DRAFT MINUTES

/ Assynt House
Beechwood Park
Inverness IV2 3BW
Tel: 01463 717123
Fax: 01463 235189
www.nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk /
Adult Social Care Practice Forum /

7th October 2015 at 1pm. Board Room, John Dewar Building, Inverness

Present:
Janet Spence – Head of Care Services Improvement – CHAIR (JS)
Ian Thomson – Project Manager-Quality Assurance (IT)
Ian Clayton – Resource Manager-Learning Disabilities (IC)
Adam Palmer – Employee Director (AP)
Laura Maclean – Admin Assistant (LM) / In Attendance:
SUBJECT / REPORT / ACTION
1. / APOLOGIES:
1.1 / Sheilis Mackay – Manager of Advocacy Highland
Meg Shaw – Care at Home Officer
Shona Knight – Team Manager
Arlene Johnstone – Complex Case Planning Manager
Kara McNaught – Social Worker
Pamela McAllister – Care at Home Officer
Angela Longmate – Social Care Worker
Christina Mudditt – Senior Social Care Worker
James Bain – Resources & Performance Team Leader
Lyn Johnson – Manager of the Montrose Centre
DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS
None of the attendees has any interests to declare.
2. / WELCOME
2.1 / JS opened the meeting by welcoming the attendees.
3. / MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING HELD ON 5TH AUGUST 2015
a) / APPROVAL
The draft minutes from the previous meeting were approved as an accurate record.
b) / MATTERS ARISING AND UPDATES
·  Joint Inspection
JS reported that a meeting is scheduled with the Care Inspectorate on Monday 10 October. Inspectors will provide feedback and gradings. Thereafter it is expected that the draft report will be made available.
·  Trainee Social Worker Scheme
It was noted that five Trainees have been recruited. AP asked if more Trainees will be recruited in the future and JS confirmed this to be the case.
ACTION / None.
4. / FEEDBACK FROM NHS HIGHLAND BOARD
JS did not feel the need to raise anything specific from either the NHS Highland Board or the Highland Health and Social Care Committee other than to flag that there are significant overspends in Raigmore and also the North and West Operational Unit.
AP flagged up that the NHS has spent around £5 million on Adult Social Care services which has not been reimbursed by the Highland Council. He added that the Highland Council is looking at the possibility of reducing how much it pays the NHS to deliver Adult Social Care services on its behalf from April 2016.
ACTION / The report on the Internal Audit will be circulated to members.
5. / FEEDBACK FROM HIGHLAND HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE COMMITTEE
Discussed under agenda item 4.
ACTION / None.
6. / ADULT SOCIAL CARE LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT GROUP
JS told members that an Internal Audit had been undertaken which had looked at whether Adult Social Care staff were being properly supported to meet learning and development objectives and appropriately enabled to meet eligibility requirements for SSSC registration. Whilst the Audit recognised a range of good practice, it highlighted three areas for attention by the Adult Social Care Learning and Development Group. These included promotion of Personal Development Planning and Review on eKSF (see agenda item 7); central management of staff training records; and raising awareness and ensuring compliance with statutory and mandatory training requirements.
Members of the Forum acknowledged that there is a low uptake of eKSF and LearnPro by staff across Adult Social Care services. Lack of access to IT systems continues to act as a barrier although it was emphasised that KSF can be accessed on paper basis. AP indicated that a new Director of e-Health is due to be appointed and a review will follow. IC spoke of how he and his staff and “stumbled” upon LearnPro and found it to be an excellent learning tool. It was agreed that there was a need to be proactive around KSF, LearnPro, etc. JS informed the group that she plans to expand the Adult Social Care part of the NHS Highland website to include a section on training.
Five Adults With Incapacity (AWI) training sessions for Social Workers and others who have a decision-making role, will take place later his year The delivery of this training has been identified as a priority by the Learning and Development Group. It was confirmed that short sessions for hospital staff will also be run.
ACTION / None.
7. / e-KSF
In order to promote eKSF, IT reported that three sites will be chosen across the North and West Operational Unit – one of which is fully engaged with using the e-KSF and two which are not. JS was keen to stress that a lack of access to IT resources does not need to be a barrier to staff doing the e-KSF.
ACTION / None.
8. / SSSC REGISTRATION
JS reported that the deadline for Care Home staff to register with the SSSC was 30th September. In the lead up to this, managers had been proactive in encouraging and supporting staff to register. At the “cut-off date,” 10 staff in substantive Care Home posts had yet to secure registration. NHS Highland takes the firm stance that all staff working in posts that require registration must be suitably registered. In the event, there were four Care Homes where it was necessary to undertake robust risk assessments and seek dispensation from the Care Inspection for a small number of staff whose registrations had not yet been confirmed to be permitted to work. This was necessary in order to maintain the delivery of a safe service.
JS and Kevin Colclough (Employment Services Manager) currently endorse registration applications. In due course, Care Home managers will take on this duty for all Care Home staff thus encouraging greater ownership locally.
The next major milestone with regards to SSSC registration is January 2017 when the Register is expected to open for Care at Home staff. JS is in the process of looking at ways of building capacity for SVQ assessment.
ACTION / None.
9. / PROFESSIONAL SUPERVISION
JS suggested that members of this Forum should familiarise themselves with the Framework for Professional Supervision. She also invited feedback on how to revamp it. Time will be set aside later in the year for reviewing the policy and members will be invited to partake in this review.
ACTION / None.
10. / TRANSITIONS
The Transitions Pathway was agreed at a recent meeting between the Highland Council and NHS Highland.
IT acknowledged that transitions are often not managed very well due to a lack of involvement by Social Workers. IC explained that the Depute Manager at the Corbett Centre attends meetings in Drummond School and it is often through this channel, that IC learns who will be coming through to his service.
IT informed the group that a Monitoring Group has been set up which he’ll be involved in, but this is a recent development and the group is yet to meet for the first time.
ACTION / None.
11. / REVIEW OF NHS HIGHLAND ADULT SOCIAL CARE PRACTICE FORUM
It was noted that attendance at the Forum has been low for some time and there was an agreement that the reasons for this need to be explored. It was also acknowledged that there are staff who have indicated a wish to be involved. It was agreed that JS would send an e-mail to the Forum members asking them to outline any particular reasons for non-attendance.
JS asked colleagues for their suggestions on how best to review the activities of the Forum. It was noted that both Myra (Duncan) and Sarah (Wedgewood), members of the NHS Highland Board, have indicated that they value the input of the Forum.
It was agreed that as JS is on annual leave when the next Forum meeting is scheduled, it should be re-scheduled and the time will be used to review the Forum on an informal basis.
It had been had suggested that the Forum should be opened up to include colleagues in Argyll and Bute. However, all agreed that there was no rationale for this as Argyll and Bute do not operate the Lead Agency model.
ACTION / JS will e-mail the Forum members to try and establish why there has been a lack of attendance at these meetings and encourage members to participate in the informal review.
12. / FUTURE TOPICS FOR CONSIDERATION
Not discussed.
Date, time and venue of rest of 2015 meetings
Wednesday 25th November at 1pm. Board Room, John Dewar Building, Inverness (VC available) – rescheduled from 2nd December at 1pm.

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