Agenda item

1.             The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, Mrs C Bell, gave a verbal update on the following issues:

New Cabinet Team – Mrs Bell welcomed the new Members who had joined the committee and introduced her Deputy Cabinet Members, Mrs P T Cole and Mr J Meade. Mrs Cole had served previously as a Deputy Cabinet Member and also as Chairman of the Cabinet Committee and Mr Meade had come to the Deputy Cabinet Member role after being elected to the Council in May.

National Awareness Campaigns – Mental Health Awareness Week had taken place on 10–16 May and had been strongly supported by the County Council via Explore Kent, Live Well Kent and others, and by Clinical Commissioning Groups. The emphasis this year had been on the importance of connecting to nature, for example, via walking and gardening, and by creative pursuits such as crafts and cooking.  The Kent Sheds project part 3 now had groups established all across the county.

Mental Health and Wellbeing – Given Members’ interest in mental health, Mrs Bell was arranging a joint member briefing with Sue Chandler, Cabinet Member for Integrated Children’s Services, on the Council’s services in relation to mental health and wellbeing. The briefing would incorporate the roles of Adult Social Care, Public Health and Children’s Services, as well as the work arising from the Select Committee on Loneliness and Social Isolation. The date was yet to be confirmed but she encouraged all Members attend if they were able to.

2.            The Corporate Director of Adult Social Care and Health, Mr R Smith, then gave a verbal update on the following issues:

Staff update – Jeanette Young had joined the team as Interim Head of Commissioning, Adult Social Care. Recruitment would shortly be complete for a Director of Adult Social Care in East Kent and one more Assistant Director, and the team would then be complete. The Public Health team was also to become part of the Adult Social Care and Health directorate and he welcomed Dr Allison Duggal and her team.

Review of in-house services – work was ongoing to address and accommodate the changes in demand and the way in which services were delivered, which had arisen and would continue to arise from the impact of the pandemic.

Presentation - Development of a new Adult Social Care Strategy 2022-2026

3.            Mr Thomas-Sam presented a series of slides (sent to the committee before the meeting) which set out the draft structure and content of the new strategy and the timetable leading up to its publication.  He emphasised the importance of stakeholder engagement in drafting the new strategy and the need to work with, rather than for, stakeholders. Feedback would be a vital means of measuring the success of the new strategy and this would be sought from Members as well as stakeholders. Members were initially being asked to comment on the four key elements of the strategy; the vision statement, values and behaviours, the three pillars and the new ways of working model and five key elements.

4.            Mr Smith, Mr Thomas-Sam and Ms Gillivan responded to comments and questions from the committee, including the following:

a)     asked what input into the consultation Members would be able to have, Mr Thomas-Sam offered to share the draft questions with members via the Cabinet Member before they were issued for the public consultation, which would run from 6 September to 18 October; 

b)     asked how the vital importance and needs of carers would be addressed within the strategy, and how carers would be consulted on its contents, Mr Thomas-Sam assured Members that carers would be closely involved by means of pre-consultation engagement, for example, with carers’ forums, as well as ongoing consultation to keep the strategy up to date. There would also be a specific carers’ strategy under the overall strategy. The importance of carers had come into sharp focus during the pandemic and now that many needed to return to paid work, there was an urgent need to raise the profile and highlight the importance of their work.  Ms Maynard added that £7m was spent annually on carers’ services, including those for young carers;

c)    asked how the success of the strategy would be measured, Ms Gillivan advised that the intention was for the strategy to work in a cycle of continuous improvement, and part of this would be to establish suitable methods of evaluating success; and

d)    Members would be kept informed throughout the consultation process and the various engagement activities which form part of it, and Mr Thomas-Sam suggested that a working group could be formed to respond to the consultation on behalf of the committee.

Presentation – Adult Social Care Provider Services

5.            Ms Anderton presented a series of slides (sent to the committee before the meeting) which set out the rationale, design, planned timetable and monitoring process for the Making A Difference Every Day (MADE) programme, which would take account of changes to clients’ care needs which had arisen as a result of the pandemic. Mr Smith and Ms Anderton responded to comments and questions from the committee, including the following:

a)    asked how the Council’s ethos would be communicated to contractors who would deliver services on its behalf, and how the Council could be sure its standards were being upheld, Ms Anderton advised that the Council would check that the contractor understood and shared its aims, and was resourced and able to deliver the required services. Continuous review and monitoring of service delivery by the contractor ensured that any change in a client’s needs were being met. The Chairman commented that relatives of service users were not always asked if they were happy with the services delivered to their relative, and the people directly in receipt of serviceswere not always able to comment for themselves. The Council needed to ensure that it was proactive in ensuring that providers upheld its standards;

b)    service users who purchased their own services by using Direct Payments would also need to be able to ensure they were receiving good value for money and good quality services;

c)    asked about the use of digital technology to support people to stay in their own homes as long as possible, Ms Anderton advised that use of such technology had increased during the pandemic, and this experience would be used to guide and increase future use of technology.  Mrs Bell added that such technology was a vital resource; and

d)     the commitment to ongoing monitoring and feedback was welcomed, although both took time and resources.

6.         It was RESOLVED that the verbal updates and presentations be noted, with thanks, an update on the preparation and consultation be made to the Cabinet Committee’s September meeting and the final strategy be presented at the November meeting.