Agenda and minutes

The Senior Category Manager introduced the report which provided an overview of Homecare Services and information about the proposed new Homecare model.

The following points were noted:

Background

·         The Council currently worked with 35 providers. However, the majority of activity and spend is located with five companies.

·         The Council was almost unique in West London, as it had its own Care Services Inspection Team which was formed in 2008 to monitor the quality of care of local care providers.

·         The inspection programme was determined by the level of provider risk and risk assessment information gathering was a complex and continuous process.  The Committee heard that to assess risk the following information was collected:

1. Observations made by the Inspection Team through site monitoring visits. 
2. The findings from CQC inspections of registered care services
3. Feedback from service users and relatives
4. Safeguarding referrals and investigations
5. Complaints and concerns
6. Discussions with care staff and managers of care provider services
7. Feedback from Adult Social Care teams and Partner organisations
8. Service User Questionnaires
9. Electronic call monitoring

·         Services were inspected against CQC standards and recommendations were given timescales by which they should be implemented.In addition, unannounced follow-up visits were also made to check that the recommendations had been acted upon.

·         The quality of homecare providers in the Borough fluctuated. This was influenced by factors such as staff sickness and staff vacancies.

·         The inspection team worked in partnership with providers to improve the quality of the care they provided. In cases where there was non-compliance the ultimate sanction available to the Council was to stop making referrals and, if necessary, transfer existing service users.

·         In terms of Governance, Members were informed that the Director of Adult Social Care would be establishing a new local Care Governance Board that would improve and enhance the work and coordination of the Inspection Team, Category Management and Safeguarding.

Current Homecare Model: Key Issues

• It was noted that West London Alliance providers did not have the capacity to cope with the current demand of new referrals, which had led to an increased dependency on spot providers.
• The contract treated the whole Borough in the same way and did not take transport links or geography into account
• It did not allow any flexibility and could not be adapted to take into account changes in service user’s wishes on a day to day basis.
• It did not differentiate between levels of need (i.e. a service user who needs help getting up in the morning but is otherwise independent is given the same priority as a service user who requires all their care in bed and wears pads).
• It created bottlenecks at certain times of day (especially in the mornings).
•  A high turnover of staff.

Objectives of the New Model

In response to the issues raised above, the Committee were informed that the new model for Homecare in Hillingdon would produce a better service experience for residents by:

• Reducing travel time

• Improving continuity of carers
• Improving time keeping
• Eliminating bottlenecks
• Increasing provider accountability and reduce opportunities  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64.

The Committee considered the latest version of the Forward Plan.

The Senior Category Manager, Adult Social Care provided a verbal update on 015 – Award of Contracts: Care and Support Services for People with Learning Disabilities and / or Mental Health Needs.

The Committee noted that 026 - Mental Health Floating Support Service: Contract Extension and 019 – Bed and Breakfast Framework would be considered at 20 March 2014 Cabinet and asked Officers  to provided an update on these items to the next meeting.

Resolved –

1. That the update be noted
2. That Officers be requested to provide updates on Items 019 and 026 to the next meeting

Reference was made to the work programme and timetable of meetings. It was noted that the Mental Health Update which had been anticipated to the February and March meetings, had now been deferred to 27 March meeting.

Resolved –

1.    The Committee noted the Work Programme 2013/14.