Freedom of Information - Response Template

Reply to:Leon Goddard

Direct Line:0117 9036158

E-mail:

Our ref:HSC 768

Date:30th September 2011

Re: Freedom of Information request

Wriglesworth Consultancy,

I am writing in response to your Freedom of Information request we received on 2nd September 2nd 2011. The questions in your request are in bold and our response is in standard text.

1. What is the asset threshold above which a person needs to pay for care?

A financial assessment is carried out for all people receiving a service from the Health and Social Care (HSC) department.

If this assessment identifies that they have savings below £23,250, they will be asked to make some contribution to the cost of their care.

If this assessment identifies that they have savings above £23,250, they will be asked to meet the full cost of their care.

1. What is the maximum total amount that a person could have to pay for care?
   

If the service user has savings below £23,250, the maximum contribution to the cost of their care is £300 per week.

If the service user has savings above £23,250, they will have to pay the full cost of their care. What this amount is will depend on their care needs but there is no upper limit on what this could be per week.

1. How many people are in domiciliary care in your area?

On 31st July 2011, 2519 people received domiciliary care that was directly provided by HSC, or commissioned by and delivered on behalf of HSC.

1. How is quality of care measured in your area?

There is a Quality Assurance (QA) Team within HSC that works with providers of social care services to monitor the quality of these services and to ensure that standards are as high as possible. This work covers all types of provider (home care agency, care home etc) and in all sectors (in house, independent, voluntary) and in each case a member of the QA Team will visit the provider and speak to staff and service users.

When the QA team are monitoring the quality of a home care provider, they will visit the homes of people who receive care from this agency. This is done with the permission and agreement of the service user (and their family / carers if appropriate) and the purpose is to check that all appropriate care documentation is in place and to get the views of the service user about the quality of the care they receive. We do this by sitting with them (and their family / friends / carers if they wish) and asking various questions about all aspects of the care they receive, their carers and how satisfied they are. To get a broad range of views we will visit approximately 10% of the people receiving a service from that provider in Bristol.

When we visit a provider that delivers care on its premises (e.g. care home, luncheon club or day centre) the QA staff will undertake interviews with staff and services users and observe interaction between these people, especially at key times such as when service users are being moved, given medication and at meal times. Key documents, such as care plans and training records, are also reviewed to ensure they are accurate, up to date and reflect good practice. All visits to providers are unannounced and are prioritised based on information provided by key people across HSC (e.g. social workers, complaints, commissioning staff) and an annual questionnaire that is completed by providers. At the end of each visit the QA Team completes a report and this is shared with the provider and the Care Quality Commission. A key part of this process is that the report will include a set of recommendations and timescales for implementation. There will be a follow up visit by QA staff to assess if, and how well, these recommendations have been implemented.

Apart from these proactive measures, quality standards are also addressed in other ways. This includes the complaints procedure and other methods by which service users, relatives and care professionals can alert the department to any concerns they have about the quality of care. These may be dealt with by operational or commissioning staff, the QA Team or in the most serious cases, the Safeguarding Team.

1. Of the enquiries you receive for care, what percentage are rejected due to the enquiree not meeting the eligibility criteria?

We do not specifically record how many ‘enquiries for care’ are rejected due to the enquirer not meeting the eligibility criteria.

We do monitor the number of people contacting HSC, the number of people who are assessed by different parts of HSC and the different outcomes for these people. However, none of these figures will provide an accurate response to your question because there will be many reasons why a person is not assessed, or why they are assessed and then do not go on to receive a service.

1. Individuals in which of the following categories of need– low, moderate, substantial, critical – receive care funding?
   

Those with substantial or critical needs.

This response should answer your request in full, however if you are not satisfied with this response or wish to lodge an appeal against any exemptions that may have been applied, you can do so by writing to the Data Protection Officer at Bristol City Council Legal Services, The Council House, College Green, Bristol, or . Details of the complaints procedure can be found at http://www.bristol.gov.uk/complaints.

If, after you have exhausted the council’s complaints procedure, you are still not satisfied with the response you have received you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner, details of your right to complain can be found at http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints.aspx

Copyright notice

The provision of information by Bristol City Council under this scheme does not imply a right to reproduce or commercially exploit such information without the Council's express prior written permission.

Reproduction or commercial exploitation of materials supplied under this scheme without the express permission of Bristol City Council may be an infringement of copyright.

The Council is unable to grant permission to reproduce or re-use any material accessed through this scheme that is the property of third parties. Permission to reproduce or re-use such material must be obtained from the copyright holders.

Yours sincerely

Leon Goddard

Service Manager – Performance and Standards

Health and Social Care Department

Bristol City Council

0117 9036158