Social Care and Adult Services Scrutiny Panel

Social Care and Adult Services Scrutiny Panel 3 June 2010

SOCIAL CARE AND ADULT SERVICES SCRUTINY PANEL

A meeting of the Social Care and Adult Services Scrutiny Panel was held on 3 June 2010.

PRESENT:Councillors Biswas, Dryden, McIntyre, J Walker and M Whatley.

OFFICERS:T Boyd, C Breheny, B Carr and S Conway.

**APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE were submitted on behalf of Councillors Davison, Dunne, Purvis and (Co-opted Member) Elizabeth Briggs.

** DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

No declarations of interest were made at this point of the meeting.

APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR

In the absence of the Chair, Councillor Peter Purvis, Councillor McIntyre was appointed to Chair the meeting.

Councillor McIntyre in the Chair.

APPOINTMENT OF VICE CHAIR

Nominations were sought for the appointment of Vice-Chair of the Social Care & Adult Services Scrutiny Panel for the Municipal Year 2010/2011.

ORDERED that Councillor McIntyre be appointed Vice-Chair of the Social Care & Adult Services Scrutiny Panel for the Municipal Year 2010/2011.

ILLNESS – COUNCILLOR PETER PURVIS

Reference was made to Councillor Purvis’ recent illness and Members requested that the Panel’s best wishes be conveyed to Councillor Purvis for a speedy recovery.

** MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting of the Social Care and Adult Services Scrutiny Panel held on 29 April 2010 were taken as read and approved as a correct record.

PERSONAL BUDGETS – further evidence gathering

At the previous meeting of the Panel, it was agreed that the Panel consider how the views of service users and their carers who were currently in receipt of a personal budget had been used to develop the system. The Panel also wanted to identify any examples of good practice with regard to the implementation of Personal Budgets. In accordance with the above, two people who cared for service users in receipt of Personal Budgets had been invited to the Panel to share their experiences of Personal Budgets.

Initially, the Panel watched a copy of the ‘Putting People First – Transforming Adult Social Care’ DVD, which had been produced by the Department of Social Care. The DVD highlighted the opportunities that Personal Budgets provided in terms of delivering care packages to individual service users.

The two carers who had agreed to attend the Panel were then invited to share their experience of Personal Budgets with the Panel.

Ms L

Ms L advised that she cared for her ex partner ‘M’ who had suffered a stroke four and a half years ago and required 24 hour care. At the time of the stroke ‘M’ had been living in Wales in accommodation accessed by stairs.

At the time of being discharged from hospital, ‘M’ was not in receipt of any support services. A lady from the Stroke Society had visited Ms L and she had referred her to a Social Worker for assistance. At first ‘M’ received a Direct Payment to employ a personal assistant for 5 hours a week. After the employment of two different Personal Assistants ended, ‘M’ managed on his own for a while without any support. However, with assistance, encouragement and support from her Social Worker, Mrs L decided to use the Personal Budget to help ‘M’ participate in community activities.

Ms L advised that the flexibility to use the Personal Budget to fund different activities had completely changed the life of ‘M’. He now participated in lots of different community activities, which had increased his confidence and quality of life. In total ‘M’ purchased 11 hours per week of personal assistance support, but the flexibility to vary the hours between carers was a huge advantage. Hours could be saved to enable ‘M’ to be cared for over a weekend if required.

Ms L employed the Personal Assistant through A4e and had found the whole process very easy to manage. A4e had advised her regarding the requirements to have employer liability insurance, managed the payroll process and also offered support and advice regarding CRB checks and other issues.

Ms L advised that her experience of working with Personal Budgets had been very positive. She was given all the information she needed to access support via a booklet, which contained copies of suggested job descriptions for personal assistants and information regarding CRB checks. Ms L also advised that the support of a good Social Worker was a very important part of accessing the Personal Budget Scheme.

Ms M

Ms M advised that she cared for her husband who suffered from various illnesses including a bad back, osteoporosis and three fractures of the spine. He also suffered from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and was housebound.

Ms M was referred to the Social Services Crisis Team, by a district nurse who had recognised the strain that caring for her husband had placed on Ms M and her family. A crisis package of support was provided in the first few weeks, which had proved to be very effective. A shower room had been fitted to the home and her husband had been given a zimmer frame to aid mobility. After the initial period, home care support was introduced which was provided by a local home care agency. The introduction of home care support was not very effective as there was little flexibility in the system. It was difficult to make alternative arrangements such as changing the days and times when care workers visited and the care workers were never the same. Ms M decided to stop the service and was subsequently offered a Personal Budget by her Social Worker as an alternative.

Ms M advised that the flexibility afforded by a Personal Budget was ideal for her situation. Her husband was awarded 19 hours of care per week as part of his support plan, which was partly used to help Ms M with household chores, which enabled her to spend quality time with her husband. Part of the budget was spent on employing a gardener and making the garden more accessible for her husband so he could enjoy sitting outside. Ms M also used part of the budget to employ her grand daughter as a paid carer for 5 hours a week to sit with her husband to enable Ms M to take a break and carry out the weekly shopping.

One of the problems Ms M identified with the Personal Budget Scheme was the provision of information by A4e. Ms M had decided that she would employ her Personal Assistant directly rather than using the services of A4e. A lot of the information required to manage a Personal Budget was given at different times, and this caused delays in accessing the Personal Budget. Ideally, Ms M indicated that it would be useful to receive a booklet, which included the following information:

• How to employ a Personal Assistant,

• An example of an employees contract,
• How to undertake a health and safety assessment,
• The provision of training in the correct use of a wheelchair,
• An example of a job description,
• Details of how to take out employers liability insurance,
• Details of how to check if your Personal Assistant is ISA registered,
• How to undertake a CRB check

Ms M also indicated that a ‘frequently asked questions’ section would also be beneficial along with a section highlighting other Personal Budget holder’s experiences of managing Personal Budgets.

Members commented that it appeared that Personal Budget holders who used the services of A4e to employ Personal Assistants, received a better level of information, support and advice than those Personal Budget holders who chose to employ their own Personal Assistant support. Members emphasised that it was important not to have a two-tier system for people accessing Personal Budgets.

Members emphasised the need for Personal Budget holders to be informed of the procedures to be followed to report any safeguarding issues.

The Panel was advised that the Personal Budgets Team frequently consulted all stakeholders for feedback on the management of Personal Budgets. The Team had recently reviewed the process following feedback from a service user from Mental Health Services. The service user had advised that he found the process time consuming and repetitive. As a consequence the Personal Budgets Team had revised the paperwork and amended the procedure.

Members commented that it would be useful to hear from the Performance and Public Information Manager on how the Social Care Complaints and Compliments procedures had been adapted to deal with complaints regarding Personal Budgets.

It was agreed that the Performance and Public Information Manager be invited to the next Panel meeting to advise Members on how the Social Care Complaints and Compliments procedures had been adapted to deal with complaints regarding Personal Budgets.

oVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY BOARD UPDATE

In a report of the Chair of the Social Care and Adult Services Scrutiny Panel, Members were advised of the key matters considered and action taken arising from the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board held on 4 May 2010.

NOTED

DATE OF NEXT MEETING

It was confirmed that the next meeting of the Social Care and Adult Services Scrutiny Panel was scheduled for Thursday, 1 July 2010 at 10.00 am in the Oberhausen Room, Town Hall.

NOTED AND APPROVED

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

The Scrutiny Support Officer advised that a list of suitable topics for inclusion in the Panel's Work Programme for 2010/11 would be submitted to the next meeting of the Panel. The Panel would also hear further evidence on information and advice regarding brokerage.

NOTED

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