To provide information to support the Health, Care and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee’s scrutiny of Community Activity – day provision.

 

The committee considered a report on Community Activity – Day Provision.

 

The slides presented by the Head of Service Living Well are outlined below (in italics), with the principal points noted below.

 

A The Head of Service Living Well introduced the presentation on Community Activity – Day Provision.

 

B The Head of Service Living Well presented:

 

Overview

 

b.1 It was clarified that some of the services provided allow unpaid carers to receive respite and rest from their main caring duties.

 

How Do We Commission?

 

b.2 It was noted that there is a team of direct payments officers that monitor payments and procurement cards on a regular basis directly with the individuals that are cared for. 

 

Community Activities

 

b.3 Community activities are an important element of the council’s preventative services that help to promote the independence of participants and support individuals to gain a number of different skills.

 

b.4 For some, community activities can be an early introduction into mainstream services that are assessed. It supports the unpaid carer to get the rest that they need.

 

b.5 It was added that there is an upcoming review of the council’s community activities. In the previous year, there was a review of community activities working in partnership with Herefordshire Activities Together. The second phase of that piece of work will focus on a wider review of the service provision to look at some of the council’s building-based services and will consider the utilisation of technologies to help promote the independence of individuals.

 

Community Activity Review

 

b.6 The review is currently in its early stages of planning for that piece of work and is intended to be a co-production between the council and individuals who currently access the community activities provision.

 

C The Registered Manager Shared Lives presented:

 

Herefordshire Shared Lives

 

c.1 In addition to the provision of long-term arrangements, and short breaks, a model has just been launched around ‘Shared Days’ which offers an opportunity to find other ways to offer family carers a break during the day.

 

c.2 Once people have been assessed and approved, there is a nominated coordinator who monitors the work that they are doing and supports them to make sure that CQC requirements are met and that the individuals and carers are happy and the arrangements are working.

 

Living Well, Supporting Well

 

Shared Days Scenarios

 

D The Head of Service Living Well presented:

 

Respite

 

d.1 Respite encapsulates a range of different services including bed-based respite, as well as the ability for individuals to have shared lives or take a direct payment to receive respite.

 

d.2 Work is ongoing with the Carers’ Partnership Board to collect data as part of the carers’ action plan to help understand who else is out there who may need a service.

 

Respite Provisions

 

d.3 There are a number of respite services that are delivered in the county that are both bed-based and non-bed-based by different providers.

 

d.4 It was noted that a capital programme exists to support developments in some of the council’s buildings and data will be utilised to help understand what provision is required.

 

What can we learn from other areas?

 

d.5 It was added that there are a number of areas where best practice can be learned from.

 

The Chief Officer Echo introduced himself to the committee.

 

The slides presented by the Chief Officer Echo are outlined below (in italics), with the principal points noted below.

 

E The Chief Officer Echo introduced the presentation on Community Activities in Herefordshire.

 

Who are Herefordshire Activities Together?

 

e.1 It was noted that Herefordshire Activities Together (HAT) is a network of 16 VCSE providers who work together to develop specialist support and accessible community activities for people of all abilities, for public benefit.

 

Community Activities

 

e.2 It was added that support does not often end with the activity that they are doing but it can encompass all aspects of someone’s life.

 

e.3 Community engagement helps to promote the work that is ongoing to support individuals participating in community activities.

 

Community Activities benefits

 

e.4 The services provided help to produce a reduction in the need for acute services through prevention rather than through expensive crisis management.

 

Arts Activities

 

Outdoor Activities

 

Work Skills

 

e.5 Community Activities also help individuals into the workplace and sector specific skills are taught such as woodwork and carpentry, in addition to core work skills such as time-keeping and responsibility.

 

Specialist areas

 

Continuing Improvement

 

e.6 HAT is currently planning its co-production work with other stakeholders which aims to focus on the social care system and the pressure points within it.

 

The Chairperson thanked the Chief Officer Echo for his presentation. The principal points of the subsequent discussion included:

 

i.                The Cabinet Member Adults Health and Wellbeing thanked the voluntary sector for the work that they do with people with learning disabilities and encouraged committee members to visit some of the providers to see the work that is ongoing in the sector.

 

ii.              In response to a question about how much the geographic make-up and the lack of transport links across the county make service provision more complicated, the Chief Officer Echo noted that transport provision is challenging and it is difficult to ensure that everyone has access to the services that they need to access community activities.

 

iii.             The Head of Service Living Well added that there is community activities review that HAT members and non-HAT members will be involved in. As part of the review, work will be done to hear from people who are not currently utilising services but are incoming and how services can be shaped in the future to meet that increase in need. 

 

iv.             The Chief Officer Echo added that support to unpaid carers enables savings to acute services in addition to keeping the cared for independent.

 

v.              The Head of Service Living Well noted that there is an under-utilisation and that there are regular contractual meetings with providers who deliver council services to address this under-utilisation. One way to address this is a new process around all of the council’s respite going through the brokerage team who will do the physical purchasing once need is identified.

 

The draft recommendation was then read out by the Statutory Scrutiny Officer, and the following resolution was agreed by the committee.

 

Resolved:

 

That Herefordshire Council:

 

1. That Herefordshire Council organises a briefing for councillors on the community activity services available in Herefordshire.