Agenda and minutes

www.swansea.gov.uk/disclosuresofinterests

No disclosures of interest were made.

No declarations were made.

To receive the minutes of the previous meeting(s) and agree as an accurate record.

The Panel agreed the minutes of the meeting on 24 September 2019 as an accurate record of the meeting.

Questions must relate to matters on the Agenda and be dealt with in a 10 minute period.

No members of the public were present at the meeting.

Peter Field, Principal Officer Prevention, Well-being and Commissioning

Peter Field, Principal Officer Prevention, Well-being and Commissioning, attended to brief the Panel and answer their questions.

Discussion points:

·         Authority meets the statutory requirement of offering more than one choice of accommodation for residential care

·         Service users often find it difficult to raise concerns.  Department ask providers to provide information and guidance and offer reassurance.  Department also undertakes some training on this for providers.

·         Point 5.15 of report – Panel queried what the ‘pressures’ are which prevent the target being reached.  Informed two things have contributed to not being able to complete audits to timescale.  The process may not work like this in the future. 

·         Point 5.15 of report – Panel asked for reassurance that the Department gathers all information from partners on monitoring and then shares information with partners on what they need to know.  Informed that not all the information that partners gather on monitoring is shared with everyone, only what they feel needs to be shared.

·         Point 7.1 of report – Panel queried the extent to which price is a determining factor for deciding provider of younger adult care home services.  Informed typically 60% weighting in terms of quality and 40% in terms of price.

·         Discussed extent to which Brexit will affect care homes in terms of staff from the EU.  Currently 6% of care staff are from the EU.  These staff have been informed about the EU Settlement Scheme.

·         Point 8.7 of report - Panel requested to see the Quality Framework and officers agreed to provide this.

Actions:

·         Regional Care Homes Quality Framework to be circulated to the Panel for information.

Deborah Reed, Interim Head of Adult Services

Deborah Reed, Interim Head of Adult Services attended to brief the Panel on the Performance Monitoring Report for August/September 2019.

Discussion points:

·         Page 16: Common Access Point – The number of enquiries created seems to dip in December each year.  Department believes this is due to Christmas holidays when family spend time together and then enquiries spikes in January.

·         Page 16: Carers Identified and Whether Wanted Carer Assessment – Only about 50% of carers want an assessment.  Department needs to ensure everyone understands what they are trying to do with the assessments. Also important at what point the assessment is being offered.

·         Page 22: Delayed Transfers of Care – There has been a substantial improvement.  In September 2019, only 20 people were waiting for a package of care.

Deborah Reed, Interim Head of Adult Services

Deborah Reed briefed the Panel on the Adult Services improvement priorities for 2019/20, updating on specific programmes and answering the Panel’s questions.

Discussion points:

·         Panel requested a breakdown of the £1,893,800 savings progress reached as of August 2019.

·         Forecast year savings for 2019/20 is approximately £640,000 short of meeting the aligned savings total of £4,078,000.  Department is trying to produce savings in other ways. 

Actions:

·         Scrutiny Officer to circulate to Panel document embedded in the update report, to show make-up of the savings progress.

Work Programme received and considered by the Panel.

·         Discussion paper on ‘Improving Performance Data’ to be added to the Work Programme.

·         At the additional Panel meeting in February on the draft budget proposals for Adult Services, the Panel would also like to see last year’s report, to see what has been achieved of last year’s budget proposals.

a)    Response from Cabinet Member (20 August 2019 meeting)

b)    Letter to Cabinet Member (24 September 2019 meeting)

Letters received and considered by the Panel.