Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 22nd July 2020 were agreed as a true record.

The Chair, Councillor Clifford recognised the passing of Councillor Hazel Sweet and took the opportunity to recognise the work she had contributed to the Board.

Report and presentation of the Director of Adult Services

Adrian West, Members and Elections Team Manager, read out a statement from the Cabinet Member for Adult Services, who had had to give her apologies. She commended the annual report to Members of the Board and congratulated those Officers who had brought the information in a very ‘readable’ format.  She hoped that the Board agreed that the report showed that the Council are going in the right direction with satisfaction levels increasing and as the case studies show the Council has a lot of dedicated people around. She continued that there were no surprises with the result of the Peer Review and the Council were working towards further improvements in the Service. The issue around better housing provision was valid, but unfortunately, the Council were restricted due to funding. She welcomed any suggestions and feedback from Scrutiny Board.

The Board received a presentation from Pete Fahy, Director of Adults and Marc Greenwood, Head of Business Systems, on the Adult Social Care Annual Report 2019-20 and the Outcomes of the Peer Challenge.

The presentation covered the following areas:

·  Annual Report 2019/20 – highlights, including information on expenditure, transitions from Childrens Services to Adult Social Care, requests for support, and data on carer assessments. The Annual Report also covered Safeguarding data, including information on Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards which the Board heard were due to be amended, but this would be delayed due to Covid-19 until March 2022. It was explained to the Board that an increase in reporting of safeguarding concerns was considered to be positive as this reflected a better awareness of safeguarding issues. The Annual Report also included Impact Stories using real examples, as well as findings from a survey with users of Adult Social Care.

·  Performance summary and progress - The service continued to have a lower rate of people in long term support per population than that of comparator organisations. Contributing to this was a lower number of new requests for support and a higher proportion of these receiving short term support.  There had been an increase in admissions into nursing/residential care and people going straight into long term support for the 18-64 age group. Activity indicators maintained the same performance as the previous year, with a positive reduction in new admissions into nursing/residential care for those aged 65+. Quality indicators were broadly comparable.  There was a declining yearly trend in people feeling they have as much social contact as they like and people who use services feeling safe.

·  Progress since the previous 2018/19 Annual Report -A Strength-based Practice Framework was in place and was being embedded. This had been supported through ongoing training and practice development e.g. Motivational Interviewing. A new front door model had been put in place, with greater input from Therapy rather than Social Work as a way of ensuring the “Promoting Independence” pathway as the first offer. This model had now been introduced in the Mental Health Service. The introduction of Financial Assessment digital tool had removed the requirement for home visit  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Report and presentation of Anna Hargrave, Chief Strategy Officer, NHS South Warwickshire CCG

The Board considered a report and received a presentation from Anna Hargrave, South Warwickshire CCG which provided an update on the potential relocation of Neuro-rehabilitation Level 2b Beds from University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) to South Warwickshire Foundation Trust’s (SWFT) Central England Rehabilitation Unit, located at Royal Leamington Spa Hospital. Anna Hargrave and Rose Uwins, Coventry and Rugby CCG attended the meeting for the consideration of this item.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic 12 Level 2b neuro-rehabilitation beds were located at UHCW. The Board heard that these beds were commissioned by Coventry and Rugby CCG on behalf of the three Coventry and Warwickshire CCGs and were the only Level 2b neuro-rehabilitation facilities in Coventry or Warwickshire.

As part of the emergency response to COVID-19, the decision was taken on 18th March 2020 for these beds to be moved from UHCW to the Central England Rehabilitation Unit (CERU), a dedicated rehabilitation facility which is part of Royal Leamington Spa Hospital, located on Heathcote Lane in Warwick and provided by SWFT.

If there was support to progress this service change the CCGs, working together with UHCW and SWFT, would mobilise the resource and governance structures to develop a full decision-making business case.

This case for change would apply NHSE Service Change Guidance (2018) and work though the development of a robust clinical case for change, including working with patients, staff, the wider public and stakeholders to understand the impact of any changes on them.

The case for change would be subject to all statutory guidelines regarding service transformation and change.

RESOLVED that support be given to NHS Coventry and Rugby CCG, in collaboration with UHCW and SWFT, to undertake the process to develop a full Decision-Making Business Case regarding the future location of the Neuro-rehabilitation Level 2b Beds.

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Board considered their work programme for the municipal year.

RESOLVED that the work programme for 2020/21 be noted.

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as matters of urgency because of the special circumstances involved

Liz Gaulton, Director of Public Health provided information on the governance of the test trace and track oversight.

There were no further items of Any Other Business.