Agenda item

Report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance

Further to Minute No. 37 of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Adult Social Care and Health) of 9 January 2018, the Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance that formally presented the final report of the Residential and Care Homes Working Group.

Councillor Linda Cluskey, Lead Member of the Working Group, presented the final report to the Cabinet, placing on record her thanks and appreciation to the other Members of the Working Group, Councillor Lynne Thompson and Associate Member Mr. Roger Hutchings of Healthwatch Sefton, together with the relevant officers concerned. Councillor Cluskey had visited residential and care homes under recent difficult personal circumstances and she referred to the need for greater co-operation within the care sector, whilst commending the report to the Cabinet.

The Cabinet was advised that at its meeting held on 9 January 2018, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Adult Social Care and Health) had considered the final report of the Residential Care Homes Working Group and had supported the recommendations, subject to the amendment of recommendation 1 (h).

The Cabinet Member – Adult Social Care thanked Councillor Linda Cluskey for the work undertaken by the Working Group and referred to the challenges facing the care sector, together with joint working initiatives being undertaken across the City Region to address some of the issues concerned.

Decisions Made: That:

Subject to the inclusion of the revised recommendation 1 (h), as amended by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Adult Social Care and Health) on 9 January 2018, the recommendations of the Residential and Care Homes Working Group be approved, as follows:-

1.       the Head of Commissioning Support and Business Intelligence be requested to:-

(a)      Consider proposals for fee levels, both in the current and next two financial years, in order to provide more stability for Providers with the proviso that such proposals are made within available resources and in line with previously agreed delegations in relation to the setting of Adult Social Care fees;

(b)      Give further consideration to paying Providers gross, as opposed to net of Service User financial contributions, for care placements;

(c)      Establish a strategic group consisting of Adult Social Care and Commissioning officers, Providers and interest groups to:

(i)       Assess future demands and needs, including those relating to other service areas such as Extra Care housing;

(ii)      Ensure co-operative and collaborative working takes place;

(iii)      Share good practice; and

(iv)     Ensure that “working in silos” does not occur;

(d)      Ensure joint working is continued between Commissioning, Adult Social Care and the Sefton Clinical Commissioning Groups, particularly with respect to joint quality, safeguarding and monitoring of services;

(e)      Explore the potential to implement revised methods of monitoring care home services, including the use of Information Technology to record quality, performance and market capacity information;

(f)       Continue to work as part of the Liverpool City Region to standardise approaches to information sharing, monitoring and contractual approaches;

(g)      Continue to seek information from Providers, such as details of costs and charges, in order for the Council to better understand the care home market;

(h)            Implement the decision to deliver the Quality Assurance Service, as approved by the Cabinet at its meeting on 7 September 2017;

(i)       Continue to monitor and revise procedures, as necessary, relating to issues such as home closures, in order to improve working practices and implement any lessons learnt;

(j)       Review documentation given to Service Users, Families, Carers and Advocates on topics such as paying, charging for services and needs assessment processes; and

2.       the Senior Democratic Services Officer be requested to liaise with relevant officers in order to ensure that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Adult Social Care and Health) receives a six-monthly monitoring report, setting out progress made against each of the recommendations outlined above.

Reasons for the Decisions:

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

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

No alternative options were considered. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Adult Social Care and Health) established the Working Group to review residential and care homes and the Working Group had performed this task.