Agenda and minutes

www.swansea.gov.uk/disclosuresofinterests

Chris Holley declared a personal interest.

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 9 March 2021 as an accurate record of the meeting.

Questions must be submitted in writing, no later than noon on the working day prior to the meeting.  Questions must relate to items on the agenda.  Questions will be dealt with in a 10-minute period.

No questions were submitted.

Amy Hawkins, Interim Head of Adult Services

Helen St John, Interim Head of Integrated Community Services

Amy Hawkins, Interim Head of Adult Services briefed the Panel on the performance monitoring report for February 2021 stating general position was beginning to improve overall in February 2021 and looking even better now.

Discussion Points:

·         Common Access Point – slightly less enquiries received with safeguarding referrals going directly to safeguarding team.  Cases are much more complex – approximately 50 per month more going to social work teams. 

·         Formal reviews - WCCIS System has gone live since middle of April.  In months to come the information in the report around reviews will look different.  Review information is good for Mental Health Team.  More work to do on Learning Disabilities Team, focusing on this to ensure up to date.

·         Carers Assessments – not seeing much difference in terms of statistics but more focused in this area. Work will develop in coming year. Panel felt Social Services do not provide same service as years ago; much more onus on people living independently with greater pressure on carers.  There is an active group looking at support for carers, an action plan is being put in place and they will be proactively identifying carers.  Panel will look at Carers in more depth at a future meeting.

·         Care Home data much improved and position more stable.  A number of vacancies across provision currently being advertised. 

·         Panel queried current provision for day services and how this compares with two years ago.  Informed, in terms of residential, it is very much what the whole market looks like; the Authority has vacancies but so does everyone else.  For day services, emergency provision is still being offered but numbers are limited due to social distancing; at 30% capacity.  Generally, less people come in to the service now; there is some concern about this.  Some of the preventative work has really increased and there are many more complex cases.

·         Pathway between hospital and Bonymaen working really well.  In February/March had 14 beds available; now up to 19.

·         Big increase in February in amount of reablement hours being offered in terms of domiciliary care support.  Taking six days on average to find support for people.

·         Residential Reablement – Panel queried from report, an issue around in house medication process, which is going to be revised.  Informed it is linked to complexity of need they are now seeing in terms of reablement beds.  Ensuring right processes are in place and everything is linked. 

·         Brokerage figures currently – only two people waiting as of today.  This is excellent.

·         Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards – Beginning to see improvements in backlog.

·         Panel queried how current position compares to last year and year before, in terms of data in the report.  Informed comparative figures to last year and year before have been given where possible.  Some information is not comparable.

·         Council housing stock, particularly sheltered housing - Panel believes care support plans are produced for every resident who wants one, and queried if we know the number of plans already in place, as a starting point in terms of assessing needs.  Officers will provide a response regarding care plans outside of the meeting.

·         Integrated Care Fund and uncertainty about funding – Panel wanted to know what factors will influence this and when.  Informed the Authority wants an understanding from Welsh Government of what new scheme or arrangement might be put in place to support regional working, as early this year as possible, to plan ongoing programmes for next year.  This work cannot be absorbed within core funding. 

·         Panel raised the issue about the withdrawal of Health Board staff from managing Learning Disabilities.  They queried how this was justified, how it was managed and who in the Health Board took this decision.  Officers will look into it and provide a fuller response. 

Actions:

·         Briefing on Carers to be added to future work programme

·         Information on care support plans in place for residents of Council’s housing stock to be provided to Panel

·         More information on Health Board staff being withdrawn from managing Learning Disabilities to be provided to Panel.

Clive Lloyd, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Community Health Services

Dave Howes, Director of Social Services

Clive Lloyd, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Community Health Services attended to update the Panel and answer questions.  He informed the Panel that producing this report had acted as a reminder of how the policy commitments have become embedded in everything we do.

Discussion Points:

·         Workforce at centre of everything they do in Social Services. There is a lot of planning to take place to ensure Social Services has a sustainable workforce going forward. Cabinet Member would like to bring a briefing on well-being to a future meeting.  

·         Director of Social Services stated commitments continue to inform Social Services adaptation and recovery going forward.  They are embedded in service plans as headings to focus on.  Director really pleased with process they can evidence.

·         Panel queried how this fits in with commissioning review undertaken a few years ago and the procurement exercise they went through recently.  Officers confirmed Council has signed off optimum model for Social Services and it is consistent with policy commitments.  No change of direction.  Always more work to be done but everything still fits and informs thinking going forward. 

·         Regarding commissioning review, Panel remembered issues surrounding domiciliary care and day services.  Panel is expecting feedback on level of care and intervention rates, especially on day services.  Informed this was previously known as the Fourth Commissioning Review.  It is being picked up and carried on as a review and will have to take account of everything that has happened in the last year. Level of care and intervention will be looked at. 

·         Panel felt Local Area Coordinators (LACs) changed their job profiles substantially during initial lockdown and what they did was excellent.  Panel felt this should be acknowledged at some point in future, as well as people who stepped in from other services to help out; this should be celebrated. 

·         Panel queried how secure the Authority is about funding for LACs from housing associations etc; if there is any way they can be tied in for longer; and if there is any other external funding we can get to fund LACs.  Officers confirmed that funding has been received from numerous sources this year.  They will be looking at how they can diversify funding streams.  An evaluation is being undertaken with Swansea University to identify financial and social impact of local area coordination.  Officers will keep the Panel updated on funding for LACs. 

·         Panel raised three questions about Promoting Independent Living.  They queried if the housing service in the Authority is as committed to this programme as Social Services.  Cabinet Member confirmed that they would absolutely expect this. 

·         Panel queried if the extent of additional independent living achieved would be something the Department would link to outcome budgeting.  Cabinet Member confirmed it is part of initial outcome strategy when setting budget but there is no methodology from finance for outcome budgeting that Social Services budget is built on.  Panel felt that at some point they would have to have a list of draft outcomes to which resources are attached.

·         Panel also queried if independent living has been included in University’s evaluation of the impact of local area coordination.  Officers confirmed there is still a lot of work to do in terms of fine-tuning what the evaluation will cover.  As one of the objectives they are looking at specific challenges that have faced individuals and that LACs are focussing on and how local area coordination has responded to that. 

·         Panel queried how well the Assistive Technology Strategy is developed at this present time.  Officers confirmed it is an item on a future panel agenda; delayed but not off agenda.

Actions:

·         Add briefing on ‘Well-being of Social Services Workforce’ to a future meeting.

Panel considered the work programme.

Letters received and considered by the Panel.