Agenda item

To receive a report which provides Members with an update on care in the home services and the range of services that are commissioned by Kent County Council to provide care and support for people in order that they can safely reside in their own homes or in supported living accommodation.

Clare Maynard (Head of Commissioning Portfolio – Outcome 2 and 3) and Jack Moss (Senior Commissioning Manager) were in attendance for this item

1.    Clare Maynard introduced the report which set out Care in Home service which was designed to provide care and support for people in order that they can safely reside in their own homes or in supported living accommodation.

a)    In response to a question, Clare Maynard said that the approach to the new service would be consistent and at the highest level, whilst still retaining the ability to innovate. She said that it was important to build upon best practice, understand where changes were needed and drive improvement continuously to allow the whole county to benefit from services.

b)    In response to a question, Jack Moss said that in some cases, older people required overnight care and therefore the service would continue to be commissioned. He said that the service was based on the needs of the service users. Anne Tidmarsh said that budget and resources were also considered with regards to overnight care. Penny Southern said that she would investigate inconsistencies regarding practice and would look at whether policies had been applied correctly around individuals to ensure that the approach was consistent. She said that although overnight care could not be delivered for every service user, a thorough assessment would be undertaken to determine whether the service user would qualify for overnight care services. Mr Gibbens (Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care) said that everyone was entitled to an assessment and assessed needs would be met. He reassured Members of the Committee that they could contact him directly if there was an issue relating to specifically to their local area.

c)    In response to a question, Mr Gibbens said that the funding of Adult Social Care was a significant challenge which faced all upper-tier authorities in the country. He said that it was important to ensure that the policy for the Care in Home service was clear, and that the Adult Social Care services that were provided by Kent County Council were within the available budget whilst continuing to support the most vulnerable people in Kent. Penny Southern said that the work that had been carried out over the last 2 years had shown an investment within Kent’s domiciliary services across the market. She said that the Care in Home contract was a procurement process which would stable the market. She added that the contracts would run for specified length of time with the new monies investment and the additional money that Kent had provided to sustain the market over the last year was positive news for the market to support prevention and discharge to hospitals.

d)    In response to a question, Jack Moss said the vulnerable adults that were receiving care packages would be contacted by Kent County Council to confirm whether there would be any changes to their package. He said that it was important to ensure that the transition was smooth and did not cause any major concern to service users.

e)    In response to a question, Clare Maynard said that the services had been commissioned externally over recent years. The provider base needed to be rationalised to allow a better understanding about the market, plan for provider failure and to have greater control.

f)     In response to a question, Jack Moss said that across service provisions, there were a higher proportion of small and medium enterprises of which a good proportion were Kent-based businesses.

g)    In response to a question, Jack Moss said that through a recent re-let, Adult Social Care in Kent had gained a better understanding of how much unpaid care work was carried out in Kent. He said that he would provide the figure to Committee Members outside of the meeting.

h)    In response to a question, Penny Southern said that people often did not want to disclose their sexual orientation which led to a lack of responses to the sexual orientation question in the consultation. She said that it was an important question to ask in terms of how services were commissioned to ensure that the right services were in place for the different types of people that needed them.

i)     In response to comments and questions, Jack Moss discussed the figures relating to expenditure that were within the report. Clare Maynard said that all of the separately-commissioned services were delivered into the current budget that was attached to them. She said that by bringing services together it enabled Kent to observe efficiencies and invest wisely as an integrated service. Penny Southern added that the Adult Social Care and Health budget was over £418m and a significant percentage of the budget was spent within the market in Kent, and a significant amount was spent on home care, supporting independence services and residential and nursing homes. She said that the home care services needed to be delivered as a statutory responsibility, if assessed as a need.

j)     Mr Gibbens said that it was important to ensure that Kent County Council were doing all that was possible to secure a sustainable market.

2.    RESOLVED that the decision proposed to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, to

a)    procure a new integrated Care in the Home Service for adults and children with assessed needs, to commence from April 2019; and

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

be endorsed.

(Mr Chittenden, Ida Linfield and Mr Lewis asked that it be recorded that they did not vote in favour of the resolution.)