned for children with disabilities, (CWD), details of which were contained in the Executive Councillor report attached at Appendix 1.

 

In a joint presentation, the Commissioning Manager, Children's Services and Team Manager, Children with Disabilities advised the Committee that the inability to meet demand in the domiciliary care service had enabled the exploration of a different approach to recommissioning all three services, by means of an open competitive tender.  It was noted as there was likely to be minimal interest in the market for a Domiciliary Care Service for children with disabilities on its own; it was proposed that two other contracts for CWDs (short breaks services) were to be re-commissioned at the same time as the Domiciliary Care service to generate interest in the market.  It was noted that the annual value of the contracts in 2016/17 was £820,148.  It was highlighted that the approach to recommissioning the three services would provide the greatest opportunity for the Council to secure a suitable supplier(s) to develop a sufficient level of provision and increase the quality of the services that children with disabilities receive across Lincolnshire.

 

Reference was made to the three individual services detailed at paragraphs 2.1; 2.2; and 2.3 of the report presented.  Particular reference was made to fact that it had been difficult to recruit staff for the domiciliary care due to the nature of the service (early morning and evenings).  It was highlighted that many local authorities faced very similar local pressures in respect of recruitment in their localities as a result from competition from other employers, external perceptions of the care sector relating to role; low-pay and limited career paths.

 

Appendix 1 of the report provided the Committee with details of the Equality Impact Assessment.

 

The Committee was requested to consider whether it supported the recommendations in the report and whether it wished to make any additional comments to the Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services.

 

During discussion, the Committee raised the following issues:-

 

·         Recruitment – Some concern was expressed to the recruitment situation.  It was highlighted that there should be a more joined up approach between children and adults as there appeared to be competition for the carers. Officers confirmed that discussion and previous experience had shown that adult providers did not generally really want to expand into the children's element of domiciliary care;

·         Quality of the Service being provided – The feedback received was that the Domiciliary Service currently provided by the Lincolnshire Community Health Services was very good;  and  

·         The use of direct payments – It was reported that 110 families had opted for direct payment out of 250.  The problem was still the same families were finding it hard to recruit carers.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.    That the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee supports the three recommendations as detailed on pages 69/70 of the Executive report presented.

 

2.    That the Executive Councillor Adult Care, Health and Children's Services be requested to consider the following comments made by Committee before making a decision:-

 

·         The Committee highlighted the need to develop greater interest in the market in order to resolve the issues encountered with recruitment and retention of carers across Lincolnshire.  The Committee also highlighted that on many occasions Children's Services competed with Adult Services for the same pool of staff.  Officers highlighted that many local authorities faced very similar local pressures in respect of recruitment in their localities as a result from competition from other employers.  It was confirmed that work was being undertaken with providers to develop a wider range of skills and interest within the market;

·         A member of the Committee highlighted the reducing annual value of the contracts and queried whether this had led to a reduction in overall quality.  Officers confirmed that service feedback remained positive, and while there had been some missed appointments, overall quality of care was good with training provided to staff also being very positive; and

·         A member of the Committee queried the level of uptake of direct payments by services users within this area.  Officers confirmed that around 110 families out of 250 took direct payments, however, it was reported that these families often also encountered the same issues with recruitment and retention of carers.

Supporting documents:

 

 
 
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