Agenda and minutes

Venue: Chamber - County Hall, Carmarthen. SA31 1JP. View directions

Contact: Emma Bryer.  01267 224029

Items
No. Item

1.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors A. L. Fox, E.M.J.G Schiavone and D.T. Williams.

2.

DECLARATIONS OF PERSONAL INTERESTS INCLUDING ANY PARTY WHIPS ISSUED IN RELATION TO ANY AGENDA ITEM

Minutes:

There were no declarations of personal interest or of any prohibited party whips.

3.

PUBLIC QUESTIONS

Minutes:

The Chair advised that no public questions had been received.

4.

PERFORMANCE MONITORING REPORT - QUARTER 1 - 1ST APRIL TO 30TH JUNE 2019 pdf icon PDF 300 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the Performance Monitoring Report for the period 1st April to 30th June 2019 (Quarter 1), which set out the progress against actions and measures in the Corporate Strategy 2018-23 to deliver the 2019/20 Well-being Objectives relevant to the Committee’s remit, as at 30th June, 2019.

 

The following questions / observations were raised on the report:-

 

·         Concern was raised that Delayed Transfer of Care (DTOC) had not met the performance target. 

 

The Interim Head of Integrated Services and Locality Manger advised that the main reason for this was due to issues transferring to the care home sector during the last reporting period.  It was also explained that the timing of how the figures were validated only showed a snap shot for that particular time frame.  The Committee was advised that DOTC was a continuing theme, however improvements had been made in this area and work was continuing with the commissioning team to ensure timely discharge of patients.

 

·         It was asked what was the longest stay for a patient before being sent home. 

 

The Locality Manager advised that this was dependent on where the patient lived.  Some patients in rural locations could occasionally wait a couple of weeks.  Timescales for transfer to care homes were generally shorter at 3-4 days.

 

·         Officers were asked if there was a move towards a position where staff had protected time for learning and development.  

 

The Interim Head of Integrated Services advised that for adult social care, learning and development was a key priority and that there was a comprehensive learning and development programme in place. The programme included practice learning workshops and peer learning. 

 

The Locality Manager advised regular meetings were held with Learning & Development and that there was a rolling programme of training around subjects such as DOLS and mental wellbeing. The provision of e-learning also covered subjects such as domestic violence and Welsh.  Quiet rooms were made available for e-learning and report reading.  The Committee was informed that there was a continuing programme of educational learning in place and that staff were allocated 2 days of study time to complete e-learning modules.

 

The Interim Head of Integrated Service agreed that it was important that staff had quality time for learning; however the concept of protected time was not in place for Social Care. While there was no protected time, it was encouraging to note that the recent CIW report confirmed that staff felt supported in their role.   

 

·         Concern was expressed that there was not enough staff and that recruitment would alleviate pressure on existing staff. 

 

The committee was advised that recruitment was a national problem across the sector and that Welsh Government and Social Care Wales was raising the profile for recruitment. 

 

UNANAMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report be received.

5.

COMPLIMENTS & COMPLAINTS ANNUAL REPORT 2018/19 pdf icon PDF 249 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report detailing the bassline analysis of the Compliments and Complaints received by the Council in the 2018/19 financial year.  The report summarised the number of complaints investigated, analysis of complaints and compliments by department and complaints determined by the Ombudsman.

 

A general query was raised regarding the statistics on complaints determined by the Ombudsman.

 

The Information Governance & Complaints Manager advised that if he received details of the specific information required by email he would be happy to provide the information.

 

UNANAMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report be received.

6.

REVENUE & CAPITAL BUDGET MONITORING REPORT 2019/20 pdf icon PDF 293 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the Revenue and Capital Budget Monitoring Report in relation to the Social Care and Health Service, which provided an update on the latest budgetary position as at 30th June, 2019 in respect of the 2019/20 financial year.

 

The Social Care & Health Service was projecting an overspend of £754K on the revenue budget and net variance of £2K against the 2019/20 approved capital budget.

 

The following questions / observations were raised on the report:

 

Appendix A

 

·         It was asked if there was an indication that the £754K overspend was reducing. 

 

The Group Accountant advised the Committee that it was too soon to say as the reports were being collated and analysed. Further information would be available at month end.

 

Appendix B

 

·         Concern was raised regarding the vacancies within the Occupational Therapy team. 

 

The Head of Integrated Services stated that Occupational Therapy was a priority and while the issue had not been resolved significant progress had been made

 

·         It was asked what was being done to reduce the cost and dependency on agency staff. 

 

The Head of Homes and Safer Communities advised that it was fully appreciated that the reliance on agency staff was unsustainable and that a definitive approach would be finalised in 3-6 months.  The approach would be based on ‘invest to save’ and would incentivise existing staff.

 

Appendix F

 

·         It was asked out of the 199 Mental Health & Learning Disability clients that were funded in a Private Residential Care home, could data be provided detailing the numbers, cost, location, and breakdown of providers. 

 

The Head of Integrated Services advised that the data was available and could be provided to the Committee. It was also stated that many patients had been successfully moved from residential placements into supported living and that the number of clients entering care homes had reduced.

 

RESOLVED that the report be received.

7.

SOCIAL CARE & HEATH SCRUTINY COMMITTEE ANNUAL REPORT 2018/19 pdf icon PDF 364 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received an Annual Report detailing the work of the Committee during the 2018/19 municipal year. The report had been prepared in accordance with Article 6.2 of the Council’s Constitution which requires Scrutiny Committees to prepare an annual report giving an account of the Committee’s activities over the previous year.

 

The report provided an overview of the Committee’s work programme and the key issues considered during the year.  The report also provided details of development sessions and site visits arranged for the Committee as well as attendance data.

 

UNANAMOUSLY RESOLVED that the Social Care & Health Scrutiny Committee’s Annual Report 2018/19 be received.

8.

SOCIAL CARE & HEALTH SCRUTINY COMMITTEE ACTIONS & REFERRALS UPDATE pdf icon PDF 291 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the update report detailing progress in relation to actions, requests and referrals emerging from previous meetings.

 

UNANAMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report be received.

9.

EXPLANATION FOR NON-SUBMISSION OF SCRUTINY REPORT pdf icon PDF 8 KB

Minutes:

The Committee received an explanation for the non-submission of the following scrutiny report:

 

·         Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) Inspection of Older People Services.

 

UNANAMOUSLY RESOLVED that the explanation for the non-submission be noted.

10.

FORTHCOMING ITEMS pdf icon PDF 71 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

UNANAMOUSLY RESOLVED that the list of forthcoming items to be considered at the next scheduled meeting on the 21st November, 2019 be noted.

11.

TO SIGN AS A CORRECT RECORD THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON THE 3RD JULY, 2019 pdf icon PDF 256 KB

Minutes:

UNANAMOUSLY RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on the 3rd July, 2019 be signed as a correct record.

 

Council & Democracy

The Council

Councillors, AMs and MPs

Council departments

Have your say

Committees & Meetings

Strategies and plans