That cabinet approves the Market Position Statement 2020-2025 which informs the care and support market on where the future demands on services will be so they can adapt their business models to respond and reflect the needs of the county’s population.

The cabinet member adults and communities introduced the item and highlighted some of the key points. She thanked the adults and wellbeing scrutiny committee for reviewing the document and their recommendations were set out in an appendix to the report.

In discussion of the report cabinet members noted that:

•               The document covered services the council commissioned, the wider market and how to respond to the needs of communities in the future;

•               The design of the document was well received;

•               Unpaid carers made a huge contribution and a review of the carers strategy was currently underway to make sure they had access to the right services and support;

•               Officers had explored the reasons for placing individuals out of county, while some of these placements might be down to being unable to meet specific needs within the county, other individuals chose to be placed further away to be near family members;

•               It was important to have the right choices and options available to support individuals to remain as independent as possible for as long as possible;

•               The document would help care providers to make good investment decisions to develop their businesses and work effectively with the council;

•               Plans were being developed to provide some council-owned care facilities as it was important to have a balance of provision;

•               The document highlighted the role that family members and communities could play in providing support structures;

•               improvements to help those with care needs and their families understand the system and the options available were welcomed;

•               it was recognised that while care at home would often be the best outcome this might not always be the case.

The chairperson of the adult and wellbeing scrutiny committee reflected on some of the comments from the committee. She noted that the majority of the recommendations made by the committee had been accepted and that many had already been actioned. The committee had acknowledged that it was not a statutory requirement to produce this document but recognised the value of it and praised officers for their work on it. Overall the committee was impressed with the level of engagement with providers and the proactive way the council was working with the market to ensure resilience and adequacy to meet the needs of residents now and in the future.

Group leaders were invited to present the views and queries of their group. The document was widely supported and praised for its design. It was noted that:

•               care should be taken in the language used so that it was not too business focussed and it was suggested that references to ‘beds’ should be replaced with ‘placements’;

•               home care providers should be well monitored to ensure the quality of the care provided;

•               it was not known how many individuals were placed in Herefordshire from outside the county but it was not believed to be a high proportion;

•               support for carers was important as they were valuable assets;

•  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74

To approve the Market Position Statement 2020-2025 which informs the care and support market on where the future demands on services will be so they can adapt their business models to respond and reflect the needs of the county’s population.

This item was deferred to the next meeting.

To consider the draft Market Position Statement 2020-2025 for Adults and Communities and to determine any recommendations that the committee wishes to make.

The head of care commissioning presented the Market Position Statement 2020-2025, the principal points included: the statement was not a statutory duty of the council but was considered good practice; the statement was aimed at providers to indicate the strategic direction for the council and to enable providers to align their business plans to meet needs and demand now and in the future; this statement was more diverse than the previous iteration, with greater emphasis on the strengths based approach, technology enabled living, and prevention; attention was drawn to the implications of the ageing population and increasing demand on services, with the consequential need to explore alternative models of support and locality based commissioning responses; providers needed to engage with people on their health and care needs as individuals, rather than centring on particular conditions or disabilities; the commissioning intentions section was an important part of the document and reflected the council’s move to an all ages commissioning approach; further analysis and information for providers would be available through the Understanding Herefordshire website in due course (https://understanding.herefordshire.gov.uk); feedback had been received from other consultees and the statement would be updated accordingly.

The chairperson welcomed the report and invited questions and comments from attendees, the principal points included:

i.           A committee member commented that falls had been an enduring issue and questioned the progress that had been made.  The head of care commissioning provided an overview of the work that had been undertaken and reported that a project was underway, led by the director for adults and communities, to establish an effective system wide falls prevention approach.

ii.         A committee member said that an overriding theme was the council’s reliance on its partners and sought assurances about the resilience of the care home sector and of Primary Care Networks (PCN).

In terms of care homes, the head of care commissioning advised that the council was working continuously with the provider sector on business continuity planning and, whilst noting the significant impact on the sector nationally and locally, said that the implications of Covid-19 on long term goals and aspirations were uncertain at this stage.  The assistant director adult social care operations said that the document set out some of the different models and approaches that would be needed in order to sustain the increase in demand, and the development of the council’s own services and accommodation offer would be key to managing this. 

The assistant director all ages commissioning advised than an unforeseen outcome of Covid-19 was that system working, out of necessity, had improved vastly to ensure that citizens and providers were supported and protected.  The relationship with the PCNs was described as now being much stronger and the PCNs were more forthcoming in their approach; references were made to the provider forum and the Enhanced Health in Care Homes programme.

The assistant director all ages commissioning contrasted the local pattern of care home ownership with the national position, confirmed that care home sustainability was monitored carefully, and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16