The Director of Adult Social Care gave an update to Members on work being undertaken across the Adult Social Care department.

The Director of Adult Social Care advised Members that the department had continued to be busy as they worked to get back to the “new normal”. Staff were still largely working from home, sickness levels remained very low and teams were completing the work required. It was noted that referral numbers had started to increase but were still lower than would be expected.

The team had continued to provide support to care providers who were experiencing infections, but the Director of Adult Social Care said she was pleased to confirm that the level of infections was now very low. This being the case, the multi-agency surveillance meetings had been stepped down to one per week.

Lateral Flow Test Grants had been allocated to providers, which would enable them to provide tests for visitors who were now allowed into care homes, and the grant could be used to generally support the additional activity required. The Workforce Grant was being used to assist with “training-up” staff in Infection Control measures. The department were seeking to create a network of Infection Control Champions across the sector who, following training, could give advice which would reduce the demand on public health colleagues.

The Director of Adult Social Care advised that support had continued to be provided to the vaccination programme with a national focus on care staff. The number receiving the vaccination continued to increase and in care homes now averaged 80%, with a number of homes reaching 100%.

The previous week, with Community Links Bromley, the department had held the second workshop to develop a new vision and action plan for day services. Twelve providers were working with the Council to consider how, together, they could develop a balanced portfolio of day activities across the borough and to better communicate what day opportunities were available to residents. Topics under discussion had included creating more community-based activities; linking day activities to extra care housing and care homes activities; creating a directory of services that people could access on coming out of lockdown; and developing intergenerational activities. Representatives from six local organisations were working with Council officers in a Task and Finish group to complete an action plan for sharing by the summer.

A Member noted that the grants scheme and day centre workshop sounded extremely positive and enquired as to how the views of carers would be taken into account when developing the vision. It was also questioned if other groups, such as the faith sector, would be engaged with and what work was being undertaken to identify underused spaces. The Assistant Director for Integrated Commissioning advised that the second workshop had allowed voluntary sector partners to share their ideas and thoughts. They planned to initially scope a vision for day activities which was inclusive and provided a diverse range of services. This information would then be shared, and the views of carers and service users would be gathered. Community Links Bromley (CLB) had a digital directory of services, which the team were looking to help rejuvenate. They hoped to capture as many services as possible and would like to have more faith sector groups included within the database. With regards to the work being undertaken to identifying community spaces, good progress was being made and CLB would also be compiling a database of this information. It was noted that representatives from the Hanover Housing Association had offered the use of spaces attached to their Extra Care Housing at a reduced rate for the delivery of day services for vulnerable residents. The Assistant Director for Integrated Commissioning advised Members that, following the consultation being undertaken, they would be provided with a further update in the summer.

In response to a question, the Portfolio Holder for Adult Care and Health said that the workshop had emphasised the fantastic support delivered by providers throughout the pandemic. Consideration would be given to new and innovative ways to take ideas forward, particularly connected to Extra Care Housing. The feedback received from providers indicated that a number were supporting cohorts of service users with severe dementia. It was important that, within the training identified, activities from the dementia services were promoted and used.

The Director of Adult Social Care highlighted that relationships with both care providers and the voluntary sector had gone from strength to strength and they were considering ways to maintain this across the whole of Bromley post-pandemic.

Member were advised that Tricia Wennell, who had headed up the older adults service, would sadly be leaving the Council on the 9^th April 2021 following many years of work for the Local Authority. Some temporary arrangements had been put in place whilst they recruited an Assistant Director for Operational Services, who would take the lead on services for all adults, including those for people with a learning disability and mental health needs. The new post would work alongside the newly appointed Principal Social Worker, Christine Mak, who had joined the team a few weeks ago and was already developing good relationships across the services and would help to embed strengths-based practice. Overall, the Director of Adult Social Care felt that the department was in a very positive position as they moved into spring, and hopefully out of the pandemic.

A Member thanked the Director of Adult Social Care for the notification of staff changes. This was extremely helpful and it was considered that other Directors may wish to report the same information at other Committees.

With regards to mental health, a Member asked what impact was being seen on services as a result of the pandemic. The Director for Adult Social Care advised that Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust were commissioned to provide Care Act responsibilities and the department worked with them closely. There had been a very real increase in demand, both from existing patients and new patients not previously known to the service. During discussions with Oxleas they had confirmed that people were presenting with much more complex needs which they believed were linked to the pandemic. It was noted that the Service Director (Bromley Directorate) – Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust could be asked to provide an update relating to this at a future meeting of the Health Scrutiny Sub-Committee.

RESOLVED that the update be noted.