Meeting documents

Purpose:

The Committee set up a Task & Finish Group to review the current support available for carers and to make recommendations to help improve the service.  The report was presented to Cabinet in May 2019 and all the recommendations were agreed.  This item provides an opportunity to review the progress made with implementing the recommendations, six months on.

Attendees:

Lin Hazell, Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing

Mr J Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources

Ms G Quinton, Executive Director, Communities, Health & Adult Social Care

Mr J Everson, Senior Commissioning Manager

Ms L Truett, Commissioning Manager

Ms H Cannon, Organisational Development Consultant

Ms J O’Neill, Head of HR & OD Consultancy

Mr G Drawmer, Head of Achievement and Learning

Papers:

Recommendation progress table attached (6 months on)

Intended outcome:

For Members to discuss the progress of each recommendation and to delegate the assigning of the RAG status to the Chairman.

The Chairman welcomed Mr J Everson, Senior Commissioning Manager, Ms L Truett, Commissioning Manager, Ms J O’Neill, Head of HR and OD Consultancy and Ms H Cannon, Organisational Development Consultant.

The purpose of the item was to update Members on the six month progress on implementing the recommendations in the support for carers inquiry report.

During the discussion, the following main points were made.

·         The action plan had been co-produced with carers and was aligned to the aims of the Better Lives strategy.

·         Emergency planning information was now included as part of the assessment form.

·         Carers Bucks had recruited link workers in schools to provide training for teachers around how to identify young carers and provide the relevant interventions and support.

·         An independent review was being undertaken of the GP Award for Supporting Carers.  Four GP surgeries had been awarded with the Carers Award and a further four surgeries were being evaluated.

·         There would be more engagement on the Carers Strategy in early 2020.

·         Young carers were able to access three levels of support:

o   Group sessions with other young carers;

o   More targeted interventions;

o   1:1 counselling.

·         The same levels of support were available to adult carers and work was being carried out to ensure a seamless transition between young carers and adults.

·         Carers Bucks were also delivering early help mental health intervention in schools.

·         The challenges around young carers identifying themselves as carers was acknowledged and work was underway to help address this and to ensure they receive the required support.

·         A Member asked whether there was evidence to show that more young carers were being identified.  Mr Everson responded by saying that 9 months ago there were 880 young carers registered with Carers Bucks and the latest figure was 1,252 young carers.

·         There was also a drive to promote "Time to Talk" within families to highlight the value of discussing issues within the family setting.

·         In response to a question about what was being done to address those who were left behind in their education, Mr Everson explained that Carers Bucks were working hard with the young carers aged 16-17 years onwards to ensure they overcome barriers to achieving their educational potential and also assisting them with gaining employment.

·         In developing the carers strategy, engagement with partner organisations such as the Local Enterprise Partnership and Bucks Business First would be key.  The strategy was due to be finalised and approved in 2020.

·         In relation to recommendations 6, 7 and 8, which all related to the support for carers provided by the County Council, Ms O’Neill explained that an E-Learning module had been launched for employees which focussed on what it means to be carer and signpost to various support services.

·         A Carers Support Forum had been set-up for employees.

·         The Employee Assistance programme had been promoted further across the Council and information on the support for carers was included on the website within the Health & Wellbeing pages.

The Chairman thanked the presenters for their update.  Members agreed to delegate the assigning of a RAG status to each recommendation to the Chairman.