Agenda item

Purpose:

To present the 2017/18 quarter 2 performance information under the remit of Adults

Select Committee, this comprises:

·         Information on how we are performing against a range of nationally set measures related to adult services used by all councils in Wales that were introduced in 2016/17 as part of the Social Services and Well-being Act. A report card has been used that gives context to these.

·         Report benchmarking data to demonstrate how we performed during 2016/17

against the Welsh average.

·         To present information on how the Council is performing in 2017/18 against national performance indicators “Public Accountability Measures’ set by Data Unit Wales that are under the remit of Adults Select Committee.

Recommendations

That Members scrutinise how well the authority is performing on these range of nationally set measures and seek clarity from those responsible on whether performance can improve in any areas of concern identified.

Key Issues

1. The council currently has an established performance framework, this is the way in

which we translate our vision - building sustainable and resilient communities - into

action and ensure that everyone is pulling in the same direction to deliver real and

tangible outcomes. The framework was presented to the Committee in July 2017,

further information on the council’s performance framework for members is available

on the Council’s intranet, The Hub.

2. The report card explains Adult social services key process and performance in quarter 2 2017/18 as well as presenting benchmarking of performance in 2016/17. This comprises of data from the new measurement framework introduced in 2016/17

as part of the Social Services and Well-being Act. The performance measures are a

blend of quantitative (numerical) data and qualitative data which includes asking

people about their experience of social services and whether this has contributed to

improving their well-being.

3. Welsh Government have highlighted that the first year of data collation (2016/17) of the Social Services and Well-being Act performance measurement framework has

provided some challenges and some quality issues with the data and as a result they

have not published local authority level data performance data for 2016-17. Wales

level, means and quartile data have been published which has allowed us to undertake some benchmarking, although this is caveated in how much reliance can

be placed on this given the quality issues raised.

4. There are ongoing discussions and workshops, which we have been part of, on

potentially revising the standards and measures as part of the framework in the future.

5. The qualitative measures within the framework are derived from questionnaires to

adult service users and carers that social services are working with at the beginning

of September. While we continue to send out adult questionnaires monthly from April,

questionnaires are sent to carers starting at the beginning of September, therefore at

quarter 2 we are only able to present data on one month of responses.

6. Another important nationally set framework used to measure local authority

performance is ‘Public Accountability Measures’ set by Data Unit Wales ‘.This includes some of the indicators for adults services that are part of the Social Services

and Well-being Act measurement framework as set out in the scorecard. Appendix 2

contains the performance in quarter 2 2017/18 for further performance indicators related to Homelessness and Disabled Facilities Grants that are part of this

framework and are under the committee’s remit.

Member Scrutiny:

The Performance Report for Adult Services was presented and questions invited:

A Member, with reference to safeguarding, challenged the downturn in performance for delayed transfer of care (DTOC) speculating that the reason is related to an inability to find carers and questioned strategy to resolve the decline.

The Head of Adult Services explained that the DTOC figures can be considered an artificial measure gathered on a census day once a month across the authority.  This is a trend line which is analysed and reviewed daily. It was acknowledged that there have been difficulties in recruitment of staff and within partner agencies.  Consequently, the hours in the system awaiting allocation have been monitored very closely.  It was explained that the model of support for moving people from hospital has been in place for 15 years and there are 2 staff members in the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall Hospitals who make arrangements to move people to their next destination and monitor numbers in hospital requiring ongoing care. Often this is at home but a stoppage point can be transfer to residential homes due to e.g. availability or where care is moved from the council to continuing health care.  Attention was drawn to the wider partner context which demonstrate our DTOC statistics are significantly lower compared to those cared for at home.

A Member raised the serious issues with care staff recruitment and questioned what strategies are being employed to address this issue.  It was responded that this is an ongoing and worsening problem.  More information will be brought to Select Committee on the Turning the World Upside Down strategy working with the independent care sector working towards a relationship based care model.  Work has begun in the Chepstow area bringing care teams together to maximise opportunities to share care which is much more effective.  Additionally, adverts to recruit carers have been posted under a social care and health banner which has proved more successful. It was added that in the longer term, there are plans to introduce a “Dare to Care” campaign to e.g. have a social and health care academy across Gwent and attract people to the sector. 

A Member queried the carers and adults questionnaires and changes in percentages from one year to the next.  It was confirmed that there has been a change to questions asked (from less service based to more “what matters to you” etc.) to elicit more useful insights and encourage more honest appraisals. 

County Councillor P. Pavia declared an interest as Research and Policy Lead, ADSS Cymru.  He questioned 1) the early impact of the Social Care and Wellbeing Act especially on users and carers in terms of reducing assessment levels and 2) Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) the likely reduction in time to deal with applications.   It was responded that a lot of the data is tracked and the drop in referrals for support is substantial allowing more concentration on people with more complex needs or frailty.  Other people are being supported through wellbeing work.   Regarding DFG (for larger adaptations), it was confirmed that there has been a steep fall in average time taken.  These applications are implemented by referral to the Housing Department.  The steep fall from last year was welcomed.  A reminder was provided that there is an extra £33,000 in the DFG programme next year.