Agenda item

Report of the Director of Adult Services and Housing .

The Board considered a report and presentation of the Director of Adult Services and Housing regarding the Adult Social Care Performance – Adult Social Care Self-Assessment and Annual Report (Local Account) 2023/24.

The CQC were responsible for assessing Local Authorities’ delivery of their adult social care functions and had produced a framework to assess how well Local Authorities were performing against their duties.  As part of these arrangements, Local Authorities were required to complete a Self-Assessment for issuing to the Care Quality Commission following receipt of the ‘Notification of Inspection’ by the Local Authority.

Coventry City Council had not yet received a ‘Notification of Inspection’ letter however, preparation for inspection was an ongoing process of which the production of a self-assessment was part.

Adult Social Care at Coventry City Council produced an Annual Report which covered performance and activity for the previous year along with examples and case studies of where a positive impact had been made to people’s lives.

The production of an Annual Report was not a requirement however, it had always been well received by stakeholders and therefore would continue however, the format had been restructured to cover each of the four CQC themes for inspection and the quality statements associated with these themes.  As the CQC self-assessment process also required the provision of a range of operational detail, the Annual Report had also been produced to mirror this detail.

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

·  An organisation had been engaged to search for candidate(s) with a specific focus on diversity which would assist to recruit Adult Social Care employees with an understanding, culture and expertise of ethnic groups.

·  Recruitment and retention of social workers from ethnic minorities was essential.  Listening to those employees mitigated some risk of attrition.

·  Complaints received were mainly due to communication and delays in receiving care due to high demand.  A complaints report was produced annually and regular meetings held with the complaints team.

·  Joint assessments took place whereby carers were also assessed along with the patient.  Separate carer assessments took place where appropriate, in partnership with the Carers Trust.

·  There were a number of discharge pathways from hospital.  Discharge assessments included an occupational therapist assessment and short term reablement packages were in place to provide initial support.  Longer term assessments would then take place.  Care could be reduced down if the patient had increased in independence.

·  Coventry City Council was one of 2 councils currently undertaking a pilot aiming to support international recruitment.

·  Engaging the voluntary sector and charities in care homes helped with stimulation and loneliness of residents.  The profile of care homes could be raised through offers from organisations such as CV Life.

·  Reviews and technology were ways in which spend could be reduced whilst still supporting people’s needs.

 The Board requested:

·  Discharges for 2023/24 diagram (page 14) - clarification of the hospital discharge pathways.

·  An estimate of how many migrants and refugees supported through Adult Social Care.

RESOLVED that the Health and Social Care Scrutiny Board (5):

Note the content of the Adult Social Care Self-Assessment and Annual Report (Local Account) 2023/24.