Minutes:
The Director of Adult Social Care gave an update to Members on work being undertaken across the Adult Social Care department.
In relation to the budget, the Director of Adult Social Care advised that whilst there had continued to be a number of pressures relating to the spend, a downturn in spend against Discharge to Assess was being seen following work undertaken to tighten up on the process of ongoing funding post hospital discharge. Care costs continued to present challenges and they were about to enter into negotiations in relation to inflationary increases for the coming year. It was anticipated that, going forwards, there would be some challenging conversations as the expectations of providers were unrealistic in terms of growth that the Council was able to afford.
Members were advised that as part of the work to deliver transformation savings in the next year, the department had started a piece of work to explore the potential of the Council delivering a care home direct. It was noted that some other London Boroughs had gone down this route, so they were seeking to learn from them whilst exploring this for Bromley – previous work indicated that this was not a cost effective model, but it was considered to be worth exploring again. In response to questions, the Director of Adult Social Care said that the Assistant Director for Integrated Commissioning would be leading on this work and a wide range of options would be considered. This would be a significant piece of work and therefore findings would not be available until the autumn. The Portfolio Holder for Adult Care and Health noted that proposals had previously been considered in 2018 and 2019, and therefore a template had already been established that the Assistant Director for Integrated Commissioning would be working to. The work undertaken would need to be thorough to ensure they met both service delivery needs and remained within the financial envelope.
The Director of Adult Social Care said she was pleased to report that the department was on target to deliver 100% of the efficiency and transformation savings that had been planned for this year, a sum of over £3.5m – huge thanks were extended to every team member that helped to achieve this.
The Director of Adult Social Care informed Members that the department continued to prepare for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Assurance process and were making good progress with the new Principal Social Worker who was taking a forensic look at all the work undertaken, particularly in relation to practice.
Members were advised that, sadly, two long standing Heads of Service would shortly be leaving the Council. Grace John-Baptiste, who had headed up the mental health service in Oxleas was retiring and Jane Campbell, Principal Occupational Therapist and Service Lead had also decided to leave her role, to take up opportunities to work more directly with service users. The Director of Adult Social Care expressed her thanks to both for all their work and wished them well for the future.
The Director of Adult Social Care informed Members that she had attended an event the previous evening, organised by the Social Care Institute for Excellence, to share experience of working with them on the digital opportunities. David Walker from Bromley Third Centre Enterprise had also attended and together they shared how the engagement with staff and people that used services could positively impact on change. They had been commended for the work they had undertaken by some major national partners, such as the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), CQC, the national carers lead and also a colleague from Denmark who was visiting to learn more about Adult Social Care and how it was delivered. The Director of Adult Social Care advised that she had also been interviewed by a colleague from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) about how, as a Director, she managed the need to make efficiencies against growing demand – they were wanting to showcase good practice and were keen to learn from their experience in Bromley.
The Director of Adult Social Care highlighted the successes last week of colleagues in Public Health, and the Principal Loneliness Champion and Strategy Officer at the IESE awards. It had been a great evening with Bromley bringing home two awards for the work supporting people who were homeless and also the loneliness work. The Chairman asked that congratulations be extended to officers on behalf of the Committee.
The Director of Adult Social Care informed Members that, with regards to the Adult Social Care Award ceremony, the celebrations had been scaled back this year as they did not have the same level of available funding as last year. Thanks to the support of a number of sponsors, they were now planning for the event to take place at the Civic Centre on the evening of 27th June 2024 – apologies were extended to Members for the change of date.
RESOLVED that the update be noted.