Agenda and minutes

The Chairman announced that Mrs C Bell had replaced Mr P Lake as a Member of the Committee.

To receive apologies for absence and notification of any substitutes present.

Apologies for absence were received from Mrs A Allen, Mr G Koowaree and Mr R A Pascoe.

To receive any declarations of interest made by Members in relation to any matter on the agenda.  Members are reminded to specify the agenda item number to which it refers and the nature of the interest being declared.

Mr B Lewis declared an interest as his wife was employed by Kent County Council.

To consider and approve the minutes as a correct record.

Resolved that the minutes of the meeting of the Adult Social Care Cabinet Committee held on 4 July 2018 are correctly recorded and that they be signed by the Chairman.

To receive verbal updates from the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and the Corporate Director of Adult Social Care and Health.

1.    Graham Gibbens (Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health) gave a verbal update on the following issues:

West Kent ASC provisions tour

On 11 July 2018, Mr Gibbens visited various care homes and extra care housing schemes which included Strawberry Hill Extra Care Scheme in Dartford, Tunbridge Wells Care Centre, Thomas Place Extra Care Scheme in Maidstone and the Maidstone Care Centre in Penenden Heath.

Opening of the changing place in Sessions House

On 20 July 2018, Kent County Council celebrated the opening of the new changing place in Sessions house, in memory of Steven Kissock.

Art Ability event in Sessions House

On 20 July 2018, an Art Ability event took place in Sessions House which was an exhibition of arts and crafts by people with a learning disability across Kent.

Visit to the Central Referral Unit in Ashford

On 26 July 2018, Mr Gibbens visited the Central Referral Unit at Kroner House in Ashford and reminded Members that they were welcome to visit the site at any time.

Select Committee – Social Isolation

On 17 September 2018, Mr Gibbens was interviewed as part of the Social Isolation Select Committee and answered a series of questions relating to Loneliness and Social Isolation.

Upcoming Events

World Mental Health Day would take place on 10 October 2018. Mr Gibbens encouraged Members to take part in activities that were taking place in their divisions. Safeguarding Awareness Week would commence on 8 October 2018 and end on 12 October 2018.

Kent Housing Group Excellence Award

Kent County Council and Ashford Borough Council had won the Kent Housing Group excellence award for Farrow Court, HomeBridge and Cherry Tree Court in the excellence partnership category. Mr Gibbens congratulated all officers that were closely involved in receiving the award. The award recognised and celebrated outstanding individuals, teams or projects that had delivered against the odds to ensure excellent service for the residents and communities across Kent and Medway.

2.    Penny Southern (Corporate Director of Adult Social Care and Health) introduced Damien Ellis (Head of Service Provision) as he was supporting Adult Social Care to cover the Director post for Disabled Children, Learning Disability and Mental Health. She then gave a verbal update on the following issues:

Annual ‘Rise 4 Disability’ Show

The annual Rise 4 Disability show took place on Tuesday 18^th September in Detling. The show was a major annual event with a mission to unite all disability services. There were many presentations that were delivered at the show by social care, health, housing, mental health, learning disability, prisons and disabled children’s services teams. The show was a positive demonstration on how Kent County Council and its partners worked together.

The Future Direction of Adult Social Care and Health

The ‘Your Life, Your Wellbeing’ strategy in Kent was being refreshed to help Adult Social Care and Health plan the future, Michael Thomas-Sam had taken a lead role in the strategy’s refresh and had hoped to present progress and share  ...  view the full minutes text for item 102.

To receive a report which sets out information relating to the decision to procure a new Direct Payment Support Service to ensure support continues.

Rachel Britt (Senior Commissioning Manager - Children's Services), Jamie Brooks (Senior Commissioner), Mark Walker (Assistant Director for Disabled Children and Young People) and Shellina Prendergast were in attendance for this item

1.    Mr Gibbens (Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health) read out a statement which explained the reason why the item had been brought to the Adult Social Care Cabinet Committee as opposed to the Children’s, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee.

2.    Rachel Britt introduced the report which set out the option for families with a disabled child to choose to receive a direct payment in lieu of a provided service which was given by The Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000. To support families, children and young people in the management of direct payments, Kent County Council commissioned a Direct Payment Support Service. The service was competitively tendered in 2016.  The contract was due to expire on 31 March 2019 and there was no scope to further extend the contract, there was a need to procure a new service to ensure support continued.

(a)    In response to a question, Rachel Britt said that the previous contract did not include an option to extend and felt it should be an option with the new contract. She said that the contract value had provisionally been set for three years, but this would be reviewed every year and work would be undertaken with the provider to monitor demand, capacity and expenditure through the service.

(b)    In response to a question, Rachel Britt said that the cost of the contract was £342,000 per annum.

(c)    In response to a question, Rachel Britt said that as part of the tendering evaluation, bidders would be evaluated on their plans for mobilising to a new service and would be scored accordingly on the plans that they had put in place. Kent County Council would work with the successful bidder, and if the successful bidder were the current provider, the mobilisation to the service would be much smoother. If the successful bidder was a new provider, transition and mobilisation meetings would take place before the contract went live, the transfer was expected to take place on 1 April 2019.

3.    RESOLVED that the decision proposed to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, to

(a)   procure a new contract for the Direct Payment Support Service; and

(b)   delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Adult Social Care and Health, or other nominated officer, to undertake the necessary actions to implement the decision,

be endorsed.

To receive a report which recommends a decision to approve the commencement of a tender process for the provision of Care Navigation and Social Prescribing services.

Christy Holden (Senior Commissioning Manager) and Sam Sheppard (Senior Commissioner) were in attendance for this item

1.    Christy Holden introduced the report which detailed the approach for progressing a Wellbeing and Resilience Strategy with a focus on an integrated Care Navigation and Social Prescribing Service. The report also provided an outline plan to progress to appropriate arrangements for a high number of current grant arrangements. The new arrangements would ultimately ensure full compliance with Kent County Council and national policy.

(a)    In response to a question, Anne Tidmarsh said that Kent County Council were working closely with the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) in all areas of Kent. She said that the purpose of the report was to identify how resources could be spread and all of the localities would be serviced by the new care navigation contract.

(b)    In response to a question, Sam Sheppard said that the funding in the contract was directly related to salaried posts, therefore while the value of the contract was as stated in the report an annual review would take place to conclude the possibility of an inflationary uplift as part of the Pay and Prices review.

(c)     In response to a question, Sam Sheppard said that the contract duration would be four years, with an option to extend.

(d)    In response to a question, Sam Sheppard said that stakeholder engagement was undertaken last year with Kent County Council’s providers who provided community-based support, the public and carers, in relation to the core offer for older people, which included engagement relating to a new model of care navigation. Testing had been undertaken and the outcomes of the engagement had been reviewed to ensure that the needs of Kent’s residents were met.

(e)    In response to a question, Sam Sheppard said that organisations with a prominent position in the market often overshadowed the voice of smaller organisations. She said that all of Kent County Council’s engagement events were advertised through the Kent Business Portal to ensure that the engagement process was as accessible as possible, the event’s information was then added to the engagement pages on Kent County Council’s website.

2.    Penny Southern said that it was important that front-line staff communicated well with Kent’s residents and provided individual’s with accurate advice and information.

(f)      In response to a question, Anne Tidmarsh talked about social prescribing in Kent and said that GP’s were keen to offer social prescribing to their patients.

(g)    In response to a question, Sam Sheppard said that care navigation was a short-term service and said that it was important to ensure that the transfer process was as smooth as possible for service users. She said that colleagues would undertake work through the mobilisation period to mitigate the risk of transfer delays.

(h)    In response to a question, Sam Sheppard said that in relation to the CCG investment, the contract consisted of two key elements; community navigation, and community navigation for people with carers. She said that the majority of the CCG  ...  view the full minutes text for item 104.

To receive a report which provides an update on the development of the Local Account for Adult Social Care (April 2017 – March 2018).

Steph Smith (Head of Performance and Information Management) and Toni Easdown (Project Officer) were in attendance for this item

1.    Steph Smith introduced the report which set out the development of the Local Account for Adult Social Care (April 2017 – March 2018) and summarised engagement activities undertaken to date across Adult Social Care and outlined how user engagement feedback from these activities had informed the development of the Local Account for 2017-2018.

a)    In response to a question, Steph Smith said that whilst the Care Quality Commission did inspect Kent County Council’s service provision, they no longer inspected Kent County Council’s social care departments.

2.    RESOLVED that the decision proposed to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, to consider the Local Account document– ‘Here for you, how did we do?’ (April 2017 – March 2018) and endorse the document as the final version, be endorsed.

To receive a report which sets out the rationale behind requesting an extension of the Shared Supported Living Services and 24-Hour Care and Support under the Supporting Independence Services Contract for 11 months in order to enable the Council to fully analyse the service and develop solutions.

Jack Moss (Senior Commissioning Manager) was in attendance for this item

1.    Jack Moss introduced the report and described the Shared supported Living arrangement whereby someone who already had, or who wanted to have their own tenancy or own home, within a property where there was the possibility of support being shared by the tenants. The tenant would be supported by a “care and support” provider to help them to live as independently and safely as possible.

(a)    In response to a question, Jack Moss said that a figure within the report had been removed due to modelling work.

(b)    In response to a question, Jack Moss said community-based services were chargeable, providing they did not fall within the enablement provision.

(c)     In response to a question, Penny Southern said that the majority of individuals that would benefit from the support services were people with very complex needs. She said that if support was provided in the most appropriate way, admissions into acute hospitals could be reduced.

2.    Mr Gibben’s talked about the importance of carers and young carers. He said that a major challenge was around people that were caring for relatives that did not make themselves known, and therefore they were much harder to reach out to and support. He said that work had been undertaken with CCG’s and GP partners to carry out as much work as possible to target and support hidden carers and address issues around the social isolation and loneliness of carers.

(d)    In response to a question relating to the equalities impact assessment, Jack Moss said that last year, the grant was changed for a number of Kent County Council’s carers organisations into a contract which enabled greater collection of data.

(e)    Michael Thomas-Sam said that the government had recently published a Carers Action Plan which would be reflected in the Adult Social Care Green Paper, but also as part of the integration around the NHS plan.

3.    RESOLVED that the decision proposed to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, to

a)    approve the extension of the Shared Supported Living Services and 24-Hour Care and Support under the Supporting Independence Services Contract for 11 months, allowing for a phased inclusion in the Care and Support in the Home Contract; and

b)    delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Adult Social Care and Health, or other nominated officer, to undertake the necessary actions to implement the decision,

be endorsed.

To receive a report which provides an update regarding the Learning Disability Section 75 Agreement which was established to host integrated commissioning arrangements between Kent County Council and the seven Kent Clinical Commissioning Groups.

Xan Brooker (Senior Commissioner) was in attendance for this item

1.    Xan Brooker introduced the report which provided an update regarding the Learning Disability Section 75 Agreement which was established to host integrated commissioning arrangements between Kent County Council and the seven Kent Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).

(a)    In response to a question, Xan Brooker said that annual health checks had been identified as a challenging area in the Joint commissioning plan. She said that colleagues were working with CCG’s to improve the uptake and delivery of the annual health checks.

(b)    In response to a question, Penny Southern talked about the 33% take-up of annual health checks and said that it was about the individuals getting to a GP to have the annual health check assessment. She said that all of Adult Social Care and Health’s integrated teams supported the individuals that had been identified by Kent County Council with learning disabilities to get to a GP, and colleagues had been very proactive in ensuring that this level of support continued to people living with learning disabilities in Kent.

(c)    In response to a question, Xan Brooker said that Kent County Council’s role was to ensure that individuals with learning disabilities in Kent were aware of the annual health checks that were available and attended them.

(d)    In response to a question, Xan Brooker said that colleagues were undertaking extensive work to ensure that individuals were attending their annual health checks.

2.    RESOLVED that the report be noted.

This report provides an update on the progress in achieving the roadmap for the future provision of social care and support for adults with mental health needs.

Cheryl Fenton (Assistant Director, Mental Health) was in attendance for this item

1.    Cheryl Fenton introduced the report which provided an update on the progress in achieving the roadmap for the future provision of social care and support for adults with mental health needs.

(a)    In response to a question, Penny Southern said that there had been significant improvement in the social care work that Kent County Council had undertaken for mental health. She said that the Live Well contract had been a significant investment from Kent County Council and CCG’s to create a much more local service to meet mental health needs locally.

(a)    In response to a question, Cheryl Fenton said that whilst it was increasingly uncommon, occasionally individual’s requiring complex health treatment were placed in a hospital outside of their local area, but health colleagues were working hard to reduce this. She said that social care colleagues were working closely with commissioning colleagues and CCG colleagues to review the resources that were available, including those which Kent County Council were responsible for providing to ensure that services were being provided locally and the resources were available to promote independence.

2.    Mr Gibbens (Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health) said that social care mental health had the smallest budget within Kent County Council which proved challenging. He said that he was pleased to see such a positive move in developments over the years and said that the Live Well Kent strategy had been a very strong development for Kent’s residents to preserve independence.

3.    RESOLVED that the report be noted.

To receive a report which sets out the progress of the Care and Support in the Home Services tender, including provider engagement and market feedback on the specification.

Jack Moss (Senior Commissioning Manager) was in attendance for this item

1.    Jack Moss introduced the report which set out the progress of the Care and Support in the Home Services tender, including provider engagement and market feedback on the specification. He also provided Members with an oversight of the project’s key issues and risks, and the mitigating actions that were being taken to manage them.

2.    RESOLVED that the report be noted.

To receive a report which provides Members with information about the operation of the Adult Social Care Complaints and Representations Procedure between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018.

Anthony Mort (Customer Care and Operations Manager) was in attendance for this item

1.    Anthony Mort introduced the report which provided Members with information about the operation of the Adult Social Care Complaints and Representations Procedure between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018.

a)    In response to a question, Anthony Mort discussed the different types of complaints that Adult Social Care received and said that whilst individuals should have high expectations of Kent County Council, it was important that Kent continued to deliver a good standard of service throughout.

b)    In response to a question, Penny Southern talked about communication being a theme of some complaints and the importance of learning from complaints.

c)    In response to a question, Penny Southern said that it is possible to learn from all complaints and it is important to identify the root cause to prevent reoccurring complaints.

d)    In response to a question, Anthony Mort said that user consultation groups were held where colleagues would meet with customers face-to-face at the user consultation groups and seek feedback. This can provide rich information. Surveys of complainants can often reflect whether the complaint was upheld rather than satisfaction or otherwise with the complaints process itself.

2.    Damien Ellis said that stakeholder events were due to take place in October within in-house services to engage with carers and a ‘You Said, We Did’ document would be produced once feedback was received. He said that both complaints and compliments were responded to because every type of feedback helped to shape services.

e)     In response to a question, Anthony Mort said that the Adult Social Care complaints procedures were for members of the public as opposed to members of staff.

f)      In response to a question, Anthony Mort and Penny Southern said that the majority of the complaints received were from people that preferred to speak to someone face-to-face or over the phone or make contact by e-mail, which was why the number of complaints and compliments raised through Kent County Council’s website was low.

g)    Mr Gibbens (Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health) and Anne Tidmarsh said that colleagues were working hard to ensure that Kent County Council’s website was accessible for people with sensory impairments.

3.    RESOLVED that the report be noted.

To receive a report from General Counsel on the committee’s work programme.

RESOLVED that the Work Programme for 2018 be noted.

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