Minutes:
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 was pleased to report that all services were operating as business as usual, although staff largely remained working from home in line with the current government guidance. Work was continuing to plan a managed return to the office, bearing in mind the need for continued vigilance and social distancing.
Demand for services had continued to increase, and a snapshot was provided, taken from the last performance update:
Number of Referrals into Adult Social Care (via the community):
• There had been 1,042 referrals into Adult Social Care for the year to date. This was a rise of +18.1% compared to the same period in 2020/21 and was a likely impact of the initial lockdown last year.
• For the year to date, 71.5% of the referrals received resulted in further work and 20.8% resulted in no services being provided.
• Only 6% of referrals had been signposted to other services, which would suggest that the helpdesk (prior to referrals being captured on CareFirst) was working well at diverting demand from the teams.
Assessments completed:
• An initial increase year on year in assessments undertaken had been seen, with 685 assessments completed by the teams on CareFirst for the year to date. This was a rise of +27.1% compared to the same period in 2020/21.
• Currently there were 299 assessments that had been started and not yet completed/authorised.
A Member considered that it would be beneficial to have a visual representation of the figures provided. The Director of Adult Social Care advised that performance would be reported in greater detail at the September 2021 meeting of the Committee and highlighted that the department reviewed this data on a monthly basis. The Member suggested that this information could be shared with the Committee more regularly.
The Director of Adult Social Care informed Members that work was continuing to plan how the department could continue to deliver the Single Point of Access (SPA) and out of hospital activity. The team had been announced as finalists in the MJ Awards for their integrated work with health, which was a real plaudit, and the results would be known later in the autumn. The priority for the work on the SPA was to ensure that the department could move forward in a financially robust way as discharge funding through health, that had been in place through the pandemic, would shortly be ending.
In support of Step 3 of the government’s plans to take the country out of the pandemic lockdown the department had supported the reopening of day services on 17th May 2021. Providers were supported with advice from Public Health on meeting infection control standards and received grants to assist their reopening with the right safety measures in place. The lockdown regulations on social distancing and infection control required that day centres operate with limited capacity for the time being. Priority had been given to supporting those residents who live with family carers and or those living in isolation.
For older people the Saxon Day Centre was open now and the Biggin Hill Centre would reopen in August 2021. The new learning disability day services came on stream from May 2021 with residents gradually returning to services following assessments of their needs. 18 residents were now back at the Astley Day Centre and 26 residents were now engaged with the new community-based services. The team would begin to move to full attendance following the lifting of restrictions.
The Director of Adult Social Care noted that Members would be aware of the national focus on vaccinations for staff working in Care Homes and those that visit homes. There was a 16-week lead into the requirement for all staff to have had both vaccinations in order to work in client facing roles, subject to parliamentary approval. Bromley’s performance was better than most of London but there remained some homes that required additional support. HR were also working up a process to ensure that the department had accurate data about its own staff who visited care homes. This was a large group of staff and there needed to be an easily accessible and secure way of logging their vaccination status that did not currently exist.
Discussions were continuing with SEL CCG regarding the new Integrated Care System and how this would operate locally and be governed. The importance of Place was being emphasised and engagement with local officers and key politicians was being maintained.
Nicola Gage would be starting her role as the new Assistant Director for Operational Services on the 16th August 2021. Nicola was coming from a role in East Sussex where she had lead responsibility for managing hospital services and financial services and had a wide range of experience from previous roles across adult services. As a Bromley resident Nicola was very excited to be joining the department, and it was suggested that she be invited to attend a future meeting of the Adult Care and Health PDS Committee.
The Director of Adult Social Care extended her thanks to Nick Fripp who had started as the Transformation Lead, giving the programme focus, structure and pace. Nick had been covering the Assistant Director role prior to Nicola starting and was now moving on to a fresh venture. The Director of Adult Social care wished him well and thanked him for all the support he had given to her and the service during this time.
In response to a question, the Director of Adult Social Care that the present requirements regarding vaccinating staff was only in relation to care homes, and not day centres, however the Local Authority was working to support all providers. Some staff remained hesitant, but they were working hard to reassure them and make it as easy as possible for them to receive their vaccination. Following government guidance, later in the year, staff working face to face in residential homes would have to be vaccinated. It was suggested that providers would be asked to find different roles for staff that refused the vaccination – however this would be challenging as there were very few back-room roles.
A Member asked for further information regarding the Transformation Programme. The Director of Adult Social Care advised that the Transformation Programme was continuing to be delivered and a review was currently taking place of where the programme currently stood in terms of both finance and change in culture. A staff consultation was almost complete and monthly meetings took place with the entire team to consider the stage they were at and financial impact. The Programme was on track across most areas, however there had been some impact this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
RESOLVED that the update be noted.