Meeting documents

Apologies for absence were received from David Bone, Makyla Greaves and Nicole Palmer.

The minutes of the meeting held on the 18 October 2012 are to be agreed as a correct record.

Page 4- Wellbeing & Prevention Agenda

Paragraph 8 – there is some duplication of funding in statutory sectors – to be amended to - there is duplication in all sectors.

Page 6 – Environmental Controls

Paragraph 4 – technology could potentially be used to reduce Social Care costs.  Efficiency reports undertaken in the last 18 months evidence this.  The next step is to present the reports to the Leadership Group meeting at the end of January.

Paragraph 8 – Living lamp to be amended to Living Lab

Page 7 – Report to the Board

The draft of the Swift report has been finalised and is awaiting sign off.  The Swift report captures Service User data and costs.  The data is a component of a wider strategy which is being presented to the Leadership Group at the end of January. There is local and national evidence which supports the larger scale deployment of Telecare.  The use of Telecare shows a considerable reduction in the average weekly cost per care package i.e. Meals on Wheels.  Feedback will be given at the February meeting.

Action: Adam Willison

Report from Adam Willison

Adam Willison explained that the Highlight Report summarises the four key areas of work as follows;

AT Retail Platform

There has been the development of retail opportunities for Assistive Technology.  Part of the work being done is to look at how the Authority can stimulate the retail market and increase the products available.  Work is also taking place with manufacturers to look at the private retail market.

‘3millionlives’ is a national programme about transforming service delivery for people with long term conditions, and/or social care needs, by utilising Telehealth and Telecare within health and social care services. In Buckinghamshire, the Local Authority has traditionally only worked on large block contracts and there has not been any incentive to go to the private market.  One of the objectives of the programme is for the Department of Health and industry to work together to develop the market and remove barriers to delivery. 

The County Council have decided to procure an Occupational Therapy Assessment Programme which is an online Self Assessment Tool.  The Programme is a simple form of assessment of aids to daily living i.e. key safe and pendant alarms and community equipment such as chairs and beds which can be tailored for Buckinghamshire residents i.e. height of beds etc.  The system has been designed with years of Occupational Therapy experience and is completely person centred.  One of the aims of the system is to try to create a new avenue for clients to resolve problems themselves.  The system has been endorsed by Trading Standards.

As this is a specialised product from limited providers, commissioning of the service was carried out via a limited tender. Quotes were received from three manufacturers and the tender process has now closed.  The expected timeline is that the tender process will be completed by the end of January 2013 followed by an implementation period of 6-12 weeks.  Once the tender process has been completed, a representative from the preferred manufacturer will be invited to present to the Board.  Andrew Evans is leading on the implementation. 

Telehealth Platform

A program of work is being created which is owned by Health which includes integrating services for Health and Social Care.  Contracted providers for Health will be brought across where possible i.e. The Red Cross.

Vital Signs and Speech Therapy

The logistical problems have been resolved and all of the equipment has now been deployed.  Firas Sirhan, Bucks New University is evaluating both projects (speech therapy and vital signs).  The speech and language project is showing interesting preliminary results for the first quarter i.e. less practitioner time being required and increased patient therapy.

The speech therapy project has won a BHT staff innovation award and has also been shortlisted by the Royal College of Speech Therapists as an example of Good Practice.

Medications management

This project is still moving forward but there is slow progress due to the delayed decision within the medication management team.

Healthy Lifestyle promotion

A PID is being developed.  Work is initially taking place with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Report from Jonathan James, Community Safety Assistant, Bucks Fire and Rescue Service.

Jonathan James, Community Safety Assistant, Bucks Fire & RescueService was welcomed to the meeting.

Jonathan began his update by explaining that the Service has moved on nationally from where it was five years ago.  Bucks Fire & Rescue Service continues to evolve despite the budget cuts in excess of £4m next year.  The Service is taking a closer look at how its work is being carried out and the organisations they are working with.

Bucks Fire & Rescue Service vision is to make Bucks and Milton Keynes one of the safest places to live, work and travel in. 

The Community Safety department is currently working to provide Home Fire Risk Checks by educating vulnerable members of the public on how to prevent fires at home.  The check also includes the fitting of a smoke alarm as required.

Members were referred to the diagram which details the main components of the BFRS (see attached).  Mr James explained the following;

Response

The red ‘Response’ triangle refers to Firefighters, Fire Engines, Fire Stations, Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) and the Fire Control (999 service).  BFRS are in the process of joining Fire Control services with Royal Berkshire and Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Services to form one new Fire Control located in Reading.

Protection

The protection team maintain the legal enforcement for all things fire safety and that building control regulations for fire safety are followed.  The protection team are responsible bringing cases to court.  Protection team are also responsible for maintaining and testing of the existing fire hydrants and the positions for all new hydrants.   The Unwanted Fire Signals Officer works to ensure that the number of false alarms (unwanted) is significantly reduced including AT systems linked to call centres.

Prevention

Made up of the community safety team the Service’s prevention elements are covered by the Education, Road Safety, Arson and Homes officers.  Fire safety education is provided across the year groups and tailored to the needs of the class.  Road Safety also delivers education materials and hosts regular road safety events designed to reduce the number or incidents and build awareness.

Home Fire Risk Checks are carried out to help individuals to be safer in their own home.  The checks are provided at the service users home and looks at all aspects of fire safety from cooking, electrics, smoking and candles, through to escape planning and night time check list routines.  

Assistive Technology staff received training in providing the HFRC process and can fit smoke alarms as required.  AT Staff can also make referrals to the Community Safety team. Fire crews undertake safety checks as part of their station routine based on request or data provided by the Homes officer.  This includes the fitting of smoke alarms and the referral to other appropriate agencies such as the Falls Team (Red Cross) as required.

Mr James explained that part of his role is to manage projects and to look at the way that Bucks Fire & Rescue Service working with its partner agencies such as the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Members were advised of the following Partner updates;

The Red Cross

Makyla Greaves was unable to attend the meeting and provided a written update (see attached).

Adam Willison added the following;

15,000 Buckinghamshire residents are attached to the Monitoring Centre.  These clients could potentially receive a call out from The Red Cross.  The challenge in 2013 is to look at how to resource and deliver these services long term. The number of fallers continues to increase steadily.  Christmas was a peak period of the risk of falls due to the inclement weather.

There are periods when the Monitoring Centre is unable to provide volunteer coverage.  The Red Cross gives them a volunteer rota which provides 98% coverage.  There is also the issue of what needs to be done beyond referral.  The Falls Referrals Team only deal with people over the age of 65 years and some conditions are also excluded.  Work needs to be done to plug this gap.  Talks have taken place with providers such as the Fire Service to look at the possibility of joint funding. 

Carers Bucks

David Bone was unable to attend the meeting and provided a written update (see attached)

Adam Willison added the following;

Since the BUDDI scheme has been opened up there has been more acceptance of the scheme.  The Board were asked to take the view of whether to support the scheme for another financial year.  This would mean that the scheme has run for three years in total.  How Carers Bucks would fund the scheme in the future also needs to be looked into.

The Alzheimer’s Society

Margaret Morgan Owen advised that the Alzheimer’s Society have appointed a dedicated support worker for Assistive Technology. Caroline was unable to attend the meeting and provided a written report (see attached).

No items of other business were raised.

The next meeting will take place on Thursday 21 February 2013, 2.00pm, Mezzanine 1, NCO, Aylesbury.

The next meeting will take place on Thursday 21 February 2013, 2.00pm, Mezzanine 1, NCO, Aylesbury.

Date of future meetings for 2013;

18 April

20 June

22 August

24 October

19 December