Agenda item

Paula Furnival, Strategic Director for People

Elaine Carolan, Assistant Director for Adult Social Care

Fran Kelsey, Lead Commissioner, People Directorate

Cllr Adrian Hardman, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Adult Social Care

Fran Kelsey, Lead Commissioner provided a brief summary of the COVID-19 Care Home Support Plan, which was something the Government had asked all councils to work on, to help combat the spread of the virus in care home settings. The Council was already well placed in this work – key to which was the Worcestershire Care Home Hub, a partnership involving Adult Social Care, Public Health, Public Health England, the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and other partners.

The Care Home Plan was very much a live document, which would be updated.

The Chairman invited discussion and the following main points were raised:

·         The Vice-Chairman asked how long the Council had been given to complete the Plan and was advised that two weeks had been given, however the Council was already in a good place to do this.

·         When asked for more information about the increase in fees to care homes, the Officers explained that an annual fee increase took place at the beginning of April. The COVID-19 increase of 5% on banding rates was temporary and open-ended but under review. Rates at quite a few homes were above banding rates, so not all would receive 5%, some may receive 2%, which was why homes had been given the additional option of support depending on their individual pressures. It was confirmed that the increase had come from the Government funding for COVID-19 and was not intended to supplement homes on an ongoing basis.

·         In respect of training for infection control offered to homes, a Panel member asked whether this had been virtual and about take up from homes? Officers advised that the approach had been mixed, for example some was virtual and some had been delivered in carparks, with clinical health staff being trained to deliver training, as well as some Council staff. Take-up had been slower than expected, but the Quality Assurance Team had worked tirelessly to increase this. An audit trail was kept and for any home becoming infected, training was insisted upon.

·         Reassurance was sought about availability of PPE, which had been subject to debate nationally. Officers confirmed that the Council had always been able to supply care homes, with 75% sourced independently. Some care homes had complained about the Council not providing all PPE; therefore, homes had been reminded that it was the responsibility of homes to source PPE, with the Council as fallback. However, the majority of homes were happy with the PPE support provided. At one point care homes were struggling to procure PPE as suppliers had been told only to supply the NHS, and the Council had stepped in to address this.

·         A Panel member pointed out the important role of local councils and their ability to often come up with solutions.

·         Comment was invited from the Healthwatch Worcestershire representative present, who advised the Panel that Healthwatch had written to the Council’s Chief Executive in April to raise a number of points about care homes.  The response was awaited and all correspondence was available to the Panel.

·         Anecdotally, Healthwatch was aware of some care home residents being very dependent on staff and the Healthwatch representative asked about support being provided to these vulnerable individuals. The Assistant Director advised that the Council had not moved away from the normal processes around Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). It was recognised that many residents had not seen their family for months. However, there were lots of good examples of how homes had endeavoured to maintain contact and the Council had been very clear with homes about relatives being able to visit during end of life care. Locality Teams know service users well regardless of the setting and were an absolute priority for the Council’s social care staff.

The Chairman thanked everyone for their attendance and contribution.

As part of the Panel’s discussion during Agenda Item 5 (COVID-19 people Directorate Response for Adult Services) it had been agreed that the Panel would be provided with updated COVID-19 figures in relation to care homes, as well as the number of self-funders in care homes whose capital had fallen below the £23,250 threshold.

The Panel acknowledged the need to continue to monitor care home fees and resilience.