To report on the national performance indicators position and other performance management information for the Adult Social Care and Strategic Housing Divisions within the Adult and Community Services Directorate.

(Councillor PGH Cutter declared a personal interest.)

The Committee considered the national performance indicators position and other performance management information for the Adult Social Care and Strategic Housing Divisions within the Adult and Community Services Directorate.

The Improvement Manager presented the report.   He informed the Committee that 10 performance indicators, rather than 9 as stated in the report, were now on target and it was hoped that of the five indicators currently rated as amber two would be achieved. 

In the ensuing discussion the following principal points were made:

·         In relation to target D54 – equipment delivered within seven days, it was noted that whilst performance in actually delivering the equipment was excellent there could currently be an interval between the equipment’s delivery and its installation.  It was reported that to overcome this delay a plan was in place for equipment to be delivered and installed by the same person.

·         The correlation between the performance figures presented to the Committee and the performance information included in the Corporate Plan was clarified, it being confirmed that the Committee had the most up to date performance information before it.

A number of questions received from Mrs. P. Fender, Welsh Newton, Monmouth are set out below together with the answers given in reply.

Question 1

Freedom of Information request responses have informed carers that there have been no business plans for the carers Grant; this years Grant is £772,000.  Because there have been no records, precisely how is this money being accounted for?

Response

The Carers' Grant is fully used to provide support for carers, including respite - which is known as short breaks. 

The Grant is spent in line with the "Joint Commissioning Plan for Carers' Services 2007-2011.  This plan was approved by the Adult Commissioning Board which is a joint decision making body of both the PCT and Adult Social Care.  Membership of the Board includes the lead Councilor for adult services, the Chair of the Board of the PCT, the Director of Adult and Community Services, the Director of Commissioning from the PCT and a representative from the Alliance.

The Plan outlines the Council’s commissioning intentions.  A number of organisations are funded to provide services in line with those recommendations. The organisations that are funded will have their own business plans.  Our contract monitoring officers meet with the organisations to monitor delivery of the services according to the Service Level Agreement that we have with them.

The type and volume of service to be provided is outlined in the Service Level agreements and contracts that the Council has agreed with the individual organisations.  The organisations provide information on who is receiving services to the Adult social care information section and this forms part of the evidence that is used in collating our performance against P.I.s relating to carers' support.  We have a carer's assessor post in each of the locality teams to ensure that carers have their needs assessed and that their need for services is matched with the services we are purchasing.  These arrangements are kept under review by a Service Design Group, which is multi-agency.

The Local Authority is accountable for the Grant - until this year the Grant was the responsibility of the Director of Adult and Community Services.  However from 2008-2009 this is one of the grants which is part of the Area Based Grant.  It has been agreed that the allocation of the Grant for 2008/2009 will remain as it was for 2007/08 and any recommendations relating to changes in the way the Carers' Grant is to be used will have to be agreed by the Adult Commissioning Board.

Question 2

CSCI Report Jan 2007, Council’s response 2007: The Government continue to require that carers are involved in all carers issues from the outset.  Why is this requirement still persistently ignored, as it has been for the past 7 years?

Response

We have recognised that, in the past, we have not involved carers sufficiently in the planning of services.  There is considerable work underway this year to ensure that we make significant improvements.  This includes commissioning one organisation Herefordshire Carers Support to establish a carers' hub, which will be a centre of advice and support, and will also be tasked with establishing a network to involve carers across the county.   Herefordshire Carers Support (HCS) will be responsible for the Carers Hub and this will be operational this month.  It will be based at Canal Road in Hereford.  The agreement with HCS requires them to double the number of carers receiving information, advice and support within their first year of operation. We have already increased the number of carer support officers in post with an additional officer focussing on support of carers of people with learning disability, and one for carers of adults suffering from mental ill-health. 

The proposed Carers Forum and client specific Networks will be hosted by the Carers Hub and they are starting the work to develop those.  HCS have employed a co-ordinator who is responsible for a three month project to engage as many carers as possible in the design of the forum and/or other appropriate mechanisms for carers to participate and have their voice heard on all relevant matters within Herefordshire.

We have also given notice to those organisations funded to provide short breaks, which these services are to be re-commissioned with new contracts to be let in October 2008.  We intend to ensure that carers will be fully involved in the procurement process.

In recognition of the importance of carers in providing Adult Social Care the Scrutiny Committee has agreed to undertake a detailed review of the way in which carers are involved and supported.  This review will be undertaken this year and will provide an opportunity for carers to give evidence on their experiences.      

Mrs Fender expressed dissatisfaction with the response, asserting that carers were still insufficiently involved in carers issues from the outset and not been involved in consideration of the use of the carers grant.  She questioned whether the proposed carers’ hub was what carers wanted.

The Head of Adult Social Care said that the need for improvement in involving carers in decision making and planning was recognised and systems being implemented were designed to achieve that objective.

The Chairman said that the issues raised could all be considered as part of the Committee’s review of the way in which carers are involved and supported, which would include an opportunity for carers to give evidence on their experiences.

RESOLVED:

That    (a)        the report on Adult Social Care and Strategic Performance be noted; and

(b)               areas of concern continue to be monitored.