Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

a)  To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 4 December 2023.

b)  Matters arising

The Minutes of the meeting held on 4 December 2023 were agreed and signed as a true record.

Report of the Director of Adults and Housing

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Director of Adult Services and Housing that provided an update to Adult Social Care performance for quarter three 2023/24 alongside actions in place to improve performance and proposed next steps.

Adult Social Care performance is measured in line with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) national Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF) and this performance is reported nationally at year end.

Adult Social Care (ASC) also measures a series of locally defined indicators, which are reported to the Adult Social Care Management Team on a quarterly basis.

The report updated the Cabinet Member for Adult Services on the quarter three performance, actions in place to improve performance and proposed next steps. It also provided an opportunity for the Cabinet Member to provide comment.

The report also gave an update on the Adult Social Care involvement approach including engagement and user experience work undertaken in the previous quarter. This is important alongside numerical performance as it provides a context for what people with care and support needs and their carers consider important and should be used to inform areas for improvement.

An appendix to the report outlined the ASCOF figures for each of the four domains and indicators set out in the report, demonstrating the quarter three improvement of key areas in comparison to 2021/22 and 2022/23 figures. Directional arrows were displayed to summarise performance compared to previous years against these indicators. It also provided a useful comparison between Coventry City Council’s figures and those at a regional and national level.

The Director of Adult Services and Housing outlined the information in the report with the Cabinet Member, providing clarification as to any significant changes in the indicator figures as well as the steps implemented to ensure continued improvement. Firstly, he highlighted the progress made in comparison to quarter two figures in the proportion of adults with learning disabilities who live in their own home or with their family increasing from 70.7% to 79.8%. However, the difficulty in reaching the national average figure of 57% of people in long term support for 12+ months was also recognised. It was suggested that it was likely that 50% would be reached soon but they would always endeavour to prevent no more than a 2 year interval between social care reviews. Lastly, it was highlighted that completion timescales continue to be improved and the continuing efforts made with regards to safeguarding have exhibited good progress.

Additionally, the Head of Adult Care and Support clarified a data issue concerning the proportion of adults with learning disabilities who live in their own home or with their family - mentioned in Minute 8 of the Cabinet meeting held on the 4 December 2023 – and stated that this had now been rectified.

Additionally, the Service Manager for Adult Communication updated the Cabinet Member on the engagement work being undertaken, especially with regard to the Service’s engagement with Adult Social Care providers, recruitment events, internship providers, the Carer’s  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

Report of the Director of Adults and Housing

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Director of Adult Services and Housing that considered Adult Social Care Complaints and Representations Annual Report 2022/23.

Adult Services have a statutory duty arising from the Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009, to provide a system for receiving complaints and representations from people who use its services, or those acting on behalf of service users. The system provides a means for listening to the views of those who use or are affected by adult services and for resolving issues arising. Where things have gone wrong it enables the Council to put things right, learn from the experience and make the necessary improvements.

There is also a duty under the regulations to produce and publish an annual report which set out the details of the complaints and representations across Coventry’s Adult Services in 2022/23. It highlighted the service improvements and learning from feedback and included information on future developments in complaint handling and reporting.

The Head of Adult Care and Support recognised that while the number of complaints have slightly increased, this is largely due to the increased number of support ASC is now providing compared to last year. There have also been marginal changes in the number of complaints upheld and partially upheld with a large number withdrawn once contact has been made. Additionally, the time to investigate complaints does remain static although the vast majority are dealt with within 20 working days. Also, those seeking the ombudsman process have slightly reduced compared to last year with 3 cases being upheld, 1 being withdrawn, and 1 resulting in a pay out to the complainant.

In summary, it was emphasised that ASC receives far more compliments than complaints, as highlighted in the report, but any complaints that are received are taken very seriously. In conjunction to this, the Cabinet Member thanked officers for including the percentage differences between compliments and complaints in the report as being crucial indicators for the work currently being done in ASC.

The Cabinet, Deputy and Shadow Cabinet Member asked questions, sought assurances and received responses on a number of matters including:

·  What advice is likely to be given to social workers in terms of carers assessments? Options to take independent assessments.

·  Incidents occurring on secured properties – likely 1 complaint regarding not securing a property upon departure but an extremely sensitive issue in terms of ensuring our city residents feel safe and secure when we enter and exit their homes. Even if 1 complaint has been received it is important that is processed as a companywide theme and that we send out a reminder.

·  An increasing trend of people feeling unsafe – feelings of unsafety spanning many areas outside of ASC remit but ensuring that we do our bit to consistently safeguard service users and make them feel safe.

·  How far advanced is the internal centralised database to capture all learning points?

·  What have the concerns been regarding communication, any trends with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

There are no outstanding issues

There were no outstanding issues.

There were no other items of urgent public business.