Agenda item

Report of the Director of Adults and Housing

The Board considered a briefing note and presentation of the Director of Adults and Housing, which provided an update on the Market Position Statement Refresh 2024.

The Council, NHS Coventry and the Warwickshire Integrated Health Board (CWICB) was striving to develop a diverse, vibrant and high quality health and social care market to meet the needs and aspirations of the people of Coventry who required support now or who may do so in the future.

Effective communication with the market was a key part of market development and sustainability, so that providers were aware of both the challenges facing Adult Social Care and some of the principal areas where needs and demands analyses indicated the requirement for services to be developed.

Market Position Statements were a tool for providing this communication and the production of a Market Position Statement (MPS) for Adult Social Care fulfilled requirements of the Care Act (2014) in relation to market shaping duties.

The MPS focused on current activity and future opportunities across the whole Adult Social Care market and sought to provide a balance between description and analysis.

The document aimed to give clarity about the difference we were looking to make in people’s lives.  Our role is to support individuals to live as independently as possible, using strengths-based practice, and to ensure that anyone with care and support needs had access to good quality, tailored and reliable support.

Since the publication of the previous MPS, key achievements included:

• Development of an increased supported living offer for adults with learning disabilities and/or autism or those with significant needs associated with their mental ill health which facilitates more independent living.
• Establishment of the Improving Lives Programme, a multi-agency initiative that aimed to improve the way the health and care system responds to emergency needs.
• Increasing visibility of Adult Social Care including through Open Days held in various part of the city.
• A successful bid for Accelerating Reform Grant monies which would be used to fund several projects centred on delivering alternative methods of support with a particular emphasis on supporting informal carers.
• Award of funding to identify and scope the number of international recruits employed in Coventry and Warwickshire, assess the risk to both individual recruits and the wider care market should sponsorship become unstable, and identify a cohort of ethical employers, willing to train, mentor or re-employ displaced International Recruits, migrants, and/or refugees.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Services, Councillor L Bigham, shared that this was an exciting piece of work, demonstrating an interest in the best outcomes for the community whether delivered by internal or external providers. 

Members of the Scrutiny Board, having considered the content of the briefing note and presentation, asked questions and received information from officers on the following matters:

• Local provision was encouraged and there was a good number of local providers within the market.  A framework of smaller providers was being established which would include ethnic minority groups. 
• There were 204 registered care providers in Coventry, with local providers being at the base of the home support provision.
• Fee rates were average within the West Midlands and the majority of providers were happy with the Council level of support.
• A carers plan was in place and more options were being developed to help respite carers.  The Reform Fund would support shared lives and a digital solution to ensure carers were aware of all available support was being developed.
• Ensuring excess profits were not being made by the private sector was governed by a fee rate panel and a system was in place to monitor return on profit.
• Whilst the report referred to learning disability and autism and not necessarily a wider definition of neurodiversity, assessments were based on the needs of individuals rather than a named diagnoses.

The Board requested:

1. Clarification on the distribution and number of residential homes by ward.
2. A list and description of each type of care provision in Coventry to be circulated.

RESOLVED that the Health and Social Care Scrutiny Board (5) agrees the Market Position Statement for use with the Adult Social Care Market with consideration made for encouraging local and not-for profit suppliers, where appropriate.