Agenda item

This report details the areas covered by the Portfolio Holder for Adults’ Services which fall within the remit of this Committee.

Discussion:

Members received an overview of progress on the areas of work within the terms of reference of this Committee and covered by the Portfolio Holder for Adults’ Services, Councillor Brake as set out below:

Community Care

Adults’ Mental Health and Disability Services (including Learning and Physical Disabilities)

Older People

Public Health – Lead Member, including Health and Wellbeing Boards

Adults’ Partnership Commissioning (25+) and Better Care Fund

Health and Health Partnerships

Councillor Brake responded to Members’ questions and comments as follows:

IMPOWER list of high performing Councils for Adult Social Care – in response to a question asking for more information on the recent announcement regarding Medway’s inclusion in the 15 highest performing Councils in the country, the Portfolio Holder stated that the Council had been recognised as achieving greater than average outcomes from a less than average spend per head. This meant that residents who used these services were receiving better outcomes and the council was making best use of public funds. He stated that it was not possible to know where the Council had been ranked because IMPOWER had published the list in alphabetical order.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) – a number of Members expressed concerns about matters relating to Coronavirus (COVID-19), such as the availability of hand sanitisers on Council premises, the exposure of staff at customer facing premises such as the community hubs and Kingsley House, the capacity of the voluntary sector and requested information on the Council’s response to the issue.

The Portfolio Holder stated that he shared the concerns of Members and he advised the Committee that the Council, through the Director of Public Health, was receiving advice from Public Health England on a daily basis. He repeated the advice which had been provided about everyone washing their hands with soap for 20 seconds and that the advice had not stated that the provision of hand sanitisers was required.

At the end of the discussion on this item, the Director of People – Children and Adults Services informed the Committee that it was had not been possible for the Director of Public Health (DPH) to attend this meeting owing to his attendance at a regional meeting on Coronavirus at the same time. He explained that the DPH was the Council’s lead on this issue and was part of the county-wide Local Resilience Forum and that, in addition, the DPH was due to attend a Tactical Response Group meeting the following day.

The Director informed the Committee of a school in Medway which had decided to close earlier in the week owing to a case of Coronavirus. He stated that some organisations were deciding to take measures beyond what was required which was understandable. He also informed the Committee that he would be attending a regional meeting of Directors of Adult Social Care to discuss a number of issues. He also confirmed that there were no current plans to withdraw the provision of services and there was no evidence of providers withdrawing services, however, there may be pressure on service delivery should there be an increase in staff self-isolating.

Support to Live at Home Service and Homecare Bridging Service and Discharges – in response to questions regarding the lack of statistics on these issues, the Portfolio Holder asked officers to provide detailed information. The Director of People – Children and Adults Services explained there were two elements to the issue of discharges from hospitals, namely health discharges and adult social care discharges and the Council performed consistently well with regards to adult social care discharges.

The Assistant Director, Social Care, advised the Committee that with regards to the Support to Live at Home Service and Homecare Bridging Service, the Bridging Service had been designed to deal with delays in sourcing care packages and provided interim support at home whilst a permanent package of care was being put in place. There was no waiting list for this service and it had performed well last winter and this winter and had contributed to keeping Delayed Transfers of Care (DToC) to a minimum.

The Assistant Director further advised the Committee that the Support to Live at Home Service provided a short period of 24 hour care in a person’s home whilst a long term decision could be made on their care needs. The success of this service related to the number of people who continued to be cared for in their own home as opposed to residential care.

In response to a question on the ability of Members to be satisfied on performance without there being any analysis and supporting information being provided, with particular reference to paragraphs 6.5.1 – 6.5.5 of the report, the Portfolio Holder stated that work was always ongoing to improve performance and referred to the Council’s role in discharges as an example of this.

Funding for the Voluntary Sector – in response to a question about the level of transparency in CCG funding for the Voluntary Sector, the Portfolio Holder stated that there was a Joint Commissioning Programme between the Council and the CCG to ensure transparency and that the necessary steps would need to be undertaken to ensure this was maintained following the implementation of the new CCG.

Community Resource Centre, 147 Nelson Road, Gillingham – In response to questions as to whether the consultation responses could be shared in advance of the Committee meeting where it would be discussed (June 2020) and whether the Portfolio Holder was open minded to the future options of the Centre the Portfolio Holder stated that over 100 responses to the consultation had been received and these had all been acknowledged, that this was an open and transparent process and that he was open minded to the future of the Centre. He also confirmed that the consultation responses would be made available subject to GDPR compliance.

In response to a question on there being little information about the Centre on the website and the reference to the period of consultation in the report, the Portfolio Holder stated that with regards to the website he would take this away for further consideration and he confirmed that the consultation had ended on 5 March 2020.

Medway Adult Social Care Local Account 2019/20 – in response to a question about the Local Account (as set out in Appendix 1 to the report) regarding the intended audience for this document and that if it was meant for the public, it would benefit from having information on how to make a referral, the Portfolio Holder stated that it was the intention to make this document available to the community and it was confirmed that information as to how to make a referral would be added prior to publication.

Chatty Buses Initiative – in response to a question as to whether there was a specific bus route for this initiative, the Portfolio Holder stated that there were ongoing conversations with Arriva on this and that he would inform the Member once matters were finalised.

Adult Safeguarding – in response to a question on the numbers referred to in paragraph 2.3 of the report, the Assistant Director, Social Care, stated that of the safeguarding concerns not investigated, some would not have met the threshold for investigation, some individuals may have not wanted an investigation, to be undertaken and that some cases, whilst not investigated, may have led to other action such as signposting to other services.

Medway Stop Smoking – in response to a question as to the definition of when a person would be judged to give up smoking permanently, the Portfolio Holder confirmed that Public Health England classified this as four weeks.  

Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs) – in response to a request for further information on the work of the AMHPs, the Portfolio Holder confirmed that this would be provided in writing.

Decision:

a)    The Committee thanked the Portfolio Holder for Adults’ Services for his attendance.

b)    The Committee requested that future reports include more information and analysis in the interests of transparency.