Agenda item

Report ACH20002

The Committee considered a report which detailed the findings of the quality monitoring of care homes during 2019 and set out the work undertaken by the Council and its partners to improve the standards of care delivered to people living in residential settings.

The Contract Compliance Team closely monitored and reviewed the quality of care delivered in care homes, extra care housing and supported living schemes in Bromley. This was done using intelligence gathered from monitoring visits; Care Quality Commission (CQC) ratings; reports and reviews of safeguarding alerts; complaints received by the Council and information shared by the health and third sector partners in Bromley.

The Head of Contract Compliance and Monitoring highlighted that the number of care homes rated ‘good’ improved during 2019, however one care home had recently been rated ‘inadequate’. The percentage of Bromley care homes rated ‘good’ or above had improved over the last three years to 87% at December 2019, compared to 77% in December 2018 and 65% in December 2017. It was noted that this showed the impact of the hard work put in by the team, the CQC and the care homes themselves. There had been significant improvements in the activities provided, and plans written, by both nursing and care homes.

A Member noted that this was another ‘good news story’ which, along with the work undertaken in relation to DToC, could be passed on to other Directors of Social services. It was suggested that the Director of Adult Social Care could speak with the Communications Executive to consider how the Borough’s success stories could be shared across London. Another Member asked if there was the potential for income generation from these value added services. The Director of Adult Social Care said that this was not been something that was currently being considered, but it was certainly a service whose strengths should be celebrated.

In respect of Extra Care Housing, the Head of Contract Compliance and Monitoring said that there were currently two schemes rated ‘requires improvement’. Both were working on improvement plans towards achieving ‘good’ ratings, and during the year there had been significant improvements in the service delivery. A Member questioned how Bromley benchmarked against other comparative boroughs. The Head of Contract Compliance and Monitoring advised that the CQC published PAN London figures, which indicated that Bromley were performing well.

In response to a question, the Director of Adult Social Care informed Members that there was enough capacity in care homes for those looking to fund their own care. It was noted that some care homes would charge a premium rate for patients coming out of hospital. There were enough beds overall, however they were not necessarily at the rates which the Local Authority could pay, and an incentive needed to be built in to encourage the care homes to work with them.

A Member noted that the budget head for the service was stated as £40.8m, and requested that a breakdown of the finance costs for the Contract Compliance Team be provided.

The Chairman led the Committee in thanking the Head of Contract Compliance and Monitoring for her contribution to the Committee over a number of years, and wished her all the best for her upcoming retirement.

RESOLVED that the actions taken to ensure that Providers maintain and improve the quality of service provided to care home residents be noted.