Issue - meetings

(a)       That the continued success in managing and developing regional project/service collaboration be noted;

(b)       That the content of the Statement of Intent be supported;

(c)        That a quarterly update from the Social Services and Health Programme Board and other relevant boards be submitted to the Committee.  

The Director of Community Services introduced a report to receive a progress report on projects and services running collaboratively across North Wales including the development of a Statement of Intent on Integrated Care for Older People with Complex Needs. 

He detailed the background to the report and explained that there were a significant amount of social care projects and services that were well established and continued to run effectively across the North Wales region.  A draft of the Statement of Intent was required by the end of January 2014 and it would then be commented upon by Welsh Government (WG); it would not be formally agreed until the end of March 2014.  The Director of Community Services provided detail on the established collaborations which included North Wales Commissioning Hub, Telecare/Telehealth & Assistive Technology, Emergency Duty Team, North Wales Adoption Service and Mental Health Measure/Partnership.  Details of new developments, such as Commissioning New Services and Safeguarding Systems and Workforce, which had recently secured WG funding to develop the collaborations were also reported.  Section three of the report provided details of the governance arrangements and management structures in place.  A Strategic Partnership Board with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) had been established and the Board was chaired by the Leader of the Council and membership included the Chief Executive and Cabinet Member for Social Services.   

The Statement of Intent provided a single regional statement on Integrated Care for Older People with Complex Needs between the North Wales Local Authorities and BCUHB.  It was designed to be responsive to local need and historical service developments whilst developing an ambitious agenda to develop new innovative services.  The Director of Community Services explained that it was a lengthy document which was not yet complete and a draft version had been attached as appendix one to the report.  There was a need for a strong integrated approach to services for older people and the document highlighted current arrangements and future intent and included sections on Leadership to drive the vision, Commissioning, Resources Management/Pooled Budgets and Managerial/Service Integration.  Partnership working within North Wales was further supported by the Social Services and Health Programme Board and the Director of Community Services provided details of the membership of the Board. 

Flintshire County Council was the lead on the Community Equipment Service.  A significant amount of progress had been made on the development of locality teams and the co-location of one of the teams had taken place in December 2013.  The Director of Community Services explained that WASPI on page 24 stood for Welsh Accord Sharing of Personal Information and was a data sharing protocol which supported joint working.  It was reported that there were a number of excellent examples of citizen centred/co-produced services in Flintshire and service delivery integration and service provision were also reported.  Flintshire was the host organisation for the Regional Programme Manager and was currently developing a local Single Point of Access (SPOA) project team to take the development forward locally. 

Councillor Hilary McGuill felt that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44