Issue - meetings

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health and the Corporate Director of Social Care, Health and Wellbeing, and to consider and endorse or make recommendations to the Cabinet Member on the proposed decision to close the Dorothy Lucy Centre and re-provide the services currently provided there through various other means.

Mr B E Clark, County Council Member for Maidstone South, was present for this item, and Ms C Holden, Head of Commissioning for Accommodation Solutions, was in attendance for this and the following item.

Mrs Marian Reader and Ms Anna Ralph were present at the invitation of the Cabinet Member, as they had been the lead petitioners in opposing the proposed closure.

1.            The Chairman welcomed Mrs Reader and Ms Ralph to the meeting and explained that the role of the Cabinet Committee was to comment on and/or endorse the decision proposed to be taken by the Cabinet Member, which was set out in detail in the recommendation report. 

2.            The Chairman then asked Members if, in debating agenda items B1 and B2, they wished to refer to the information set out in the exempt appendices to these items, F1 to F3.  Members confirmed that they did not wish to refer to this information and discussion of these items therefore took place in open session. 

3.            Ms Holden introduced the report and summarised the consultation process and the further work undertaken since then to identify need and alternative provision.  It had not been possible to make a recommendation to the January meeting of the committee but a detailed proposal was now being presented for the committee’s comment, prior to a formal decision being taken by the Cabinet Member.  The proposal was that use of the Dorothy Lucy Centre for short-term respite care would end in August 2016 and for day services in March 2017.

4.            Mrs Reader addressed the committee to represent the views of local people about the proposed closure and made the following points: alternative provision to be made should be local so that friends and family could visit easily; money could be raised to extend and upgrade the centre to provide more accommodation, particularly as the elderly population was increasing; it was short-sighted to close a popular facility at which many local people had received excellent care from dedicated staff; the centre’s respite care was particularly helpful and popular; staff there lived locally and their families’ livelihoods would be affected by the closure and subsequent loss of jobs; the day services were a lifeline for elderly people locally; the centre was irreplaceable for local people. 

5.            Ms Ralph then addressed the committee, supported many of the points made by Mrs Reader and added the following: the respite care given at the centre was a vital support to those caring for a relative 24 hours a day; the centre had been assessed by the Care Quality Commission in 2013 as being ‘good’, so the proposal to close it was questioned; people living with dementia did not cope well with change and it would be difficult for them to travel to access services provided elsewhere, hence day services provided elsewhere would not work for those currently using the Dorothy Lucy Centre; there were many families which would suffer through the proposed closure and some people did not have a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 87

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health and the Corporate Director of Social Care, Health and Wellbeing on work undertaken to date. A formal decision will be taken by the Cabinet Member following further work and discussion at this committee’s March meeting.

Mr B Clark, County Council Member for Maidstone South, was present for this item. 

1.            Ms Holden introduced the report and made amendments to the figures quoted in paragraph 2.5 of the report for the number of signatures received, to include both the paper and electronic petitions (a total of 3,095), and the number of beds available in Maidstone for short-term care, quoted in paragraph 3.3.2 of the report, which should read 30 rather than 14.  She explained that it had not yet been possible to formulate a clear proposal on which the Cabinet Member could be asked to take a decision.  Further work would be undertaken and a formal proposal brought to this committee on 10 March 2016 for comment, prior to a formal decision being taken by the Cabinet Member.

2.            Mr Clark welcomed the deferral of a formal decision as the private sector did not yet have sufficient capacity to accommodate local need, particularly for those on the waiting list for dementia care beds. There had been a disappointing take-up of the tendering options, and not all of these options were in the control of the County Council. The current service was well regarded locally, but if the proposal were taken to the market now, without there being much appetite to tender, future reviews in a more difficult economic climate may find no interest at all and the service might then be lost. Mr Ireland commented that the independent care sector model was well established and had proven to be successful. Since the Community Care Act in 1993, there had been an expectation that the majority of services would be provided by the independent sector, and in Kent this had indeed been the case.  

3.            Ms Holden, Mr Ireland and the Cabinet Member, Mr Gibbens, then responded to comments and questions from Members, as follows:-

a)    despite the extent of independent sector provision, the local authority retained its obligation to provide appropriate local care places for those who needed them.  The independent sector had limited capacity and appetite to increase provision. Day care was important and use of it would increase as use of residential care reduced. The Dorothy Lucy centre should be considered for development as a specialist day care centre. Ms Holden suggested that the market could be asked to respond to a tender for day care provision, to test the appetite to take it up. Mr Gibbens confirmed that use of the Dorothy Lucy centre as a specialist day care centre was a possible option and would be considered;

b)    concern was expressed at the lack of dementia care beds in Maidstone.  Independent sector care provision in Maidstone was thriving and there were many good local examples. The suggestion that the Dorothy Lucy centre be developed as a specialist day care centre was supported and should be taken forward.  In exploring options, it was important that clear pictures of demand and provision were identified;

c)    concern was expressed that two months may not allow  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74