Agenda item

To consider a report of the Director of Public Health and Interim Director of Adult Social Care.

The Mid-Year Portfolio Performance and Resource Report (PPRR) for the Health and Adult Social Care Portfolio is presented to Members for consideration. The report focuses on highlights and exceptions in relation to delivering the portfolio priorities since the Agreement was drafted and includes forecast performance and financial data (where this is available) for the Portfolio, along with an update on the portfolio savings programme.

The Scrutiny Committee is recommended to:-

a)    Consider the Mid-Year Portfolio Performance and Resource Report.

b)   Review the progress to date (and forecasts) relating to delivering key targets and budgets for 2022/23.

c)    Highlight key areas of and responsibility for taking forward corrective action to address any performance or resource issues.

d)   Highlight any significant issues or changes to be fed back to the Cabinet alongside the Corporate Performance and Resource Report.

e)    Identify how areas of strong performance and good practice can be shared in other services.

Officer contact: Gaynor Ward on 0161 474 3186 or email: gaynor.ward@stockport.gov.uk and Paul Graham by email: paul.graham@stockport.gov.uk

The Director of Public Health and Interim Director of Adult Social Care submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which focussed on the highlights and exceptions in relation to delivering the portfolio priorities since the Agreement was drafted and included forecast performance and financial data (where this was available) for the Portfolio, along with an update on the portfolio savings programme.

The Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care (Councillor Keith Holloway) attended the meeting to respond to questions from the Scrutiny Committee.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·         In relation to a previous request of the Committee that Greater Manchester Integrated Care System senior colleagues be invited to a future meeting of the Committee to ensure accountability for the residents of Stockport, it was commented that the decision making around the Adult Social Care Discharge Fund would be welcomed as a future discussion topic.

·         In relation to the number of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguarding referrals awaiting assessment and percentage of safeguarding cases where risk reduced or removed, it was queried what work is being undertaken to improve these ratings.

·         In response it was commented that in relation to the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguarding assessments, workforce pressures and increasing demand continued to impact on the ability to meet the requirements to undertake Deprivation of Liberty assessments, however the service was exploring options to increase workforce capacity and around best interest assessments to improve performance. In relation to safeguarding, it was commented that there were reviewing all safeguarding adults pathways, recording to ensure residents were being recorded correctly, and the workforce training and development offer in order to ensure that the right offer is available for people who need safeguarding. Whilst this was not fully resolved, work was ongoing to ensure that the ethos around making safeguarding personal was embedded.

·         Welcomed the commitment to improve the measures and reviewing workforce capacity.

·         It was requested that an item relating to Adult Social Care workforce capacity around safeguarding be programmed into the Scrutiny Committee’s work programme for the 2022/23 municipal year.

·         In relation to measuring performance and reporting progress on nursing beds, it was noted that a number of the measures were on a downward trend and queried whether this was connected to lower staffing levels.

·         In response it was acknowledged that the figures were disappointing and linked to the aftereffects of the pandemic and lockdown. In addition, the attention to the regulations within CQC assurance required improvement linked to issues with stability of leadership including higher turnover in registered managers amongst other workforce challenges and a reliance on agency staff. It was noted that work was ongoing to support recruitment and care homes to alleviate these pressures which was covered in detail within the transformation programme to build on the improvements made.

·         It was queried whether the workforce improvements would include continued training and development.

·         In response, Members were assured that workforce training and development was included at a local, Greater Manchester and national level to support care homes. Within the transformation programme there was a specific priority linked to the internal and external workforce.

·         Welcomed the improvements made in the uptake of the Breast Cancer Screening Programme in Brinnington. 

·         It was queried what steps were being taken to support care providers during the cost of living crisis.

·         In response it was stated that the cost of living crisis had been the focus of much of the ongoing social care reform work including the fair cost of care work, sustainable rates and the impact on the workforce. In addition, there was an ongoing large programme of work exploring what support could be provided to residents and employees including an online and in person smart money advice tool which had been shared with all providers. All support information continued to be available on the Council’s website under the cost of living hub which any individual could access. Work was also ongoing to support pension credit uptake to enable more residents who were eligible to access the pension credit top-ups which may in turn support their cost of care. It was reported that there was a pilot around social care charging and how residents were contacted and communicated with when there was an outstanding debt to enable them to access support.

·         It was reported that relating to the significant increase in energy costs, the council was involved in ongoing discussions with care providers to understand the impact and ensure that this was taken into account when fee setting.

·         In relation to priority four and the percentage of adults with autism in paid employment and living independently, it was queried whether there was an opportunity to start earlier intervention and coaching through schools.

·         In response it was commented that the Transition service worked closely with colleagues in Children’s Services and Education to support young people and there was commissioning activity around support employment, however noted the difficulty in the current economic climate. In relation to preparation for adulthood there was a particular programme of work which was monitored through the SEND Board which adopts an inclusive support approach to provide opportunities throughout childhood, adolescence and adulthood for best life chances.

·         Raised concerns in relation to the practice quality & safeguarding underspend of £0.095m due to in year staffing vacancies given the ongoing difficulties around workforce capacity.

·         Requested clarification around the grant allocations remaining balance figure.

·         In response it was stated that the grant allocations remaining balance was £117k which related to a residual capital grant balance that had been carried forward over a number of years and a programme of work was being developed to assess how to best invest this remaining balance.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) Requested that an item relating to Adult Social Care workforce capacity around safeguarding be programmed into the Scrutiny Committee’s work programme for the 2022/23 municipal year.