Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

a)  To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2022

b)  Matters arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2022 were agreed and signed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

Report of the Director of Adult Services and Housing

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Director of Adult Services and Housing which sought endorsement to the introduction of an Adult Social Care Offer and the publishing and sharing of the statement of intent in relation to the provision of services.

The introduction of an Adult Social Care Offer was in line with an overall approach to improving the information, advice and guidance produced by Adult Social Care. This element of the service provision was one of a range of key performance indicators included within the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF) which measures how well care and support services achieve the outcomes that matter most to people. In addition, the quality of our information, advice, and guidance provision was a duty included within the care Act 2014 and would be considered by the Care Quality Commission as part of the new Assurance Framework process commencing in 2023.

This was the first time Adult Social Care had shared information in this format, incorporating a revised vision for Adult Social Care. The intention was that Adult Social Care Offer would provide a straightforward and accessible statement describing what people could expect from Adult Social Care in Coventry, how services would be provided and the processes that those eligible for services would take part in. It also included useful sources of additional information, contact information and addresses. The Coventry Adult Social Care Offer was attached as Appendix 1 of the report.

The Adult Social Care Offer would be shared widely amongst staff, health and other partner organisations. Voluntary sector organisations, providers of social care and prospective new employees in several ways including the council web site, briefings, email, social media, posters and leaflets. The Adult Social Care Offer has been co-produced by the Adult Social Care Extended Management Team and incorporates contributions and feedback from the Adult Social Care Stakeholder Group following engagement.

As well as the specifics on what people could expect, the offer also adopted the Health and Care partnership vision for Coventry and Warwickshire which superseded the previous Adult Social Care vision. The offer contained three parts as follows:

·  Part One: Our approach – this section states the vision along with a set of commitments that underpin the service’s work.

·  Part Two: How the offer is delivered – this section describes what people can expect when they first make contact with Adult Social Care, what types of support is available in Coventry and what people can expect through the stages of assessment, support planning and review.

·  Part Three: Useful information – this section provided summary information on the Care Act 2014 and a series of contact numbers for key adult social care organisations along with a short description of what each organisation does.

Once implemented, the service would continue to encourage feedback from its customers and stakeholders and would monitor performance in the provision of information and how well the Adult Services Care Offer was being delivered using both local intelligence and performance data, e.g. results of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Report of the Director of Adult Services and Housing

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Director of Adult Services and Housing which provided an update on adult social care quality assurance and management of market failure.

Where people within Coventry are eligible for a care and support service following a needs and wellbeing assessment under the Care Act 2014, the quality of that care was critical to ensuring that the person with care and support needs has a good experience of social care and that their needs and outcomes were met.

The majority of care and support services in Coventry were provided under contracts by the City Council with independent providers of care and support. Therefore, effectively managing and monitoring contracts is a key responsibility for Adult Social Care alongside ensuring that effective mechanisms are in place to respond to issues of provider failure (where a provider is no longer able to continue to deliver their contract).

The report was produced following a review of the processes currently in place. The review was initiated as a result of the learning from the Covid pandemic which had proved to be a major and persistent challenge to the care market.

The report covered revisions to the following two key processes for ensuring quality and business continuity in commissioned care and support services:

1.  How contracts and the quality of care and support was monitored, based on a set of indicators and the risks associated with specific services.

2.  How the City Council responded to issues where a provider, or number of providers, cannot continue to deliver services due to a range of factors including quality issues, cost issues, or provider choice not to continue. This was often referred to as ‘market failure’.

During the height of the Covid pandemic, quality assurance visits had to be scaled back from in person to a largely remote function with on-site visits made in exceptional circumstances. This change was due to infection prevention and control restrictions. During this period visits were still conducted where absolutely necessary to those services where the most significant concerns were apparent and were supplemented with other means of understanding the quality of provision and user experience.

A number of providers of care and support also ceased trading during and following the pandemic. This was due to a number of reasons including financial stability as a result of high numbers of vacancies and provider choice where owners of care and support organisations decided to no longer operate. Each of these situations, although managed effectively by the City Council, prompted a review of how provider failure of this kind is managed to ensure continuity of service for people affected.

The City Council has a number of duties in respect of the social care market under the Care Act 2014 including to facilitate and shape the care market to ensure a sustainable and diverse range of care and support, continuous improvement in quality and choice and the delivery of cost-effective outcomes.

The main changes from the previous approach for managing and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Report of the Director of Law and Governance

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Director of Law and Governance which detailed one outstanding item that was the subject of an update report at a future Cabinet Member meeting.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member notes the Outstanding Issues report.