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.

Panel agreed the minutes of the meeting on 8 November 2022 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 received.

Amy Hawkins, Head of Adult Services and Tackling Poverty

Lucy Friday, Principal Officer Transformation

Lucy Friday, Principal Officer Transformation updated the Panel on this item, including how the agreed priorities are being delivered, progress on some of the programmes and the proposed focus for 2023/24.

Discussion Points:

·       Panel queried to what extent analysis of the social determinants of care are being used across the Council’s remit. Informed the approach is to focus on the early help offer focussing on income, employability, people’s food security and other wider social determinants of health and care. 

·       Panel welcomed intent to work with other organisations collaboratively and queried if information known as ‘network theory’ is being used. Heard the Department would take forward some of the principles Panel mentioned, particularly when looking at the early help offer.

·       Panel feels Transformation Programme relies heavily on assistive technology. Officers agreed it is fundamental to much of the transformation agenda which is all about promoting independence and allowing people to live within their own homes, however, it is just one tool and needs to go hand in hand with all the other developments.

·       Panel asked about current situation in attracting people to work for the Council. Heard Directorate is looking at a number of different strategies. Retention is also a key element of the workforce programme.

·       In relation to the social work structure, Panel informed the timeline has been revised to proposal to being agreed by July 2023 with implementation dependent on option agreed.

·       New Panel Member queried where the practical element fitted into the programme as they found it very theoretical and strategic. Informed the Transformation Programme is about improvements and change and doing things differently as opposed to the business-as-usual activity. Officers provided reassurance it is part of a large delivery approach to support individuals.

Peter Field, Principal Officer Prevention, Wellbeing and Commissioning 

Lucy Friday, Principal Officer Transformation

Lucy Friday, Principal Officer Transformation update the Panel on the Service assessment, completed options appraisal and resulting decision in April 2022 for option two – retain community alarms and assistive technology in-house and develop assistive technology offer.

Discussion Points:

·       Panel agreed option two seems best option.  Officers confirmed paper gives updated position to November/December 2022 and currently pressures still remain in terms of budget implications, investment is needed in terms of resource to grow the service.

·       Panel queried how much assistive technology will cross the boundary between social care and NHS and if this has been explored.  Heard majority of referrals are coming through from therapy teams and with performance information improving, this information can be shared confidentially with partners. 

·       Panel not clear about intended relationship between Social Services and Health and believed there is a move in the UK towards monitoring patients at home.  Panel queried if this is the kind of partnership this region would want to move towards and which sounds better than option two. Panel heard current ways of working with partners in Health focus primarily on what they do and who they work with now but there are opportunities to make this better in the future. 

·       Panel mentioned the demonstration suite for community alarms and queried if there is an opportunity for Local Area Coordinators to highlight the provision to people.  Officers will flag this and make sure LACs are aware of the provision. 

Amy Hawkins, Head of Adult Services and Tackling Poverty

Amy Hawkins, Head of Adult Services and Tackling Poverty briefed the Panel on the performance report for November 2022 and informed the Panel that performance is improving at the start of 2023.

Discussion Points:

·       Officers confirmed 90% of carers are being offered a carers assessment but only 50% of those being offered an assessment are taking up the offer and there are various reasons for this. 

·       Panel queried if the Directorate has gone back to doing face-to-face assessments since Covid. Informed it is currently a mix of online and face-to-face assessments, depending on what works for the individual.

·       Panel raised the issue of long-term sickness and queried if many staff suffered with long covid. Informed there has been an improvement in long-term sickness and long covid is not now one of the main causes. 

Panel considered the work programme and noted items for the next meeting.

Issue raised under Any Other Business:

Panel Member concerned to hear Welsh Government has required local authorities to take discharge of people from hospital without care plans being in place, and Panel queried if this was correct. Informed this Authority has not received any such instruction.  There was communication to health boards but no communication to local authorities which prompted a lot of concern, various discussions and clarifications.  Panel was reassured that nothing has changed in this region around discharge processes and Director agreed to provide information to the Panel on the communication. 

Actions:

·       Panel to receive information on who sent the instruction and to whom regarding discharges from hospital.