Decision details

The Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance which incorporated the report of the Working Group, which had been appointed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Adult Social Care) to undertake a review of customer satisfaction and quality with regard to the provision of domiciliary care within the Borough.

Mr. Roger Hutchings, Advisory Member from Healthwatch Sefton, and a Member to the Working Group attended the meeting to report on the work undertaken by the Working Group and the recommendations.

The Cabinet Member – Adult Social Care welcomed the content of the report and indicated that the recommendations would be taken into account prior to the commissioning of any future domiciliary contracts.

Decision Made: That

(1)       That the Commissioners of the Domiciliary Service in Sefton be requested to:-

(a)       liaise with Care Providers to consider how increased continuity of care by care workers can be achieved.

(b)       encourage Care Providers to consider providing care workers with a concise data log book of service users’ basic care needs and daily routine, to facilitate increased continuity of care where different care workers are used.

(c)        consider how increased partnership working with Care Providers can be achieved, in order to share common concerns, good practice, etc.

(d)       consider producing an Information Pack, containing general information on options available, such as direct payments, and a simple chart illustrating which organisations individuals can approach to raise issues, make complaints, etc.; the Information Pack to be provided to individuals entering the domiciliary care system, and to be made available at the Sefton Carers’ Centre and Sefton Pensioners’ Advocacy Centre.

(e)       submit the annual questionnaire and survey results produced by Care Providers, together with any Annual Report produced by Commissioners, to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Adult Social Care), on an annual basis.

(f)        encourage Care Providers to provide service users and relatives who are in direct contact with the Provider on a regular basis, with a named contact from the Provider.

(g)       encourage Care Providers to provide more consistent training and induction for care workers.

(h)       consider how communication can be increased between Care Providers, service users and their families, and Sefton Carers’ Centre, particularly in the event of service users raising any concerns or issues.

(2)       That the following recommendations as set out in the report be noted:

1.         That the Head of Adult Social Care be requested to submit a report / presentation to a future meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Adult Social Care), explaining:-

(a)       the costs associated with provision of the different aspects of  the Domiciliary Service;

(b)       the impact of the Care Act 2014 on the provision of domiciliary care; and

(c)        the proposal to move towards outcome based commissioning with regard to the Service.

2.         That NHS South Sefton Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS Southport and Formby Clinical Commissioning Group, be requested to support and assist with investigating concerns raised during the course of this review, regarding errors in medicine management by pharmacies, and how these can be addressed and report back to a future meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Adult Social Care), explaining the outcome of those investigations.

3.         That the recent decision made by the Cabinet to implement Stage One of the Ethical Care Charter and to consider Stages Two and Three of the Charter, be welcomed.

4.         That the Overview and Scrutiny (Adult Social Care) should receive a six-monthly monitoring report, setting out progress made against each of the recommendations outlined above.

Reasons for Decision:

The Working Group had made a number of recommendations that require approval by both the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Adult Social Care) and the Cabinet.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

None.