MINUTE

/ Assynt House
Beechwood Park
Inverness IV2 3BW
Tel: 01463 717123
Fax: 01463 235189
/
Adult Social Care Practice Forum /

Monday 27th March 2017 at 9.30am

Present:
Janet Spence – Head of Care Services Improvement – CHAIR (JS)
Ian Clayton – Resource Manager-Learning Disabilities (IC)
Christine Macleod – Lead Adviser (Adult Support and Protection) (CM)
Bernice Nott – Social Worker (BN)
Christina Mudditt – Depute Manager, Telford Centre(CMu)
Fabien Camus – Practice Support Officer (FC)
Ian Thomson – Lead Social Work Officer (North and West) (IT)
Ruth MacDonald – Lead Social Work Officer (Inner Moray Firth) (RM)
Laura Haddow – Admin Assistant (LH) / In Attendance:N/A
SUBJECT / REPORT / ACTION
1. / APOLOGIES:
Lyn Johnson – Manager, Montrose Centre
Shona Knight – Team Manager (Mid Ross)
Pamela McAllister – Care at Home Officer
Moira Helliwell – Trainee Social Worker
Sheilis Mackay – Manager of Advocacy Highland
Adam Palmer – Employee Director
James Bain – Team Leader (Resources and Performance)
DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS
None of the attendees has any interests to declare.
2. / WELCOME
All in attendance knew each other so introductions were not required.
3. / MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING HELD ON 23RD JANUARY 2017
a) / APPROVAL
The draft minutes from the previous meeting were approved as an accurate record subject to SVQ3 being amended to SVQ2 under agenda item 3(b).
b) / MATTERS ARISING AND UPDATES
Care at Home Update
LH has made several attempts to obtain an update from Margaret Loughlin but it has not been possible to do so to date.
My Home Life
As requested at the last Forum, CMu brought along her set of My Home Life cards for Sheilis Mackay but Sheilis was unable to attend.
e-Health Update
JS will contact Iain Ross for an update following the Project Board meeting which was scheduled to take place the day after the Forum last met (24th January).
ACTION / JS will contact Iain Ross for an update following the last Project Board meeting on 24th January. / JS
4. / 2017/2018 BUDGET AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR ADULT SOCIAL CARE
Joanna MacDonald, Director of Adult Social Care, was due to attend to talk about the budget but was unable to do so because as shewas required to attend another meeting which took priority. JS will contact Joanna to ask her to provide a written update.
ACTION / JS will contact Joanna to ask her to provide a written update on the budget position and its implications. / JS
5. / ADULT SOCIAL CARE TERMS OF REFERENCE
There was agreement that the Forum needs to maintain a link with the NHS Highland Board and that communication needs to remain a 2-way process.
It was agreed that the section regarding duties and functions would not need to be adapted considerably. IT passed comment that this section is passive with regards to the Forum being self-determining.
Although the Forum should provide an arena for the discussion of practice issues, it was mentioned that it should promote good practice.
Discussion turned to the format of future Forums and the output it would generate. IT suggested that rather than a set of minutes being produced and distributed to the Forum members, a document which took the format of a newsletter would be more beneficial; if cascaded to colleagues by the Forum members, there is perhaps more chance of it being read than a set of minutes.
There was a discussion about membership of the Forum. Comment was passed on how some Forum members fail to attend on a regular basis. Forum members were asked to assist with finding new members as noted under the actions.
Since the Forum came in to existence, it has always met in Inverness (with video conferencing being made available to those outwith the area when possible) but there was discussion about holding the Forum in different locations across Highland and inviting local staff representatives along in order to encourage engagement with staff.
ACTION / Residential Care for Older People – Cmu was asked to ask around among colleagues who may be interested in replacing Angela Longmate who will no longer be attending due to ill health.
Care at Home – LH was asked to contact Pamela McAllister and request her assistance with obtaining another representative.
Community Mental Health Social Work – RM will speak to Sylvia Eddie (Lead Social Worker, Community Mental Health Team) to request that a substitute is sent in Moira Helliwell’s place for the duration of her placement. / CMuLH
RM
6. / NOMINATION OF REPLACEMENT FOR FORUM MEMBER
This item was covered under the previous agenda item.
ACTION / None.
7. / LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT UPDATE
FC advised that one of the focus areas for learning and development is Care at Home staff obtaining their SVQs. The first co-hort will commence in June. One more full-time assessor is required to help meet the demand.
Another area of focus is the review of the dementia care strategy which is on-going. FC will be working closely with Jackie Hodges (Service Improvement Lead for Older People – Residential Care). FC added that he is particularly keen to see closer adherence and for the quality of training to improve.
FC acknowledged that autism is another area which is high on the agenda; he has had some involvement in the transitions work being overseen by Claire Watt (Transitions Project Manager).
JS spoke of how good links have been established with the UHI as a provider for SVQs.
FC confirmed that medication training has been completed.
FC advised that the training plan for the Health & Social Care Co-ordinators is nearly finished; there has been good engagement from the staff group to date.
RM and FC are looking to establish action learning sets for all staff groups. FC and CMu have both had experience of action learning sets; CMu stated that action learning sets force one to think of solutions more independently. Ideally, FC would like to see the action learning sets taking place a couple of times a year with a group size no larger than 15. IC flagged that this approach can also be used within staff teams to encourage staff to thinkabout their work and reflect on what could have been differently after a scenario unfolds.
JS brought it to the group’s attention that Pamela Cremin (Head of Workforce Planning, Learning & Development and Staff Experience) has confirmed that she will be attending the next Forum to speak about the Care Academy.
ACTION / None.
8. / FEEDBACK FROM THE NHS HIGHLAND BOARD (31ST JANUARY 2017)
The link to the papers was circulated with the papers for today’s Forum.
ACTION / None.
9. / FEEDBACK FROM THE HIGHLAND HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE COMMITTEE (2ND MARCH 2017)
The link to the papers was circulated with the papers for today’s Forum.
ACTION / None.
10. / FUTURE TOPICS FOR CONSIDERATION
It was suggested that the May Forum would focus on the following topics:
  • Care Academy – Pamela Cremin (Head of Workforce Planning, Learning & Development and Staff Experience) will be providing an update.
  • Health & Social Care Delivery Plan – Adam Palmer will be attending to talk about this item.
  • Sustainability and care planning
The following topics were suggested for future Forums:
  • Learning Disability services review
  • Practice pertaining to the undertaking of reviews.
  • Supporting new staff joining the organisation
  • Professional and personal development
  • Risk assessment

11. / AOCB
None.
ACTION / None.
Date, time and venue for remainder of 2017 meetings
Thursday 25th May – Board Room, John Dewar Building
Thursday 27th July – Board Room, Assynt House
Thursday 28th September – Board Room, Assynt House
Thursday 30th November – Board Room, Assynt House
All meetings are 1pm-4pm.

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