Agenda and minutes

None.

None.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in writing or by e-mail indicating the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 9 December 2019).  Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/e-mail address below.

None.

The Board was asked to consider and approve the draft scrutiny report on Quality Assurance of Care and Nursing Homes in Worcestershire.

The Scrutiny was proposed by the Board who wanted reassurance about the effectiveness of the County Council’s quality assurance systems of residential care and nursing homes.

At its meeting on 28 March 2019, the Board agreed the Task Group which was led by Cllr Juliet Brunner, Chairman of the Council’s Adult Care and Well Being Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Adult Panel). The terms of reference for the scrutiny exercise were ‘to investigate how the Council carries out and monitors quality assurance of care homes in Worcestershire’.

Cllr Brunner introduced the Report and in doing so thanked the Members of the Task Group for taking part and Cllr Potter for supporting her at the Board meeting today.

During the discussion, the following main points were made:

·       Paragraphs 23 and 24 seemed contradictory, so it was agreed that they would be re-checked for factual accuracy.

·       In response to a member’s question, Cllr Brunner confirmed that the Cabinet Member with Responsibility (CMR) for Adult Social Care met regularly with care home providers to discuss pricing and quality of care homes.

·       It was suggested that resilience of the care market stood out as an impending issue for the Council and it was agreed that it would be added to the work programme of the Adult Panel to be looked at in future.

·       Assistive Technology was picked up as a positive direction of travel for the Council and Cllr Brunner confirmed that this was something that was definitely a focus for the CMR and the Adult Panel.

·       It was highlighted that during its work, the Task Group had been made aware of the risk of closure of small care homes.

·       One of the consistent themes picked up by the Task Group was that care home managers were unsure what the Council criteria for inspection were and it was felt that it would be helpful to know this in advance of any visit.  When speaking with the Interim Director, members learned that the required standards were set out in the contract with the home. However, as a result of this finding, the Interim Director had instigated a one-off mailing to remind homes of the Council’s expectations. It was also suggested that recommendation 1 should be strengthened further to include displaying the criteria on the Council’s website.  Members of the OSPB requested a copy of the criteria too.

·       It was suggested that with regard to recommendation 5 relating to opportunities for networking and sharing best practice, that anything the Council could do to facilitate and encourage this would be a positive way forward.

·       A Member expressed concern about the lack of high needs dementia beds in the County and suggested that equity and location of provision should be looked at by the Adult Panel.

In summary, it was agreed that subject to the suggestions below being adopted the OSPB endorsed the Scrutiny Report on Quality  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1131.

The Board was asked to consider the scrutiny proposal: Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

The proposed Terms of Reference were: To investigate the availability of and access to mental health services for children and adolescents.

During the discussion the following points were made:

·       CAMHS was a really important area for Scrutiny particularly in respect of the out hours service, waiting times, delays, appropriateness of referrals and how behavioural services also impacted on CAMHS.

·       The Task Group should include some members from the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC).

It was proposed that Councillor Fran Oborski, Chairman of the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Panel be asked to lead this Task Group.

Accordingly, it was agreed to set up a Task Group with the scope as circulated to the Board, to scrutinise CAMHS led by Cllr Fran Oborski including a member(s) from HOSC.

Gateway Drugs and Young People

A scrutiny proposal to look at Gateway Drugs and Young People was tabled for the Board to consider.

During the discussion it was suggested that the scope of the Scrutiny should include: mental health issues, the views of young people, street pastors, and the provider of the integrated drug and alcohol service for adults and young people.

It was agreed that a Task Group led by Cllr Rebecca Vale would be set up (start date to be agreed).

Consequently, the start of the Scrutiny Task Group to look at Elective Home Education (agreed at the last meeting) would be delayed to prioritise the scrutiny on Gateway Drugs and Young People.

Care Work as a Career Scrutiny Task Group

Cllr Tucker, lead member for this Task Group updated the Board on its progress. To date the task group had spoken to council officers, unions, a couple of external providers.  It was envisaged that a report would be available for the Board to consider at its January meeting.

Pre-Policy Scrutiny

The Board discussed how it should look to include more pre-policy scrutiny in its work programmes and it was agreed that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman would give this further consideration.