Agenda and minutes

There were none.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 31 January 2018 as an accurate record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 31 January 2018 were agreed as an accurate record.

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act, Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that it is a requirement to register disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and gifts and hospitality to the value of which exceeds £50 or multiple gifts and/or instances of hospitality with a cumulative value of £50 or more when received from a single donor within a rolling twelve month period. In addition, Members and co-opted Members are reminded that unless their disclosable pecuniary interest is registered on the register of interests or is the subject of a pending notification to the Monitoring Officer, they are required to disclose those disclosable pecuniary interests at the meeting. This should be done by completing the Disclosure of Interest form and handing it to the Democratic Services representative at the start of the meeting. The Chair will then invite Members to make their disclosure orally at the commencement of Agenda item 3. Completed disclosure forms will be provided to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion on the Register of Members’ Interests.

There were none.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no items of urgent business.

The purpose of this presentation is to update the Panel on the progress of work-stream delivery aimed at securing a sustainable future for adults and all age disability services.

Richard Eyre (Programme Manager) to present; (Copy of presentation attached)

The Panel were updated on the progress of the ADAPT programme, including the workstream model and efficiencies. Members were reminded that there had previously been a presentation on ADAPT to the Panel in November 2017, and that the presentation would cover much of the same material with updates on progress.

Members were informed of the scope of the ADAPT programme and the national context within which it was operating, highlighting the CQC State of Care 2017 report. The Panel were informed of the plans to conform to the Council’s new locality model in order to implement a change in the service to prevention and early intervention, which was a move from the service being reactive. The Panel were told of plans to better integrate with Gateway and Housing services as part of a ‘whole family’ approach. The Programme Manager informed the Panel that one of the key principles behind this was the idea of ‘a Life, not a Care Plan’, which meant focusing on individual outcomes to enable people to live as independently as possible.

The officer detailed the key focuses of the programme as being efficiencies, transformation, managing within their means and working to correct budgets. The Panel heard further information on how the programme was working to improve the service’s financial wellbeing; this included a revised Charging Policy and making more information available to Self-Funders to ensure better care and support was utilised.

The Panel were informed of changes made to the workforce to achieve efficiencies and to improve workflow. The changes made included a restructuring of the division and senior management to bring together various functions, as well as a reduction in agency staff from 35% to 15%. This included the introduction of the new ‘Front Door’, using a contact centre staffed by Social Workers, staff from the contact centre, and the Gateway Service to provide better information and triage. The Panel learned the programme had already achieved half of the planned efficiencies in the workforce reform and transformation workstream for 2018/19.

The officer updated the Panel on the work being done to introduce Digital Pathways which had begun by updating all of the relevant webpages to give service users better information and advice. The Panel were informed about the introduction of the E-marketplace which aimed to enable residents, carers, self-funders and direct payment users to source care services in one place; this provided all the relevant information users would need and provided access to direct purchase of the services from providers. The final aspect of Digital Pathways was AskSara, which was a localised version of the Disabled Living Foundation’s daily living tool.

In response to questions from Members regarding how this would improve delays in equipment being delivered for users, the Programme Manager told the Panel that work had been undertaken to better integrate colleagues across departments; in cases where the client had a Social Worker, they were able to chase equipment orders on the clients behalf. The Panel raised concerns about the ability of users  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13/18

Paul Richards (Principal Social Worker and Head of Mental Health) to present.

The Panel were given an overview of the origin of the Principal Social Worker (PSW) role, which was originally recommended in the Munro Report (2011), and made statutory in the Care Act (2014). The most recent statutory guidance was issued for the role in March 2016.

The Principle Social Worker informed the Panel that the role’s core values were seen to be promoting social change, social development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people. In addition to this, the PSW should uphold human rights and social justice whilst respecting human dignity. Members were informed that the role involved balancing the available resources with the needs of clients.

The Panel were informed of the 2018/19 work plan, which consisted of:

·         Regular meetings with the Director of Adult Social Services;

·         Attending the regional and national PSW network meetings;

·         Chairing the Croydon Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) panel and sending a representative to the ASYE National Moderation panel;

·         Organising the Croydon Social Work Conference;

·         Supporting the work of the Surrey & South West London Teaching Partnership; and

·         Developing and implementing a Social Work Health Check;

·         Developing and implementing the Croydon New Operating Model as it relates to Adult Social Care.

The PSW highlighted the policy of giving very close support and attention to new social workers in their first year on the job (ASYE). The Chair noted that this was a positive approach, given the high turnover rate of new social workers. The Chair stated that they were looking forward to attending the upcoming Croydon Social Work Conference and requested that details of the Conference be circulated to all Panel members.

The Chair noted it would be useful for the Principal Social Worker to return to the Panel with a couple of social workers to hear their perspective on the service.

The One Croydon Alliance Agreement supports the Council’s key strategic priorities with regard to promoting and sustaining independence, well-being and good health outcomes for Croydon residents.

Kathy Wocial (Lead for OD, Workforce and Communication for One Croydon Alliance) to present.

The One Croydon Alliance representative began by summarising the purpose of the One Croydon Alliance as a health and care partnership to improve outcomes for people over 65 through greater integration in the commissioning and delivery of services. The officer reminded the Panel that at the last meeting it had been reported that the Cabinet had received and approved a Case for Extension, which extended the Alliance Agreement for another ten years. This went on to be signed on 29 March 2018.

The Panel were informed that the LIFE service, which was an integrated re-ablement and rehabilitation service, had been rolled out in September 2017. The service had seen twice as many people as it had been anticipated in the “Out of Hospital” business case. A total of 842 people had been through the service by March 2018, with two thirds of those being over the age of 80. The officer noted that dependency among the clients had been higher than expected, but that hospital and aftercare times had been successfully reduced. The officer told the Panel that more work was needed to integrate the service, highlighting further work to integrate budgets and infrastructure in particular. The officer stated that London Care has now been commissioned as the second new re-ablement service provider to cover the south of the borough. She also reported that the project was working with other boroughs around aligning the “Discharge to Assess” schemes used in different areas to support hospital discharge processes.

The officer informed the Panel that a team of 18 Personal Independence Co-ordinators had been recruited and the services had seen over 500 people, and assisted people in achieving over 1300 personal goals. The Service used the Warwick/Edinburgh Tool to assess baseline assessment and progress on wellbeing. Results showed that there had been improvement above the national average amongst those who had received the service and that Healthwatch had undertaken an independent evaluation of the service which had been positive. The Panel were also informed that the multiagency working model of Huddles had been rolled out in collaboration with the six GP service network areas in the borough. The roll out had completed in the south of the borough at the end of March 2018 but there had been hard evidence from the early adopters that the model  had a positive impact on reducing admissions to hospital.

The officer outlined the next phase of work for the Alliance. This included a major project to improve working with care homes, in particular the council and the CCG would explore more integrated commissioning. There was also work to improve support to Care Homes, including use of technology and the alignment of GP services to improve health care in care homes, improve care planning and reduce unnecessary hospital visits.

Another workstream was reviewing the “Falls Service” including alignment with the LIFE team. In addition to this, there was ongoing work with local communities and the voluntary sector to help promote resilience and self-care. The officer stated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15/18

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

The following motion was moved by Councillor Clouder and seconded by Councillor Bird to exclude the press and public:

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

The motion was put and it was agreed by the Committee to exclude the press and public for the remainder of the meeting.

To approve the Part B minutes of the meeting held on 31 January 2018 as an accurate record.

The Part B minutes of the meeting held on 31 January 2018 were agreed as an accurate record.

The purpose of the report is to update the Adult Social Services Review Panel on the key developments in Croydon in regard to Adult Safeguarding.

The Panel received an update on Adult Safeguarding in Croydon.