Agenda item

This report provides an overview of the current context in which this service is commissioned.  It then considers progress made during the last year and challenges faced.

Discussion:

The Mental Health Social Care Commissioning Manager introduced a report on the review of progress in relation to the Medway Mental Health social work team and objectives.  A DVD was shown illustrating the views of stakeholders about the purpose of the service where they were asked what good would look like in respect of the mental health service and Members of the Committee commended the DVD and report.

He reported good progress had been made with the community mental health team at Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT) in terms of joint working and communication.  Reference was also made to the fact that, with effect from April, the Approved Mental Health Practitioner (AMHP) out of hours service would be transferring back from Kent County Council to Medway Council and work was ongoing with partners around that transfer.

The Mental Health Social Care Commissioning Manager introduced to the Committee the new Head of the Mental Health Service in Medway who had started earlier this month.

In response to questions he confirmed that the Mental Health Young Person’s Transitions Forum had been established and met four times.  He also confirmed that the secondment of a mental health staff member to Early Help Service/Medway Action for Families was still planned to take place.  Reference was made to research undertaken by Healthwatch Medway with service users and carers around what bad looked like and put forward some of the points made.  The Mental Health Social Care Commissioning Manager stated that more was now being done to involve carers and that each social worker was now responsible for ensuring that carers assessments were carried out.  The Healthwatch Medway representative at the meeting agreed to share his findings and to pass on contact details of some of his contacts he had made through the South East gender initiative.

Discussion then took place around the decision taken at the previous meeting to recommend the Cabinet to reinstate 2 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) posts in the Mental Health Social Work Team.  The Interim Deputy Director, Children and Adult Services explained that difficult decisions had to be taken when budgets were constrained and this had meant a reduction in back office staff to protect front line workers.  Some Members felt that this was counter-productive as it meant the front line highly qualified staff were spending valuable time fulfilling an administrative role rather than using their time with service users.  Members were keen to ensure that the Cabinet understood that the earlier recommendation to reinstate two WTE posts had been a unanimous decision. 

The Committee also made the point that the demands on the mental health social work team had recently increased due to the obligations for the Council in the new Care Act 2014.

The Chairman, in response to a question, provided clarification that as the recommendation from the last meeting had not yet gone to Cabinet, the Committee wished to reinforce the earlier recommendation.

Decision: 

The Committee thanked officers for the report and endorsed the recommendation made at the previous meeting to recommend the Cabinet to reinstate 2 WTE posts in the Mental Health Social Work Team.