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, how questions are to be asked and any matters of meeting etiquette.]

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

 No declarations of interest recorded.

Minutes of Meeting 17 October 2023 approved as correct record.

[Courtney Abbott, Quality and Improvement Advanced Practitioner, to present report]

The Chair invited Courtney Abbott, Quality and Improvement Advanced Practitioner, to present the report on the findings of the Adult Service’s social work and wider workforce health check for 2022 report actions.

The report was prepared in response to a request at the time from the panel who wanted a mid-year update of progress against actions. The Quality and Improvement Advanced Practitioner briefed the panel on the progress of actions from the health check survey 2022. 

A copy of the presentation is attached.

The Quality and Improvement Advanced Practitioner commented that the progress on some of the actions, implementing a trauma informed practice may take some time to see the impact of the changes. 

The Quality and Improvement Advanced Practitioner advised the panel that work is in progress to analyse the findings of 2023 survey, which recently closed. The findings of the latest survey will be presented to the panel in March 2023. The survey findings will be presented to the Social Workers in September 2024 and the wider workforce in October 2024.

The Quality and Improvement Advanced Practitioner invited the panel to comment and provide challenge on the proposed future actions to improve practice conditions for, and the health of, social work and the wider workforce.

The Chair thanked the presenter for the report and presentation. The panel were invited to comment and ask questions.

A panel member welcomed the work to improve social worker retention rates and manage case workloads.  The panel member queried the issue of support for people with complex care needs who may find it difficult to manage changes in the person providing their care and or the social worker and wanted further details about what would be done in this situation.

Jenny Rogers, Principal Social Worker, commented on the importance of relationship-based practice and that in respect of care organisations providers there is a similar expectation that where possible the same person should be used to provide care.

The Principal Social Worker acknowledged the national staffing challenges affecting the care sector and the impact of turnover rates and reassured the panel that the aim is to keep staff changes to a minimum.

Sandra Ashton-Jones, Head of Adult Services, advised the panel that as regards changes in a social worker then the service aims to arrange a ‘warm handoff’ where the current social worker introduces the person who will be taking over their case to help reduce possible disruption in their care arrangements.

A panel member queried what meaningful support would be offered to a care worker or social worker who reports to their manager that they are feeling stressed and struggling with their case load.

The Principal Social Worker commented on the importance of regular supervision in identifying this early as an issue and added that it should not reach the situation where someone reports they are feeling overwhelmed. The Principal Social Worker highlighted the reference in the report about this issue of burnout and the action being taken in response, for example,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

[Andrew Wolverson, Deputy Director of Commissioning and Transformation of Children's Services, to present report]

The Chair invited Andrew Wolverson, Deputy Director of Commissioning and Transformation of Children's Services, to present report.

The Deputy Director gave a presentation about the preparation for the new adult services inspection regime introduced nationally. The inspection will be undertaken by the Care Quality Commission.

The Deputy Director advised the panel that the local authority has specific duties under the Care Act (2014) and there is now a duty announced in April 2023 to be independently reviewed in terms of how it is delivering against a core set of functions. At the end of the inspection a rating will be published outcome/rating (Inadequate, Requires Improvement, Good or Outstanding) as with Ofsted ratings against the core functions.

The Deputy Director commented on the progress of the Strategic Improvement Plan and advised the panel that the document will provide evidence actions against areas of development identified in the Self-Assessment.

A copy of the presentation is attached.

The panel were invited to comment on the report and presentation.

A panel member queried the impact on the assessment of not meeting one of nine listed categories and commented on those services which the Council delivers either jointly is reliant on partner organisation and the need to make clear which parts of the system are not working and give assurance that such issues are being addressed as a partnership.

The Deputy Director referred to care home provision where the majority of which is delivered by the private sector. The Council works with owners to try and influence and improve the quality of care provided. The Deputy Director commented separately on the work being done to support privately owned residential care home where there may not have the same dedicated roles compared to a larger care home organisation.

The Deputy Director commented that the care home sector is experiencing a high turnover of managers and several homes previously rated as ‘good’ are now being rated as either ‘requires improvement or in a recent example, as ‘inadequate’.

The Deputy Director commented on the impact of Covid 19 on care home providers and that the Council is supporting them with a focus on making sure Wolverhampton residents have access to the best care. 

The Deputy Director reassured the panel that the Council has very good systems in place to monitor and this has been successful in helping a care provider improve their establishment home rating from ‘inadequate’ to ‘good’ in short period of time.

A panel suggested that it would be helpful to invite a representative of Occupational Therapy Service to a future meeting. The Deputy Director agreed to bring a report to a future meeting. The Deputy Director commented that there is a national shortage of Occupational Therapists and the longest waiting times are for people wanting to access this service.

The Deputy Director suggested that a report could also include work being done address the issue, for example, the introduction of an online self-assessment form and alternative shorter form when a person needs something specific such  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

[Sandra Ashton-Jones, Head of Mental Health, to present report]

The Chair invited Sandra Ashton Jones, Head of Adult Services, to present the report.

The Head of Adult Services introduced Lesley Johnson, Carer & Community Support Manager, to answer specific questions on the work and performance of the care and support team referenced in the presentation.

The Head of Adult Services advised the panel that the presentation would provide an update on progress on the Council’s commitment to all age carers strategy launched in December 2022 that was considered earlier in the year. At the time the panel requested an update on progress of work done against the objectives in the strategy be presented to a future meeting.

The Head of Adult Services advised the panel that a carer is defined as someone who supports a person such as a family member or friend in an unpaid capacity.

In the most recent census, 24,000 people in Wolverhampton identified themselves as a carer and the locality teams are currently working with between 5000 to 7000 carers in the city and that includes carers under the age of 18 and parent carers.

The Head of Adult Services gave a summary of the presentation. A copy of the presentation is attached.

The panel thanked the presenter for the report.

The Chair invited the panel to comment on the presentation.

A panel thanked the presenter for the comprehensive report and queried the number of unpaid carers in Wolverhampton. The Head of Adult Services advised the panel that 84,000 people have identified themselves as carers this compares to 27,000 reported in the 2021 Census. The Head of Adult Services added that a finding from the census was that there has been a significant increase in the number of hours unpaid care provided.

A panel member queried the low take up of the offer of £100 one off payment in 2023/2024 to support carers with the increase in the cost of living. At present 250 carers have received the offer which is equivalent to about 1 per cent of people who identified themselves as a carer.

The Head of Adult Services advised that the offer is promoted during the carer’s conversation as part of the assessment and in addition carers have been given extra financial help through the Household Support Fund. The funding has been used by carers to purchase laptops and driving lessons. The Head of Adult Service acknowledged the low take up of the offer and reassured the panel of the efforts will continue to increase the numbers. 

A panel member expressed the concern that based on the current rate of progress it was unlikely that all 24,000 carers would take up the offer of the one-off payment by the end of March 2024.

The Head of Adult Services advised the panel that the service is working with between 5,000 to 7,000 people and commented that some people may not identify themselves as carers and this is the group the service is trying to reach and provide with support.

Lesley Johnson, Carer and Community  ...  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 agenda for future meetings and invited members to suggest new topics or questions for report authors to ensure issues of interest are covered.

The Chair thanked the presenter for the report.

Resolved:

The panel agreed to note the report.