Agenda and minutes

None.

None.

Were agreed as a correct record subject to the amending the minutes to show Cllr East in attendance.

All items were considered in PART 1.

At the start of the meeting, the Chairman welcomed Councillor Philip Corthorne, Cabinet Member for Social Services, Health and Housing who had been invited to share his views on the Adult Social Care Performance Assessment 2009/10.

The Performance and Intelligence Manager introduced the report which provided the performance assessment judgement for adult social care services in 2009/10.

To provide the judgement, Adult Social Care services were assessed against 7 outcomes and the following grades were awarded:

1.      Improved health and emotional well-being - well

2.      Improved quality of life - well

3.      Making a positive contribution - well

4.      Increased choice and control - adequately

5.      Freedom from discrimination or harassment - well

6.      Economic well-being - well

7.      Maintaining personal dignity and respect - well

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) concluded that overall, adult social care services were performing well. This equated to a three out of four rating and showed improvement compared to the previous year.

Officers explained that the ‘performing well rating’ was an overall rating based on an assessment of numerous sources  including: regular performance monitoring meetings between Adult Social Care, Health and Housing (ASCHH) senior management team, as well as consideration of inspection findings and associated improvement plans. Officers also said that monitoring returns submitted to the Department of Health and CQC were a key source of information about the performance, strategies and outcomes from adult social care.

CQC recognised that a number of significant improvements had been made to improve the lives of local people including:

• A clear vision for adult social care with strong political and corporate leadership.
• Improved partnership working through the Well-Being Board and a new Well-Being Strategy.
• An embedded single point of access, leading to highs levels of satisfaction and improvement
• Developing systems and processes to enable Transformation
• Extensive work to create efficiencies and ensure value for money.
• A good track record in budget management, managing performance, developing staff and clear plans for improvement.

CQC also acknowledged that ASCHH senior management team faced a number of challenges including:

·        Continued work to improve the timeliness of assessments and care packages, increase the numbers of people receiving self directed support and increase support for carers.

·        Putting in place alternatives to residential care for people with a learning disability where this is the most appropriate option

·        Embedding new referral and assessment processes for adult social care

·        To work with providers to develop the market to support transformation and reduce reliance on residential care.

·        Further work to establish a user led organisation to support the transformation of adult social care and housing services

The Chairman offered her personal thanks to officers for a good report.

Councillor Corthorne explained that he was pleased with the progress made in relation to Outcome seven, maintaining personal dignity and respect which also encompassed safeguarding. It was noted that an in-house audit on Safeguarding was due to take place soon.

With respect to Self Directed Support, Cllr Corthorne explained there was a clear priority to improve performance and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

The Democratic Services officer introduced the draft report and reviewed the written and witness evidence the Committee had received.

Following discussion the following points were noted:

• That the final report include a Chairman’s Foreword and Closing Word
• New Recommendation 1: That the first recommendation read that telecare is beneficial and should be pursued in the future.
• Old Recommendation 1– That this recommendation be re-drafted to read – The Committee requests that good quality information and advice must be provided for families, carers and service users, working with health professionals to enable them to understand their assistive technology / telecare options to assist them to make informed choices  (to address their needs)
• Recommendation 7: That this be re-drafted to read: The Committee recommends that telecare be provided free of charge for a limited period (no longer than 6 weeks) after hospital discharge as part of the re-ablement project to provide assistance. (We feel that) Early exposure to assistive technology will help increase client confidence in the service and encourage further uptake in the service.
• That the final report incorporate further information about the charging policies of other Local Authorities and the respective rational for this.
• That the section of the report entitled - Areas for Development on agenda page 15 – Performance Indicators – That further comments be incorporated  on the implications of maintenance  guarantees,  product reliability and monitoring and also best value arising from the  procurement process.
• That Tables 1, 2 and 3 on pages 24 and 25 of the report be developed further and for an appendix to be included providing further information on how these figures were calculated.
• For officers to clarify whether the mobile response unit would be available 24/7 as mentioned at the top of page 24 of the report.
• That a further section be added discussing the cost implications of the Table - Home Carers on Call – on page 24 of the report.
• Old Recommendation 4 – That a further recommendation be added to illustrate cost savings.
• That further information be added on the advantages of an in-house option compared to out-sourcing the assistive technology service identifying the challenges facing the service, the present location of Careline and the impact this has on delivery.
• Current Recommendation 8 about in-house model – That this recommendation incorporate comment on the importance of local knowledge, local response and providing users with confidence.
• That further information be incorporated on Tustall and comment on the viability of a free service.
• That further information be provided on choice, how this will work work.
• That the current section on Finance be developed further highlighting how the service will be financed and how the upfront investment cost would be met.

Resolved –

That the report be amended for 27^th January meeting incorporating the changes listed above.

1. That revised recommendations be circulated to the Committee in advance of 27^th January 2011 meeting
2. That a revised draft report be considered at 27^th January 2011 meeting.
3. That the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

Members considered a condensed copy of the latest Forward Plan covering December 2010 to March 2011.

Resolved –

1. Cabinet Item 528 – Director of Public Health Annual Report 2009/10. It was noted that this item would not be considered at December Cabinet
2. Cabinet Item 510 – West London Home Energy Retrofit programme – It was noted that this item would not be considered at December Cabinet
3. Cabinet Item 468 – Direct Payments Policy - It was noted that this item would not be considered at December Cabinet. That Officers be requested to provide an update to the Committee when appropriate.
4. That an update on the Day Services Strategy be added as an agenda item to 27 January 2011 meeting.

This is a standard item.

Resolved –

1. That the timetable of meetings and proposed work programme for 2010/11 be noted.
2. That the Assistive Technology amended draft report be considered at 27^th January 2011 meeting.
3. That the Assistive Technology final report be considered at 22^nd February 2011 meeting.