Agenda and minutes

[The Chair to welcome everyone to the meeting.]

Cllr Val Evans, Chair, welcomed everyone to the meeting and advised it was being live streamed to the press and public. A recording of the meeting would be available for viewing on the Council’s website at a future date.

[The Chair will explain how the meeting will proceed.]

Cllr Evans explained the protocol to be followed during the meeting for asking questions.

Apologies were received from the following:

Cllr Dr Michael Hardacre

Cllr Linda Leach

Cllr Rohit Mistry

Cllr Sally Green substitute for Cllr Linda Leach

No declarations of interest recorded.

[To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 20 November 2023 as a correct record].

Minutes of Meeting 20 November 2023 were approved as correct record.

[To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 5 December 2023 as a correct record].

The Minutes of Meeting 5 December 2023  were approved as correct record.

[Andrew Wolverson, Deputy Director, Adult Social Care, to present report]

The Chair invited Andrew Wolverson, Director of Adult Social Care, to present the report on the Wolverhampton Adult Social Care - Provider Care and Support Review 2024/25.

The Director of Adult Social Care advised that members of the panel were being asked to endorse Option 3 which is the preferred option to support the Council to provide market stability in the adult care sector whilst also being financially prudent.

The Director listed the factors that the panel were also being asked to consider when reaching their conclusions, for example, the cost drivers affecting the adult social care market in Wolverhampton.

The Director gave a presentation which set out the background and context to the Council’ legal duties under the Care Act 2014 to promote the effective and efficient operation of the adult social care market in Wolverhampton.

The Director advised the panel of the different types of care and support included in the provider review, for example, Home Care and Residential and Nursing and those out of scope.

The Director presented information in support on Option 3 as being preferred option and referred to details in the appendices.

The Director invited panel members to comment on the report and presentation.

The Chair thanked the presenter for the presentation.

A panel member queried if the Director was confident that both the users of the service and the Council were getting value for money and asked for details of the checks and balances in place to give assurance that residents are getting the care that is being paid for.

The Director advised the panel that an exercise was done over 12 months ago which asked care providers for details of their costs as part of preparation for the Market Sustainability and Fair Cost of Care Fund. A reference to the findings will be presented to Cabinet Resources Panel tomorrow which will provide assurance about the level of fees paid.

The Director commented that anyone in receipt of funding from the council will have a social care assessment, which is reviewed annually. The service is working to clear a backlog of outstanding reviews.

The annual reviews provide an opportunity to check if the placement is meeting the care and support needs of the individual. If the persons needs are not being met, then the Council can go back to the care provider to discuss this further.

The Director advised the panel that a review is also done within six weeks of a person being discharged from hospital to put together a package of reablement.

The Council will reassess the persons ongoing needs after this initial period. In term of checks on quality the review will allow the service to see what the provider is doing in respect of the fees being paid. The annual care review will also provide a check to see if the level of fees is consistent with what is being paid across the Black Country region by other local authorities.

The Director reassured that panel that information about fee  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

[Andrew Wolverson, Deputy Director Adults Services, to present report]

The Chair invited Andrew Wolverson, Director of Adult Social Care, to present report.

The Director advised the panel that the presentation would cover proposed changes to the Quality Assurance Framework and Suspension Policy.

The Director outlined the differences between the current and the new system and the purpose of Quality Assurance Framework. A copy of the presentation is attached.

The Director invited the panel to comment on the draft policy.

The Chair thanked the presenter for the report and invited the panel to comment on the proposed changes.

A panel member expressed concern about proposals to reduce the number of monitoring visits as part of the new working arrangements. The panel member was  concerned that care providers under the proposed arrangements would be unwilling to report a serious incident to the Council which could lead to criticism for not taking appropriate early action and suggested this idea should be reviewed.

The Director advised the panel that the Council has been working colleagues in health in developing the plan. The Director reassured the panel that Quality Officers from the Council were not the only individuals responsible for visiting care homes and reporting incidents. The Director commented that the culture does not exist where everyone who visits a care home consider it is part of their responsibility to notice and report issues of poor care quality. The aim of the strategy is to build a relationship with care providers through partnership and cooperation approach.

The proposed Quality Assurance Framework document was developed with partners to look at the number of professionals that visit a care setting and offered them the challenge as why concerns were not raised and reported by colleagues. The launch of the framework is asking partners to think about how they can support identifying issues by providing intelligence about complaints. A new system has recently been introduced to allow people to raise complaints about care providers with the Commissioning Team. The Director highlighted referrals to the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) team about safeguarding as another source of intelligence that could be used to identify concerns about a care provider, and this would lead to checks of other information which could suggest that there is a more serious issue to be investigated.

The aim is that future monitoring visits will be more intelligence led and occur when there are either serious concerns or various concerns that cannot be monitored as part of the proposed desktop exercise.

The Director added that a new system has been introduced for people to raise any complaints about their care which is reported automatically to the Commissioning Team.

The Director gave further details about the reasons for the change in approach and the benefits in terms of improved quality of care and early identification of issues with care providers.

A panel member queried the Quality Provider Self Assessments form completed by care providers and the specifically the number of complaints would result in a suspension and how a serious complaint would be treated after earlier  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

[Earl Piggott-Smith, Scrutiny Officer, to present report]

The Chair invited Earl Piggott-Smith, Scrutiny Officer, to present the report.

The Scrutiny Officer commented on the draft work programme. The panel were invited to comment on the draft work programme.

The panel thanked the presenter for the report.

Resolved:

The panel agreed to note the report.