Issue - meetings

Mr Paul Stephen, Senior Commissioner, was in attendance for this item.

1.    Mr Stephen introduced the report and said the current contracts for Discharge Pathway 1 Services would end on 30 September 2022 and it was proposed that the current contracts be extended for one year from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023.  Mr Stephen said although the maximum number of extensions to these contracts had been used the Public Regulations allowed for modification of a contract where the need was brought about by unforeseen circumstances.

2.    Mr Stephen and Mr Smith responded to comments and questions from the committee, including the following:

(a)  Asked about the annual budgets for the Discharge Pathway 1 Services, if there was any scope for the NHS to contribute financially, and whether any of the costs would be reimbursed, Mr Stephen said there were ongoing discussions with NHS colleagues around funding the services.  To date the NHS has directly contributed towards the services to add capacity and the report included the basic contract costs which were topped up by the NHS. The mechanisms for funding going forward for all discharge services were being discussed. 

(b)  Asked whether there were any failings in the Discharge Pathways 1 Services Mr Stephen said there were issues with the social care recruitment and retention of providers generally and some system issues in the provision of domiciliary care post B services, and effective communication with health colleagues was important to ensure the correct discharges.  Analysis was being undertaken to develop the longer-term approach.

(c)  Asked how much confidence there was that the new integrated solution with the NHS would be in place by September 2023, Mr Stephen said joint workshops had taken place to develop the new model and a Discharge Pathway Group was in place.  The Integrated Care Partnership provided a lot of momentum around joint activities with the NHS.

(d)  Asked whether there would be cost benefits from a jointly commissioned service Mr Smith said mechanisms were in place by way of the Better Care Fund to manage how the NHS and the Council jointly commissioned and risk shared for the best outcomes.

RESOLVED that the decision to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health to:

(a)          Extend the current Discharge Pathway 1 Services contracts (Discharge to

Assess and Assisted Discharge) for one year, from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023;

(b)          Commence activity to develop a long term jointly commissioned Discharge Pathway 1 Services model; and

(c)          Delegate authority to the Corporate Director Adult Social Care and Health to take relevant actions, including but not limited to finalising the terms of and entering into legal agreements, as necessary to extend the current Discharge Pathway 1 Services contracts; and to facilitate activity with regard to developing the jointly commissioned Discharge Pathway 1 Services model, with NHS Partners.

be endorsed.