Agenda item

The Committee was informed that in line with the requirements of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009 the Authority must publish an Annual Report on past performance by the end of October each year and under the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2005 the Authority was also required to publish an Annual Report on its Well-being Objectives.

The Council’s draft Annual Report included the Well-being Objectives relevant to the Social Care & Health Scrutiny Committee.  The report provided an overview of 2017/18 performance, progress reports for all 15 Well-being Objectives and a link to track progress on every specific action and target set for each Well-being Objective.  The report also provided additional performance information on out-turn data (September) and National Survey for Wales Results (June), which would be updated when results became available.

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

·       With reference to people being kept in hospital waiting for social care packages, officers were asked how long they have to wait.  The Committee was advised that each scenario is unique as they may involve packages of care in rural area, complex care needs, mental incapacity etc.  However, it was hoped that no-one would have to wait more than 4 weeks.  The majority of people leave straight away and it is only in the more rural areas that the difficulties lie;

·       Reference was made to the fact that discharge planning starts 24 hours before a patient is discharged and officers were asked why this process could not be brought forward to reduce any delay.  The Committee was advised that on admission to hospital wards identify patients who will require support on discharge so physiotherapy and occupational health assessments are arranged at that time;

·       Officers were asked how the Authority compares with other Welsh Authorities in terms of lead-in time.  The Committee was informed that officers are currently undertaking a piece of work, Independent Pathways for Older People, which will include comparative data.  This report will be presented to Committee at a future meeting;

·       Concern was expressed over the fact that in 2017/18 62.1% of carers felt supported to continue their caring role which was a decline on the previous year’s figure of 78.5% and officers were asked for an explanation.  The Committee was informed that we have more carers but not all of them have care and support plans and unfortunately officers are only able to survey those who have care and support plans in place. It was therefore not possible to compare these figures year on year.  The Locality Manager further clarified that officers now use a different way of recording this measure in that carers and the cared for person have a joint care and support plan so there are less individuals to survey.  It was pointed out that to the lay person it would appear that there are less people satisfied with the care that they are receiving and the Performance, Analysis and Systems Manager agreed to amend the narrative.

RESOLVED that the report be received.