Agenda item

The Committee heard an update on the witness session programme for the Assisted Living Technologies (ALT) review. It was noted that due to scheduling, it had been difficult to secure the attendance of a service provider witness at the meeting.

Site visit to Park View Court

The Head of Business Delivery & Support provided an update following the Member site visit to Park View Court on Wednesday 11 August 2021.

The Committee Park View Court was an extra care facility in the south of the Borough. As part of the session, Members were provided with a tour of the facility where they viewed an empty flat containing ALT equipment, common areas including a bath facility with reflective lights, a relaxation area and a treatment room. Following the tour, Members met with a range of staff that worked at Park View Court including the Head of Home and Extra Care.

General questions were asked around service users’ thoughts and the feedback was generally positive. Park View Court reported that they had moved all their systems online making it easier to record and follow up actions. Care plans could be updated in real time to record prescription changes and family visits. This had previously been done through manual care records.

In terms of system failures and backups, it was noted that if a service user was not wearing their pendant, this could cause issues. The Committee heard that service users were sometimes unwilling to ask for assistance to avoid any inconvenience and work had been done to educate service users about the technology. Service users were encouraged to ask for assistance when required.

It was confirmed that training for staff was part of their contractual obligations and they needed to comply with Care Quality Commission requirements. The Council also provided training to staff.

The Committee raised some concerns with the gaps with online services, particularly in domiciliary care, where the systems were not always accessible. Questions were raised on how users with dementia would be able to update care providers and elderly residents who were not familiar with smart phones and Alexa. The concerns were noted and Members had an opportunity to ask these questions directly to families and carers at the informal witness session arranged with service users.

Following service user feedback, it was noted that there had been adequate demonstrations of the technology and users were comfortable.

Witness session programme

The Committee had regard to the witness programme which provided details of upcoming witness sessions. A session had been arranged open to all the Committee for Monday 13 September 2021 at 2 pm, involving various representatives from:

·         Hillingdon Autistic Care & Support;

·         Carers Trust Hillingdon;

·         Hillingdon Mind;

·         Alzheimer's Society; and

·         a service user that lives in a supported living service.

Although the witness session had been arranged at short notice, it was noted that the session had been set around the availability of service users in an informal setting to enable an open environment.

The Committee was informed that a virtual headset training session was also being proposed for Tuesday 26 October 2021 and Democratic Services would finalise details in due course.

It was noted that a provider had been identified for another site visit to consider wider technology however the unit was not in the Borough. The Committee was also informed that extensive efforts had been made to secure witness attendance, however this was dependent on engagement.  

Some concerns were raised that only three Members were able to attend the site visit on Wednesday 11 August 2021, that there was no service provider present at the meeting, that there had been a late notification of the meeting on Monday 13 September 2021 and the October meeting had missed out local authority exemplars. It was explained that given the nature of the settings and the Covid -19 pandemic restrictions, only a selected few Members attended. It was also confirmed that witness sessions had been arranged the availability of witnesses.

Contact had been made with the community engagement team in respect of an online surveys. Many local authorities were in the same stage of delivery as the London Borough of Hillingdon and efforts to find a suitable direct exemplar that would add value to the review would continue. Members were also keen on hearing from younger service users in addition to elder residents.

RESOLVED: That the Committee:

1.    noted the feedback from the site visit; and

2.    agreed the witness sessions arranged for Monday 13 September 2021 and Tuesday 26 October 2021.