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;

•               support was needed to help individuals move to properties which were more suited to them to allow them to continue to live independently as an alternative to a care placement;

•               there was support for keeping individuals in a family environment where possible;

•               it was recognised that the coronavirus pandemic had made people reconsider their situations;

•               the challenges of the aging population were recognised.

The cabinet member health and adult wellbeing thanked those present for their contributions and undertook to make final adjustments to the wording of the document where possible prior to publication of the final version.

It was resolved that:

a)            cabinet approves the attached draft Market Position Statement 2020-25 in appendix a; and

b)            that cabinet approves the response to the scrutiny recommendation in appendix b.