[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 and reminded everyone that microphones should be muted and cameras off, unless they have been invited to speak.

No apologies received.

There were no declarations of interest recorded.

[To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 15 February 2022 as a correct record]

The panel members voted and approved the minutes of the meeting held on 15 February 2022 as being a correct record.

[Becky Wilkinson, Director Adult Services, to present]

Becky Wilkinson, Director Adult Services, gave a brief verbal update on a recent change to the Governments mandatory Covid 19 vaccination policy.

The policy required people working in all CQC registered services to be double vaccinated by the end of November 2021.

The Director of Adult Services advised the panel that following a consultation and review of the policy the Government decided to repeal the mandatory vaccination legislation. The change became effective from 15 March 2022 and managers have been advised that no further meetings will be required for people working in CQC registered services who have not been double vaccinated.

The Director of Adult Services advised the panel that service will continue to offer vaccinations to care workers who want to be vaccinated and encourage other workers who have concerns to consider getting vaccinated.

The panel were invited to either ask questions or comment on the update.

The panel thanked the presenter and queried the implications of the policy change for family members who may be concerned that care workers supporting their relatives in care homes are not fully vaccinated and wanted reassurance.

The Director of Adult Services advised the panel that the current vaccination rate in care homes is at 96 per cent and it is estimated that about 100 people are either medically exempt or have chosen to leave the profession. The Director of Adult Services commented that in terms of advice to care homes the Council will continue to provide infection prevention control teams to support them.

The Director of Adult Services reassured the panel that while the requirement for Covid 19 testing will end in March 2022 there will still be a requirement that people visiting a care home to have a negative lateral flow test result before they can enter.

The Director of Adult Services added that should anyone test positive for Covid 19 in a care home then it will be closed for admissions to new residents or visitors while the outbreak is dealt with, the aim is to keep the most vulnerable people as safe as possible.

The panel thanked the presenter and agreed to note the update on the policy.

[Jennifer Rogers, Principal Social Worker, to present the report]

The Chair invited Jenny Rogers, Principal Social Worker, to present the report. The Principal Social Worker advised the panel that the Council does an annual survey to check on the ‘health’ of its social workers as part of Adult Service ongoing self-assessment.

The Principal Social Worker advised the panel the survey was extended to the wider workforce a few years ago. The survey information gives an insight into social work practice and the general wellbeing of the workforce. The annual health check survey was a key recommendation of the National Social Work Task Force which was set up by the Government.

The Principal Social Worker advised the panel that the report gives an overview of the main findings from both surveys, highlighting areas of strength, a review of progress made since the previous annual health check report and future actions.

The Principal Social Worker advised the panel that overall, the survey findings were positive particularly when considering challenges the workforce faced during the pandemic. The Principal Social Worker advised the panel that the survey was sent out between September and November 2021.

The survey response rate was higher than the previous year following the introduction of protected time during briefings or team meetings to allow people time to complete the form. There is further work planned to increase the number of survey responses to get results which are more representative of the wider workforce. The Principal Social Worker advised the panel that an action plan is being developed in a ‘you said we did’ format to report on progress during the year and to make clear the tangible difference taking part in the survey has made.

The Principal Social Worker gave more details of the main findings from the survey outlined in the report. The panel were invited to comment and or questions about the report.

The panel thanked the presenter for the report and welcomed the positive findings from the survey.

The panel queried the issue of the retention of social workers and frontline adults’ workforce within the Council and requested more details about the definition of the term ‘manageable workload’ referred to in the report and the issues highlighted by the workforce about this issue.

The Principal Social Worker commented on the difficulty in quantifying what a manageable workload is and often the approach has been to quantify it in terms of case numbers and as a guide 25 cases would be manageable, but this would depend on the complexity and mix of the cases. There would also need to be a consideration of the experience and skills of the social worker when considering workload issues.

The Principal Social Worker commented on the importance of social workers having high-quality supervision sessions to give them the opportunity to talk about case workload issues and their other commitments. The Principal Social Worker commented on the importance of offering social workers who may be struggling with their workload different strategies that could help them better manage their caseload and offering wellbeing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.