MINUTES of the meeting of the HOME CARE TOPIC GROUP held on Thursday 17 May 2007 at 10.00am

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ATTENDANCE

Members of the Topic Group

R S Clements, N Hollinghurst, T G M Kent, E Roach

Officers

Mark Janes, Head of Strategic Commissioning, Adult Care Services

Emma Lund, Democratic Services Officer

Natalie Rotherham, Scrutiny Officer

1 / MINUTES
1.1 / The minutes of the meeting held on 10 April 2007 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.
2 / FEEDBACK FROM VISIT TO SAGE CARE, WELWYN GARDEN CITY AND THE ‘HOME CARE – GETTING READY FOR THE NEW CONTRACTS’ EVENT
2.1 / Members received the notes of the visit to Sage Care in Welwyn Garden City which had taken place on 12 April. Natalie Rotherham summarised the outcomes of the visit, and this was followed by Member discussion. It was agreed that the visit had been very useful.
2.2 / Members noted that recruitment and retention was not cited as a problem for the agency, although it had been considered that agencies in the south of the county and in rural areas find recruitment and retention more of a problem. It was recognised that it is often more difficult to recruit care workers in areas of affluence.
2.3 / The agency feels it has a good relationship with Adult Care Services, with ACS being receptive to increasing care packages where necessary, and being involved in facilitating training.
2.4 / The issue of illegibility of GPs’ handwriting on medication forms had been raised as a problem by the care workers interviewed: Mark Janes subsequently advised that ACS is aware of this, and alternative procedures, such as requesting pharmacists to produce a printed version of the form,are currently being considered.
2.5 / Members noted that Senior Carer B undertakes some assessments; it was agreed that Senior Carer B’s evidence should be included within the final report. / Natalie Rotherham
2.6 / Members also discussed the outcomes of the ‘Home Care – Getting Ready for the New Contracts’ seminar which had taken place on 27 April. The notes of the meeting have not yet been made available and Natalie Rotherham undertook to contact ACS to chase these in order that they can be circulated to Members as soon as possible. The notes of the previous event, which had taken place in September 2006, had been circulated with the agenda. / Natalie Rotherham
2.7 / Members felt the event had been very useful, particularly as it had provided the opportunityfor Members to meet with carers and users of the home care service. Particular issues arising had been concern from users and relatives about what would happen if they wanted to complain - i.e. whether this would affect the care received - and the provision of equipment on leaving hospital. In response Mark Janes advised that ACS recommends that relatives/users should complain to the agency in the first instance, but a complaint can be made to ACS if a satisfactory outcome is not achieved: this will not affect the care received. ACS is to look at how this can be made clearer in documentation provided to clients, as well as considering how the complaints system can be better monitored. Mark Janes advised that where the provision of equipment takes longer than anticipated this is usually due to a delay in assessment rather than the procurement of the equipment.
2.8 / The group agreed that other Members may find it informative to attend the seminar in future, and it was agreed that a recommendation of the group could be that Members (especially those involved with ACCS issues) should meet with users and carers. This is to be reflected in the final report. / Natalie Rotherham
3 / DRAFT FINAL REPORT
3.1 / The group received the first draft of the final report, including draft findings and recommendations. Members considered each page, and the changes and additions identified will be incorporated in the second draft. / Natalie Rotherham
3.2 / The following was particularly noted:
  • There should be a reference to the Home Care seminars in the Executive Summary;
  • Para 1.4 should be brought into the Executive Summary, to explain why the group had not included the issue of adaptations;
  • The last line of 1.7 should be changed to read: ‘The Group identified the demarcation of responsibility for provision between ACS and the health service as an area which would merit further investigation.’
  • Discharge from hospital is a separate issue and the picture is not yet clear enough to carry out a scrutiny on this; a recommendation could be made to monitor the issue;
  • The report should not contain notes of the agency visits or the home care seminar;
  • Wording should be amended to remove references to individual agencies;
  • The report should include reference to IT training;
  • Para 3.6 should be amended to read: ‘….there may be occasional instances when there may be pressures on medical staff to discharge a patient at short notice in order to release a bed; this now occurs more rarely….’
  • All figures in the report require checking to ensure that they are consistent and follow the same chronological order;
  • Para 3.8 should include more information on intermediate care;
  • Advice is needed from the Head of Operational Contracts on the wording of para 4.6;
  • Para 5.1 should make reference to the population aged over 85 rather than aged over 65;
  • The table in para 5.5 should be broken down to show the figures at 65+ and 85+.
  • Members need to be aware of the very considerable pressures on the budget for Adult Care arising from the projected increase in those who will require home care; this should be incorporated as a recommendation within the report.
/ Natalie Rotherham
3.3 / Following consideration of the report Mark Janes presented to the topic group additional information on self directed support and individual budgets, including future developments in this area. It was agreed that the information should be included in the report in section 7 ‘Future’.
4 / WORK PROGRAMME
4.1 / It was agreed that a further meeting of the topic group would not be held: Natalie Rotherham will produce a second draft of the report incorporating the comments arising from this meeting for circulation to Members. Members will then be asked to submit any further comments by e-mail, in order that the report can be finalised in time to go to the 7 June meeting of the Adult Care & Community Safety Scrutiny Committee. / Natalie Rotherham

Emma Lund

Topic Group Administrator

May 2007

Home Care TG 070517 Minutes

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