Agenda item

Report CS18191

The Committee considered a report outlining progress on the actions within the Adult Care and Health Portfolio Plan 2018-2022 during the six month period from 1^st April 2018 to 30^th September 2018.

The Adult Care and Health Portfolio Plan 2018-22 focused on four priority outcomes which comprised safeguarding, life chances, resilience and wellbeing, integrated health and social care and ensuring efficiency and effectiveness.  There were a number of statements within each priority which were underpinned by actions and measures of success.  By the end of Quarter 2 2018/19, progress had been made on actions across all priority areas.  Key achievements included agreeing the Adult Services Performance Framework, the recruitment of 15 newly qualified social workers, and achieving a 10% increase in participants of adult education courses from disadvantaged areas compared to the previous year.  A “Good” rating had been awarded to the Reablement Service following a recent Care Quality Commission inspection, and improved technology and mobile working arrangements had also been rolled out for Adult Social Care frontline staff.  Further actions to be progressed during the next six month period included the completion of a review into Adult Social Care, work to stabilise the Adult Social Care workforce, and publishing the new Health and Wellbeing Strategy with its associated work plans.  It was also planned to develop the Domiciliary Care Framework and develop and implement new Housing IT systems.

The Assistant Director: Strategy, Performance and Business Support (ECHS) outlined work being undertaken to further embed a culture of customer engagement within Education, Care and Health Services Department that would be supported by the User Voice Framework, an internal tool to support officers in consistently delivering quality engagement.  Further information on the User Voice Framework would be provided to Members following the meeting.

In considering the update, a Member noted that the review of the Occupational Therapy Service had recommended the creation of a permanent Service Lead and additional therapists to support the delivery of a more robust service and that recruitment was underway.  The Member underlined the importance of ensuring that any equipment requested by Occupational Therapists was provided to service users in a timely manner, such as handrails and stair lifts. 

In response to a question from a Member, the Assistant Director: Strategy, Performance and Business Support (ECHS) explained that it was a requirement under the Section 75 agreement that the Director: Public Health spend 40% of their time supporting the National Health Service, but that this primarily related to ensuring that Public Health made a proportional contribution to pieces of work undertaken by the National Health Service.  The Member also noted the aim to define a vision for Adult Social Care to set out a direction of travel for the future delivery of services, and the Director: Adult Social Care confirmed that it was necessary to have a continually evolving vision for the service to ensure it was well-placed to meet the changing demands of service users.

RESOLVED that progress made in achieving the actions within the Adult Care and Health Portfolio Plan 2018-2022 be noted.