Skip to Main Content

Agenda and minutes

Venue: The Council Chamber, County Hall, The Rhadyr, Usk, NP15 1GA

Contact: Democratic Services 

Items
No. Item

1.

Declarations of interest

2.

Public Open Forum

3.

Domiciliary Care: Scrutiny of the progress of the implementation of "Turning the World Upside Down" as a sustainable approach to Domiciliary Care pdf icon PDF 209 KB

Minutes:

The committee had requested a report on domiciliary care following their scrutiny meeting in September. The committee recognised that "Turning the World Upside Down" is the Council’s approach to developing sustainable domiciliary care provision, however, having understood from previous discussions that the market is somewhat fragile, they agreed that an overview of the state of play in the social care sector at a future scrutiny meeting would be helpful. The committee agreed to focus on the challenges within the sector and understanding how the council would respond to those challenges.  Two care providers had been invited to attend the meeting.

 

Members heard that domiciliary care provision is a recognised challenge across UK, but that specific challenges for Monmouthshire were:

 

  • the rurality of the county
  • The demographics in central and south of the county, together with an ageing population
  • An increase in care needs

 

The committee heard that this posed challenges as to how the workforce can meet the demand.  Adult Services have been working on a model (Turning the World Upside Down), which will be implemented in April 2020.  The report provided a contextual analysis of the challenges posed, supported by data on which highlighted issues with sourcing longer term care provision.  Officers explained that traditional models of care have been based on the provision of care in a transactional way and that whilst has met personal needs, it doesn’t contribute to the longer term health and well-being needs of an individual or their families and carers.  The new model intends to build meaningful relationships and provide a model of support that delivers better outcomes for people.  The committee heard that the patch based approach should enable twelve patches to provide support for individuals and their carers through a mix of in house care and independent provision and that the success of the patch based approach will be evaluated. The benefits of the approach are to develop the relationships between all stakeholders working within the patch and to ensure care plans are focused on what matters to the individual and the way in which they choose to live their life.  It is hoped that the approach will greatly improve experiences for service users, will support their carers and will provide fulfilling roles for staff.

 

 

Challenge:

 

  • Members asked for an explanation of the meaning of ‘outstanding hours’.

Officers explained that at the moment, there are people who need some level of support and that at the moment, we are unable to meet that need in its entirety and that whilst people are not without any support, the support being provided may not be the ideal support package.

 

  • Questions were asked around the preparedness for winter weather and winter pressures in terms of increased demand on services.

 

 
Officers confirmed that the council is suitably prepared for inclement weather and that the right vehicles are in place. They explained that they work with other service areas, for example, district nurses to ensure that people on the council’s priority list are assisted. 

 

4.

Safeguarding Children Performance Report

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The committee were presented with a performance report on safeguarding to consider the council’s progress during 2018/19 in meeting the requirements of the Council’s Corporate Safeguarding Policy approved by Council in July 2017.  Officers presented the report and explained that the evaluation report seeks to drive improvement in safeguarding practice across the Council and underpins the work of the Whole Authority Safeguarding Group. Officers explained that the report offers an understanding of how all services contribute to safeguarding and how department were undertaking ‘safe audits’ to identify any gaps in business and how they would address them. The approach seeks to embed and sustain the highest standards of safeguarding practice and the report would be brought to members annually.  Appendix 3 details the key actions to be taken forward following a Wales Audit Office review undertaken in September 2019.

 

Challenge:

 

  • Members agreed that the content of the report was good, but asked for numbers as well as percentages to be tabled in future with a glossary of acronyms.

 

  • In terms of areas where we have been critical “robust protection”, the committee asked how difficult is it with some of the settled workforce to implement changes and approaches.

Officers responded that it can be difficult, but that the key is training and that there is a professional standard to be met.

 

  • It was highlighted that safeguarding training figures are suggesting that more people need training, particularly members.

Officers agreed to check the figures on member training, members primarily requiring level 1 training.

 

  • Members asked for the officer’s thoughts on possible reasons for the rising number of Looked After Children. 

Officers commented that the numbers of children in care are rising nationally and that there are several contributory factors. The threshold for a young person to be brought into care is a very difficult assessment requiring judgement and the team has analysed its criteria to gauge whether it is too high or too low and it is felt to be at the right level.

 

  • Members sought assurance as to whether there is a clear process around managing professional allegations and how this is applied by schools. There was some concern that any inconsistency in how the process is applied could detrimentally affect staff welfare. 

Officers responded that a clear process is in place and that schools are aware of the process, but that a reminder could be made.

 

Outcome and Chair’s Conclusion:

 

The committee requested a workshop for elected members on the threshold levels for bringing children into care.

 

Members asked for a short report to be brought back mid-year to:

 

Ø  clarify the data around the take up of safeguarding training by members.

Ø  update the committee on the performance of directorates in ensuring safeguarding, once the ‘safe audits’ have been completed and analysed.

 

5.

Revenue and Capital Outturn report: Budget monitoring report for quarterly scrutiny. pdf icon PDF 373 KB

Minutes:

The committee received the budget monitoring report for quarterly scrutiny.   The officer drew members’ attention to paragraph 3.21 of the report which summarises the budgetary position for the services that fall within the remit of the committee.  Members acknowledged the £186k overspend in adult services and asked the chief officer to provide an explanation. The officer explained that these result mainly from

net staffing pressures at Severn View and pressure within the domiciliary care market that have been explained through the report discussed as part of this agenda.  The officer advised that some of these have been compensated through management savings, savings to individual support services arrangements and Budden Crescent costs. 

 

Challenge:

 

  • The committee asked the officer to provide and explanation for the overspend.

The officer advised that as the early stage of the financial year, a £2.26M overspend is predicted, even after taking into account a £738K Social Care Workforce and Sustainability Grant from Welsh Government and savings deducted from the budget totalling £1.246M as part of the budget setting process.  It was explained that there is a continued demand for domiciliary care which is placing pressure on Care at Home services. Whilst on 31st May 2019, there were 309 weekly care hours awaiting brokerage from the reablement service (which presented an underspend on the domiciliary care budget), this was actually hiding the additional need for residential and nursing placements.   Members were advised that the Adults with Disabilities budget had seen an increased need for placements, totalling 17, which amounted to in excess of £1,000 per week.  The largest bulk of the directorate budgeted savings have been levied against the Adults budget which, at this early stage of the financial year, are predicted to be met.

 

Members asked the officer to clarify the position in relation to Severn View.

Officers explained the financial implications are when staff are unwell and cover has to be allocated for which there is no budget.

 

Outcome and Chair’s Conclusion:

 

The chair asked the committee whether they wished to undertake further scrutiny on this report, but the committee agreed that it is early in the financial year and that they would wish to keep a watching brief on the position.

 

6.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting held on 30th July 2019 pdf icon PDF 89 KB

7.

Adult Select Committee Forward Work Programme pdf icon PDF 396 KB

Minutes:

The report was noted and it was requested that amendments and inclusions from today’s meeting be included.

 

8.

Council and Cabinet Work Planner pdf icon PDF 298 KB

Minutes:

The programme was noted and no requests were made for reports to be brought to the committee.

 

9.

To confirm the date of the next meeting as 10th December 2019