Agenda item

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People)

The Board considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People) on the Adult Social Care Annual Report 2017/18 (Local Account) which detailed the performance of Adult Social Care and the progress made against the priorities for the year. It also provided specific examples of the operational activities to support service users and carers. The report was aligned around the Adult Social Care values and principles. A copy of the report was attached at an appendix to the report. The report was due to be considered by the Cabinet at their meeting on 2^nd October. The issue had been discussed at length at the Board’s workshop which had taken place earlier in the day. Councillor Abbott, Cabinet Member for Adult Services attended the meeting for the consideration of this issue.

The report indicated that it was considered good practice to produce an annual report as it provided the opportunity to be open and transparent about the success and challenges facing Adult Social Care and to highlight what was being done to improve outcomes for those who came into contact with Adult Social Care. The Annual Report had been structured around the ten themes that contributed to the Adult Social Care vision and provided a commentary on what had been done to make progress against each of the themes.

The production of the report had drawn on feedback and information gathered over the year from a range of sources including social care staff, Partnership Boards, Adult Social Care Stakeholder Reference Group, providers and people that had been in contact with Adult Social care.

Some of the key improvements delivered in 2017/18 included:

i) A new facility offering a purpose built specialist Housing with Care Scheme for people either living with dementia or with a cognitive impairment – a new approach enabling people to live independently in a safe environment.

ii) The introduction of a new home support framework from June 2017 which aimed to improve quality and performance and has led to a reduction in waiting times for services.

Some of the key challenges being addressed included:

i) Increasing demand for services resulting from an aging population with the number of over 85s being expected to grow by 22% in the next ten years.

ii) The increasing costs of care as a result of external factors including the National Living Wage and the complexity of the care needs that people are experiencing.

To address these challenges, improvements were being made to the approach to promoting independence and to the experience at initial contact.

The Board questioned the officers on a number of issues and responses were provided, matters raised included:

·  What could be done about the variants between different care homes and did the Council have the opportunity to provide an input into the standards and quality of care homes

·  The support provided for families to help them determine the right care home for their relatives

·  Further information about the waiting times for assessments for Adult Social Care support

·  Further details about the Transforming Care agenda, in particular the trajectory required by NHS England relating to discharge arrangements for adults with learning disabilities.

·  Additional information regarding user satisfaction surveys

·  An acknowledgement of the need to have long term funding arrangements in place for Adult Social Care

·  Support for the simple practical measures that had been introduced and were delivering results.

RESOLVED that:

(1) The content of the report be noted.

(2) Officers be requested to continue to pursue different options for satisfaction surveys from carers and users with future data results being shared with the Board members.

(3) The Board be provided with additional information on the challenges relating to 65+ admissions to residential care.

(4) Officers be requested to investigate the reasons behind the low take up of mandatory training by employees, currently 33%.

(5) The Chair, Councillor Gannon, to meet with representatives from Healthwatch Coventry to discuss the issue of waiting times for assessments for Adult Social Care support.

(6) The Chair, Councillor Gannon, to work with Councillor Abbott, Cabinet Member for Adult Services, regarding highlighting the need for long term funding arrangements for Adult Social Care.

(7) Cabinet to be informed of the Board’s considerations of the report at their meeting on 2^nd October, 2018.