Agenda item

The Strategic Director of People, Senior Officers and the Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Adult Social Care had been invited to provide an update on the Strategy for People and Communities following the Panel’s initial discussion on 18 November 2020.

The Strategic Director reminded Members that the People Directorate had been formed in early 2020, bringing together services including commissioning for both adult social care and services for children, community services and Public Health. 

The People and Communities Strategy was aligned to the Corporate Strategy, with the aim to review and ultimately provide, with partners, a universal service with good outcomes for everyone within the financial envelope, in particular targeting those with additional needs and those eligible for public funding.  The Transformation Programme had been through the Council’s recent budget process.

The Strategy would be delivered across a number of workstreams, organised into three Pillars:

·         Person Centred Approach

·         Shaping Services

·         Shaping an Effective Market.

The Head of People Programmes reported that the Transformation Programme was now well established, focussing on the improvements which the Strategy would deliver despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.  There was increased innovation and People Directorate colleagues had worked hard to keep the momentum.  Progress made included:

·         The tender for domiciliary care had been advertised.  Its aim was for provision of reablement focussed domiciliary care and reducing the number of individual providers, currently over 100, into lead providers for each of the six districts

·         Remodelling work for day opportunities for people with learning disabilities was developing well, with stakeholder, carer and service user engagement currently in progress

·         Building upon the success of Here2Help, the Integrated Wellbeing Offer programme would create a sustainable long-term future operating model, connecting local communities and services

·         Agreement had been reached to develop three Dementia Meeting Centres in Worcester, Tenbury and Malvern.

Referring to the direct provision of adults mental health social work, in particular the Council terminating the Section 75 agreement with Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust and the provision being brought in house from 1 April 2021, the Chairman reported that she had been made aware that the Trust had raised concerns and invited the Strategic Director to comment.  In response, the Strategic Director reported that there was ongoing correspondence between the Council and the Trust, that the agreement had been in place since 2005 and that the Trust had concerns over the ending of the agreement.  In addition, discussions were taking place outside of the Panel to establish whether there was a need for Scrutiny involvement.

In the ensuing discussion, the following main points were raised:

·         In relation to the Integrated Wellbeing Offer, it was reported that engagement had commenced with the voluntary and community sector.  When asked what this entailed, it was explained that there were two pillars; the focus on action required now and what may be the requirements in the longer term.  In addition, how best to embed the learning from the response to COVID-19

·         Further information was sought on the ‘Lifecurve App’, which Officers agreed to provide

·         Members welcomed the funding for the development of the Dementia Meeting Centres, with some Members referring to other local programmes such as Dementia Cafes.  Officers reported that the aim was to have nine centres across the County and that it would be a rolling programme.  Member engagement was welcomed, especially for local opportunities and Officers agreed to circulate further information

·         It was acknowledged that transport costs were high, with the Strategic Director reporting that an Officer had recently been appointed to review a more sustainable future for travel

·         For clarity, given the number of projects ongoing, the Strategic Director explained that the overall Strategy was spilt into 3 pillars:

§  Person Centred Approach – services tailored to individual need

§  Shaping Services – the need to align with Council vision and ensure value for money and services which were fit for purpose

§  Shaping an Effective Market – adapting to change and working with partners

·         In relation to the use of Direct Payments, it was noted that uptake in Worcestershire was slightly below the national average of 27%, with the Strategic Director stating that evidence suggested that people felt more in control when used, hence the ambition to increase the number.  Furthermore, opportunities were available for groups to collaborate funding to stay together and participate in valuable opportunities

·         A Member asked how successful recruitment had been to the care role opportunities available, to be advised that there were no current issues locally.  Work was ongoing to promote care as a career across the whole system

·         Joined up commissioning was of some concern, especially in light of integrated care systems being developed nationally.  Everyone agreed that there were interesting times ahead

·         Use of residential/nursing care was an area of concern.  Some Care Homes were reporting vacancy rates of over 20% and across the County, the vacancy rate was currently 24%.  A number of the COVID-19 block contracts were due to end which may reduce income further.  It was anticipated that future arrangements would not operate as they did currently and there would be a refocus of the use of the sector, however, further discussion was required.

The Chairman invited the Cabinet Member and Healthwatch Representative to comment, however, with nothing to add, thanked all those present for a useful discussion and requested that the Panel schedule an update in due course.