Agenda item

[Lousie Haughton,Principal Social Worker, to present report]

David Watts, Director of Adult Services, introduced the report and outlined the background and the reasons for submitting it to the panel for comment. The Director of Adult Services advised the panel that it is not a statutory requirement, but it is accepted as being good practice to do so. The final draft will be published in November 2019.

Louise Haughton, Principal Social Worker, and Jenny Rogers, Advanced Practioner for Quality and Improvement, jointly presented the main findings of the report to the panel. The Advanced Practioner explained that the annual report gives an overview of the performance, progress towards targets and highlighted examples of specific work.

The report highlights challenges facing the service in supporting people. The Advanced Practioner commented on work done with University of Wolverhampton to make the findings more visual and capture a range of different user experiences. At present waiting for national data to be added to the report that will be used to help develop priorities for the service.

The panel queried the process for publishing the annual report and who it would be shared with. The Advanced Practioner advised the panel that the final report will be published on the Council website when the missing national data is received.  The panel queried if the number of carers who had received support from adult social care had reduced from previous year and asked for figures for 2017-18 to compare. The Director of Adult Services explained that people may have had an assessment as a carer but received support which complicates the figure. The Director of Adult Service agreed to provide the panel with details.

The panel discussed work done to promote the use of the carer’s emergency card. The panel were advised that a campaign is planned to promote them and also to give carers the opportunity to meet, while recognising they have different needs and interests. The panel discussed the number and support available to child carers.  The Principal Social Worker agreed to provide the information requested. The Principal Social Worker added that the Council does not know all the carers in Wolverhampton, but work is being done to close the gap. There is work being done to find out from carers about their needs and the support that would be helpful. The Principal Social Worker advised that the service is working with colleagues in school to identify children who are carers, but it is a challenge. Any child who is found will be referred to the MASH to be assessed and provide support. The majority of referrals to the MASH are from schools.

The panel queried the absence in the document to people with protected characteristics and expressed concern that this would have on the willingness to seek help and advice, if there is no recognition in an official document.  The Director of Adult Services responded that employees are not required by national guidance to include information, to declare their sexuality. As the information is not considered to be reliable enough due to the small numbers to make informed conclusions.

The issue of the willingness of clients receiving care to share information about their sexuality has been discussed as part of the ‘3 conversations’ with social workers.

The Director of Adult Services agreed to do dip sampling audit of council records to see what information is available, while also respecting issues of confidentiality. The panel welcomed the report and the progress made.

Kush Patel, Children’s Innovation Lead, added that work is done with HR to add dementia training as part of the induction training for new staff. The panel were advised that 13,000 people had completed dementia friendly training and further work is being done to promote interest in the issue.

The panel queried the work being done to manage the significant increase in the number of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguarding (DOLS) referrals to the Council and the action being planned to ‘future proof’ to ensure that statutory responsibilities are met. The Director of Adult Services reassured the panel that good progress has been made to reduce the backlog of outstanding assessments. The panel were advised that Government have proposed a number of changes to the current process which is expected to reduce the situations where a new DOLS assessment will be required. The aim is to make the assessment portable where people are moving to different locations. A further proposed change is that an DOLS review assessment will not be required where there has been no change in a person’s health. The Director of Adult Services added that the extra funding to meet the increased number of DOLS assessments in the future has been agreed.

The panel discussed the work done to respond to and learn from complaints and compliments detailed in the report. The Principal Social Worker explained that the biggest source of complaints was about delays in providers meeting the needs of carers, as a result of difficulties in recruiting staff. There are ongoing discussions with providers to recruit extra staff to mitigate this.

The panel welcomed the positive the work of the Community Support Team and the opportunities to further develop the current community offer. The panel discussed the opportunities for share local intelligence and work with Ward Directors to respond better to issues of concern. The Director of Adult Services agreed that as Ward Champion there were opportunities to look at a range of issues by working together. The issue of social isolation was highlighted as a concern and there were opportunities for different agencies to collaborate with the local community. The Director of Adult Services agreed to raise the issue at the next meeting of the group to look at how this could be done and was keen to involve local councillors in this discussion. The findings would be reported back to a future meeting of the panel.

The panel queried who was responsible for checking that telecare equipment was working correctly. The Director of Adult Services advised that the Council has a contract with St Johns Ambulance to respond to emergencies. Wolverhampton Homes has a contract to check that the equipment issued is working correctly.

The panel welcomed report and agreed to receive a final draft of the report when available.

Resolved:

1.    The panel agreed to note the report.

2.    The Principal Social Worker agreed to send the panel a final draft of the Adult Social Care Annual Report 2018-19 when published.