Meeting documents

Cabinet is asked to NOTE:

      I.        The key national legislative changes relating to adult social care is facing and the uncertainty arising from delays of the Green Paper and

    II.        The latest developments in relation to the adult social care transformation programme.

Ms K Jackson, Service Director (ASC Operations) attended the meeting in order to answer Member questions.

Lin Hazell, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing introduced the report and highlighted the following points:

• The report was a six month update which gave an overview of key issues and ongoing work in the service.
• There were still funding issues and the service continued to wait for the publication of the Green Paper which had been delayed for the fifth time.
• The report highlighted the NHS long term plan and how the additional government funding would be used over the next 5 years and the national priorities set.
• There continued to be workforce challenges and issues with recruitment of staff.
• The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) scheme was being replaced by Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS). The DoLS system would run alongside the LPS for up to a year to ensure those people subject to DoLS would be transferred to the new scheme in a managed way.
• Buckinghamshire Health and Social Care System – the Council were in the process of finalising children’s and adult social care data for sharing with health colleagues called My Care Record.  This was an integrated system with health colleagues.
• The County Council and Buckinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) had restructured their Integrated Commissioning team which would operate in the new Bucks Integrated Care Partnership (ICP).
• It had been confirmed that The Better Care Fund would continue into 2019-20 although the final allocations had not been confirmed by June 2019.

Ms Jackson highlighted the following points from the report:

• Better Care Fund targets had been set and that Buckinghamshire system performed better than the average in their group and second best performing in its CIPFA group.
• There were a large number of issues around the publication of the Green Paper with Buckinghamshire having a large number of self-funders and how the Council would support them when costs come back into the Council.  Social Care Directors were looking at the issue across the South East.
• The Better Lives Transformation Programme had had a positive impact on front door services within its first year of the two year programme.
• Community Capacity – an online map of community assets had gone live.  This enabled residents to find activities, groups and facilities in their local area.
• Improving the Front Door – launched to improve the experience of those people who contact the Council for advice on care.
• Regaining Independence – part of the Better Lives strategy and worked alongside colleagues in health and children’s.
• A number of consultations had been carried out as part of the transformation programme which included Thrift Farm and Short Breaks Residential Service which were both a key part of the programme and linked into the NHS long term plan.
• The Dignity in Care awards had taken place which celebrated best practice in the county.
• The Safeguarding Adults Board continued to process a number of Safeguarding Adults Reviews, the most recent having had the final report presented and signed off and recommendations from the report to be developed into an action plan.
• Staff were being supported in adopting a strengths-based approach to social care practice.
• The replacement for the current case management system used by adult social care would be awarded by the end of July.

Cabinet raised and discussed the following points:

• Mr Tett highlighted that the service supported some of the most vulnerable sections of the community and the pressures would continue into the new council.
• Mr Williams asked if the new council provided further opportunities to influence more development requirements.  Mrs Jackson confirmed that that there were three market position statements which provided some real opportunities for the new council.
• Mr Chilver highlighted the digital improvements that had been made to help facilitate online self-help.  Digital improvements would deliver a better service for residents while also making savings.
• Mr Chilver asked the capacity and resources needed with the change in DoLS service.  Mrs Jackson confirmed that it would be part of the existing process and prioritisation would need to be carried out.
• Mr Williams questioned the level of the issue for the Council of self-funders.  Mrs Jackson stated that a lot of self-funders chose to move into care homes.  The Council continued to work with providers to bring rates in line with council rates to try to minimise those that had to be moved.
• Mrs Cranmer requested a breakdown of the Prevention Matters budget and the evaluation of spend.

ACTION: Mrs Jackson

• Mr Tett asked what was being done to help achieve the challenging targets set for Buckinghamshire for delayed transfers of care.  Mrs Jackson stated that there were a number of initiatives in place to help support the area including a joint approach across health and social care, learning from other parts of the country, work on reablement, extending offers to those returning home and new crisis support.
• Mr Tett asked for clarification as to the delay in the allocation of the Better Care Fund (BCF) and why there had been a reduction.  Mr Ambrose, Director of Finance and Procurement stated that the improved BCF was agreed as part of the four year settlement and went down in 2019/20 based on overall funding for authorities.  Mr Ambrose also confirmed that the BCF would finish in 2020 but assumptions were being made that it would continue.  Before the amount was announced it had been calculated based on previous amount with an inflation increase.

• Cabinet raised their concern in the delay of the Green Paper and hoped that the new government would reconfirm it was imminent.
• Mr Tett asked how well Buckinghamshire young people were prepared for adulthood and how well children’s services were worked with adult social care.  Mrs Jackson confirmed that there was a huge amount of partnership work taking place.  Directors met on a regular basis and they were also currently looking at co-locating some staff.

RESOLVED: Cabinet NOTED i) The key national legislative changes relating to adult social care is facing and the uncertainty arising from delays of the Green Paper and ii) The latest developments in relation to the adult social care transformation programme.