HEALTHY LIVING AND SOCIAL CARE SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
Minutes of a meeting held on 15th May, 2018.
Present: Councillors: Ms. J. Aviet, Ms. B.E. Brooks, G.D.D. Carroll, Mrs. C.A. Cave, S.T. Edwards, O. Griffiths, K.P. Mahoney, K.F. McCaffer, Mrs. R. Nugent-Finn and L.O. Rowlands
Also present: Councillors L. Burnett and B.T. Gray.
17 APPOINTMENT OF CHAIRMAN –
RESOLVED – T H A T Councillor K.F. McCaffer be appointed Chairman for the Municipal Year.
18 APPOINTMENT OF VICE-CHAIRMAN –
RESOLVED – T H A T Councillor Mrs. R. Nugent-Finn be appointed Vice-Chairman for the Municipal Year.
19 MINUTES –
RECOMMENDED – T H A T the minutes of the meeting held on 16th April, 2018 be approved as a correct record, subject to Councillor McCaffer being added to the list of Councillors present at the meeting.
20 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST –
No declarations were received.
21 “YOUR CHOICE” – A NEW APPROACH TO COMMISSIONING OUTCOME-FOCUSED CARE AND SUPPORT AT HOME (DSS) –
The Operational Manager – Localities updated Committee on the progress of the “Your Choice” pilot and sought the Scrutiny Committee’s support for the planned extension of the “Your Choice” outcome-focused care and support at home pilot to encompass all domiciliary care agencies within the Vale of Glamorgan. The Scrutiny Committee was informed that with the intention of removing barriers to flexibility, “Your Choice” introduced a “blended hourly rate” of care at home that entirely replaced previous differential rates for part hour care calls, full hour care calls and weekends / bank holidays. “Your Choice” enabled greater flexibility so the person being cared for could choose to amend their care to meet their outcomes from week to week in negotiation with the care provider. “Your Choice” focused on the personal outcomes rather than particular care tasks which could be negotiated between the person receiving the care and the care providers without social worker involvement. This was achieved by the social worker developing a “Your Choice Care Bundle” rather than a care timetable which previously outlined set times and tasks. “Your Choice” set up a more equal and trusting relationship between the person receiving care, the social worker and the care agency Introduction Meeting.
The Operational Manager – Localities then played a video to the Scrutiny Committee entitled “Your Choice Overview” which featured interviews with social workers, care agency staff, carers and constituents who used the service which detailed how the service operated and the benefits it provided. A link to the video could be found at https://youtu.be/FRm7kOgG4d4.
During consideration of the report, the following question and answer session subsequently took place.
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Question
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Response
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What are the plans to roll the “Your Choice” outcome-focused care and support at home pilot to the wider Vale of Glamorgan?
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The Operational Manager – Localities confirmed the intention to roll out the pilot to the whole of the Vale of Glamorgan starting in the second quarter of the year from June 2018 with the aim for completion to be in the next 12 months after. New care cases would be automatically assigned on to the “Your Choice” flexible method of working, and existing care plans would be transferred during the 12 months following annual reviews. The Committee noted that the “Your Choice” pilot scheme enabled existing care schedules to be maintained so some carers would see no difference, however the added flexibility was also an option if people so chose.
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Would smaller care agencies be able to accommodate the change to flexible working hours?
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The Committee was informed that the pilot scheme had been discussed with various agencies, and there was no expectation that care would be provided where care agencies did not have the availability and all flexible arrangements were based on negotiation with the care provider. So far, there had been no cases where there had been problems in providing flexible care, however each care agency was also assigned a social worker to manage and monitor agency caseloads in case of any such issues.
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A Member highlighted paragraph 13 of the report, which stated that throughout the 15 months of the pilot the total number of care hours needed had reduced and the Member queried if this was a cost saving measure.
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The Operational Manager – Localities stated that this pilot was not a cost saving exercise and the added flexibility afforded by the scheme allowed people to be more discerning with their care needs. Over a 13 week period, any unused care hours could be banked for use during that time, at the end of which any hours beyond the 8% tolerance were lost. As such, this was not a result of cost saving but a simple reduction in the hours of care needed. The Committee was also informed that this reduction in the total number of care hours was quite small and had resulted in £2,700 returned from care agencies over a nine month period.
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Under the pilot scheme, what would happen if all banked care hours were requested by multiple people at the same time?
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The Committee was informed that this was a key issue to consider, however had not been a problem so far. The Operational Manager – Localities explained that as the “Your Choice” pilot was negotiation based, this allowed a more equal carer and cared for person relationship which meant that care could be provided through a plan that met the needs of both parties. It was also noted that there were already peak times of demand in existing fixed care plans.
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Aside from the care agency managers, how did carers feel about the pilot scheme?
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The Council routinely met with care agencies, with most conversations between managers, however for this project the views of carers had been directly sought. The Operational Manager – Localities stated that it was a breakthrough moment to actually have discussions between carers and social workers. Under the new pilot scheme, care workers were much more engaged with their work after moving away from set care plans and were reporting back a much greater sense of accomplishment. The Committee also noted that retention rates for care agency staff under the pilot scheme had improved.
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The Chairman queried whether feedback had been received from relatives and close relations of those receiving care under the “Your Choice” pilot project.
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For people who were less independent and required support from their families and representatives, it had been found that these groups were keen on the “Your Choice” pilot scheme. The Committee was also informed that a baseline audit was being undertaken of the over 900 people who required care in the Vale of Glamorgan and a review would be undertaken in 12 months’ time from the start of the “Your Choice” pilot scheme roll out to measure the impact it was having.
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Finally, the Head of Adult Services confirmed that the “Your Choice” pilot scheme had been an initiative started by officers at the Vale of Glamorgan Council which had attracted attention from other Local Authorities who were interested in replicating the scheme and the “Your Choice” scheme had been shortlisted for a Social Care Wales national accolade.
In response to a request for a future update report, the Director of Social Services agreed that this should come to the Committee six months into the roll out of the “Your Choice” pilot and should therefore be expected in early January 2019.
It was subsequently
RECOMMENDED –
(1) T H A T the progress of the “Your Choice” pilot be noted.
(2) T H A T the roll out of the “Your Choice” outcome-focused care and support at home to all adults who used domiciliary care services in the Vale of Glamorgan be supported.
(3) T H A T an update report on the “Your Choice” pilot be presented to the Committee six months after roll out.
Reason for recommendations
(1-3) To note the progress of the “Your Choice” pilot, and support the roll out of the “Your Choice” outcome-focused care and support at home to all adults who used domiciliary care services across the Vale of Glamorgan.
22 4TH QUARTER SCRUTINY DECISION TRACKING OF RECOMMENDATIONS AND WORK PROGRAMME SCHEDULE 2018 /19 (MD) –
The Democratic and Scrutiny Services Officer advised Members of progress in relation to the Healthy Living and Social Care Scrutiny Committee recommendations and to confirm the work programme schedule for 2018/19.
For decision tracking, the Democratic and Scrutiny Services Officer highlighted Appendix A attached to the report and drew Members’ attention to the following:
- Minute No. 599 – the update report on the work of the Regional Partnership Board had been added to the work programme.
- Minute No. 600 – in relation to a programme of site visits, the first visit took place at Ty Dyfan on 14th March, 2018. Further visits would be arranged over the next few weeks.
- Minute No. 601 – the forward work programme had been updated and uploaded to the Council’s website for public information.
- Minute No. 686 – an update report providing an overview of meal provision for adult residents within the Vale of Glamorgan had been added to the work programme.
- Minute No. 764 – the Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan Area Plan for Care and Support Needs 2018-2023 was referred back to Cabinet to consider the Committee’s request that the areas of Adult Mental Health and Dementia should be separated, and Cabinet on 30th April, 2018 agreed for this to be referred to the Regional Partnership Board.
- Minute No. 502 – the comments of the Scrutiny Committee were referred to the Corporate Performance and Resources Scrutiny Committee to consider the projected £1m overspend within Social Services. Corporate Performance and Resources Scrutiny Committee noted the reference and referred this on to Cabinet for its meeting on 22nd January, 2018. Cabinet passed this request on to the Budget Working Group, subsequently, for 2018/19 an additional £2.334m was allocated to the budget for Adult Services.
- Minute No. 503 – the comments of the Scrutiny Committee were referred to the Corporate Performance and Resources Scrutiny Committee in relation to reconsidering the priority bids to include the replacement playgrounds schemes. Corporate Performance and Resources Scrutiny Committee noted the reference and passed it to Cabinet for its meeting on 22nd January, 2018. Cabinet passed this request to the Budget Working Group for consideration, subsequently the request for funding was not successful.
- Minute No. 548 – The update from the Children’s Commissioner was sent to the Corporate Parenting Panel for its meeting on 22nd January, 2018. The Panel noted the report and resolved to invite the Commissioner to a future meeting.
- Minute No. 681 – Concerns regarding the condition and unsuitability of the Amy Evans building were still ongoing and Members would be updated on progress at a future date.
The Democratic and Scrutiny Services Officer asked Members to endorse the Healthy Living and Social Care Scrutiny Committee work programme schedule for 2018/19 which was attached at Appendix D to the report and asked Members whether there were any other topics they would like the Committee to consider.
A Member asked when the Scrutiny Committee could expect to receive the update report on the Amy Evans building, to which the Director of Social Services stated that he wished to bring a future report to the Committee regarding mental health which would include the Amy Evans building, however, as this was a shared issue with the Health Board, the Director would need information from both services to complete the update report. In addition to the update report, Members also requested a presentation from the Health Board if possible.
On the subject of future topics for consideration, the Chairman requested more regular updates on the refitting of the changing rooms at Barry and Penarth Leisure Centres. The Operational Manager – Neighbourhood Services, Health Living and Performance informed the Committee that the retender exercise was currently on the Sell2Wales website and the closing date was in ten days. As such, the Officer recommended that an update report on this matter be provided in three months following which the timetable for regular updates could be decided. Finally, the Director of Social Services stated that the Strategy for Older People Accommodation with Care 12 month update scheduled on the forward work programme for 12th June, 2018 meeting was a regional piece of work that required information from other Authorities, this external information was due however had not yet been received so there was a possibility that this item might slip to the next meeting on 10th July, 2018.
Subsequently, it was
RECOMMENDED –
(1) T H A T the status of the actions listed in Appendices A to C of the report be noted and the recommendations highlighted as completed below be approved:
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15 January 2018
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Min. No. 599 – Update on the Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan Regional Partnership Board (DSS) – Recommended
(2) That the Committee receives an update on the work of the Board on an annual basis.
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Added to work programme schedule.
Completed
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Min. No. 601 – 3rd Quarter Scrutiny Decision Tracking of Recommendations and Updated Work Programme Schedule 2017/18 (MD) – Recommended
(2) That the Forward Work Programme attached at Appendix C to endorsed and approved for uploading to the Council’s website
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Forward Work Programme updated and uploaded to the Council’s website.
Completed
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12 February 2018
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Min. No. 686 - An Overview of Meals Provision for Adult Residents Within the Vale of Glamorgan (DSS) – Recommended
(2) That the exploratory work underway with regard to meal provision for people accessing Adult Social Care Services within the Vale of Glamorgan be endorsed and for a further report to be received in due course.
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Added to work programme schedule.
Completed
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12 March 2018
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Min. No. 764 – Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan Area Plan for Care and Support Needs 2018-2023 (REF) – Recommended
(2) That Cabinet consider the Committee’s request that Adult Mental Health and People with Dementia should be separated out, with both these coming under their own regional priority areas.
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Cabinet, on 30th April, 2018, noted the contents of the report and resolved that the comments from
the Scrutiny Committee Healthy Living and Social Care be referred to the Regional Partnership Board.
(Min. No. C283 refers)
Completed
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04 December 2017
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Min. No. 502 – Initial Revenue Budget Proposals 2018/19 (DSS) – Recommended
(2) That the comments of the Scrutiny Committee be referred to the Corporate Performance and Resources Scrutiny Committee highlighting the issues facing the Department in reference to the £1m overspend for Adult Services with the request that the Corporate Performance and Resources Scrutiny Committee consider the matter with a degree of urgency.
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Referred to Corporate Performance and Resources Scrutiny Committee meeting on 14th December, 2017, which noted the comments and referred them to Cabinet meeting on 22nd January, 2018 for further consideration.
(Min No 558 refers)
Cabinet, at its meeting on 22nd January, 2018 resolved that the contents of the report be noted and passed to the Budget Working Group for consideration in concluding the budget proposals for 2018/19.
(Min No C189 refers)
Completed
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Min. No. 503 – Initial Capital Programme Proposals 2018/19 (DSS) – Recommended
(2) That the Corporate Performance and Resources Scrutiny Committee be requested to ask Cabinet to reconsider the priority bids to include the not proposed replacement playgrounds schemes and that every opportunity and option be explored in order to resource such facilities.
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Referred to Corporate Performance and Resources Scrutiny Committee meeting on 14th December, 2017, which noted the comments and referred them to Cabinet meeting on 22nd January, 2018 for further consideration.
(Min No 559 refers)
Cabinet, at its meeting on 22nd January, 2018 resolved that the contents of the report be noted and passed to the Budget Working Group for consideration in concluding the budget proposals for 2018/19.
(Min No C188 refers)
Completed
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22 November 2016
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Min. No. 548 – Children’s Commissioner For Wales - Introduction (DSS) – Recommended
(2) That the report be referred to Cabinet, the Learning and Culture Scrutiny Committee and the Corporate Parenting Panel for their consideration.
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Cabinet, on 9th January, 2017, noted the contents of the report and looked forward to receiving a report in February regarding Care Leavers.
(Min No C3409 refers)
The Learning and Culture Scrutiny Committee, on 23rd January, 2017 noted the reference and report.
(Min No 712 refers)
Referred to next Corporate Parenting Panel meeting to be held on 22nd January, 2018.
Corporate Parenting Panel, on 22nd January 2018, noted the report and resolved to invite the Children’s Commissioner for Wales to a future meeting of the Corporate Parenting Panel once a suitable meeting date was identified.
Completed
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(2) T H A T the work programme schedule attached at Appendix D to the report be approved and uploaded to the Council’s website.
Reasons for recommendations
(1) To maintain effective tracking of the Committee’s recommendations.
(2) For information.