Agenda item

Members were provided with an update on the recommendations from the Care Work as a Career Scrutiny Report, which was approved by the Board on 22 June 2020 and considered by Cabinet on 25 June.  Cabinet noted the Scrutiny Report findings and recommendations and adopted the response of the Cabinet Member with Responsibility (CMR) as the way forward.

Following the CMR’s adoption of the recommendations, a Project Team was established to develop an approach to delivery. Unfortunately, due to the demands of COVID-19 this was delayed and the Project Plan was finalised in November.

During the discussion, the following main points were made:

·       Recommendation 10 (building links with Shropshire Council in relation to the Bridge Project) was being considered as part of the wider Council Digital Transformation programme, as it fitted directly with one of the priorities in the Digital Strategy due to be launched early this year.

·       It was confirmed that there were no apparent issues with recruiting staff to the Council’s care work roles. The Council was however, looking into how staff were supported and the wider promotion of care work as a career.

·       The importance of the Council promoting and encouraging providers to adopt common care standards to ensure that residents received parity of care was stressed.

·       The new lead provider framework arrangements for domiciliary care, which should have been introduced in summer 2020 had been delayed as a result of the demands of COVID-19. However, it was confirmed that the arrangements were now being consulted on.

·       There wasn’t any information available about whether Council staff in care roles were drifting to the NHS care roles.

·       In order to assess the effectiveness of the Worcestershire Business Central care work promotional campaign, information was requested on the number of care workers taking up a care as a career.

·       In response to a question about the split of university student placements available to University of Worcester students and out of County universities, the Board was advised that there was a good relationship with the University of Worcester and a number of students were taken on placement by the Council. Detailed information would be provided on the Council’s Policy for student placements after the meeting.

·       Members were reminded that the Council monitored the standards of external providers through the contract specification.  In addition, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), was the independent regulator of health and social care in England.

The following actions were agreed:

·       The Interim Associate Director, Commissioning would be invited to a meeting with the Care Work as a Career Scrutiny Task Group to discuss the detail of the progress made (The Chairman of the Adult Care and Well Being Overview and Scrutiny Panel would also be invited to this meeting).

·       A further update on progress against recommendations would be provided to the Adult Care and Well Being Overview and Scrutiny Panel in September 2021.

·       Information would be provided on the number of people moving into care work in the Council, as a result of the Worcestershire Business Central promotional campaign.

·       Information would be provided on the Council’s Recruitment Policy on university student placements for the University of Worcester and other out of area universities.