Agenda item

The report provides the Committee with an update on progress made since the Care Quality Commission (CQC) outcome and improvement plan were published. It summarises delivery against the identified priorities and highlights additional improvements delivered through the wider Transformation and Improvement Programme.

Discussion:

The Committee received the report which detailed progress made since the Care Quality Commission (CQC) outcome and improvement plan were published.

Members then raised a number of questions and comments, which included:

Needs of residents– officers were asked how confident they were that the transformation programme would address the general needs of residents. The Committee was informed that there was significant work being undertaken on improvements to engagement and co-production. An engagement team was in place whose whole focus was on improved engagement with the community. There were also two community involvements groups in Medway with aspirations to develop a group in every town in Medway. The team went out to voluntary sector groups and feedback received was acted on and there was a two year engagement plan in place, which included the development of a co-production board to work alongside people with lived experience.

Trends – it was asked that a year on since the inspection, what areas were still a concern. The Assistance Director of Adult Social Care said that there had been improvements made since the last inspection but that there were significant challenges with demand and keeping up with the demand despite the significant investment that had been made to services. The challenge was exploring different ways to manage the demand and create efficiencies, such as through case recording tools and the use of AI to streamline the service. The Social Care of Institute and Excellence are working alongside the service as a critical friend to provide guidance and support on the improvement journey.

Audits - in response to a question on how the service was ensuring that it appropriately conducted audits, Members were informed that work was underway on self-assessments which were based on available metrics and were a robust way to measure performance. Throughout all projects conducted, evidence continued to be collected and scrutinised to ensure the service was on the right track and progressing against the transformation plan.

Domestic Violence - concern was raised that there was a disparity between the level of service and support provided to men in comparison to women and a briefing note was requested regarding support provided by adult social care to men in relation to domestic abuse. The Committee was informed that the domestic abuse service was commissioned for all genders and all were signposted to receive a service. Support was provided on a case by case basis and the service worked alongside partners and commissioned services to ensure the safety of the individual. Members were informed that not all cases met the requirement under the care act to be eligible for support from adult social care but the service worked closely with Public Health and partners to signpost and support individuals as appropriate.

Deprivation of liberty ( Dols) – it was asked what the current expected timeframe was for clearance of backlogs and what additional capacity was in place. The Committee was informed that there was an action plan in place to address the backlog and there had been a reduction since the inspection. There were however some cases such as those with court protection DoLS that took longer to clear as those cases were dependent on court waiting times.

Decision:

The Committee noted the progress against the CQC Improvement and wider Transformation Plan, which addressed the areas identified in the assessment and requested that the following be provided:

a)     A briefing note on the percentage of DoLS cases in comparison with our statistical neighbours and nationally.

b)     A briefing note on domestic abuse support for men and the numbers involved.