Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any Declarations and advise Members accordingly.

none

None.

(a)      That the Forward Work Programme be approved;

(b)      That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arises; and

(c)       That the Committee notes the progress made in completing the outstanding actions.

The Social Care and Environment Overview & Scrutiny Facilitator presented the current Forward Work Programme and Action Tracking as set out in the report and reminded members who had not responded to her email to let her know if they could attend the site visit / workshop which was to be held on 13^th March 2024.  She added that further details regarding the visit would be circulated shortly.

            In response to a question raised by Councillor Mackie concerning the heavy agendas for the next two meetings the Chief Officer (Social Services) stated that this was due to the fact that the meetings that were due to be held in April and May had been cancelled due to the Police and Crime Commission Election that was being held in May.

            The recommendations within the report were moved by Councillor Mackie and seconded by Councillor Gladys Healey.

RESOLVED:

(a)      That the Forward Work Programme be approved;

(b)      That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arises; and

(c)       That the Committee notes the progress made in completing the outstanding actions.

That the report be noted and approved.

The Service Manager for the In-House Provider Services introduced himself as the Responsible Individual for Flintshire who ensured that provider services met the statutory requirements as set out in the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care Act 2016 (RISCA).  He reported on how in house regulated services listed below had performed over the last 12 months:

·      Older People’s residential care homes– Marleyfield House, Llys Gwenffrwd and

Croes Atti.

·      Extra Care Housing – Llys Eleanor, Llys Jasmine, Llys Raddington, Plas Yr

Ywen.

·      Older People’s Community Support – Holywell, Deeside and Mold localities.

·      Short-term respite for people with a learning disability – Hafod and Woodlee.

·      Supported Living – 17 houses across Flintshire.

And until recently

·      Childrens services - T? Nyth, Park Avenue and the small Group Homes.  But due to the size of the portfolio Melvin Jones has been appointed as the Responsible Individual.

            In response to questions raised by Councillor Mackie the Service Manager for the In-House Provider Services / Responsible Officer advised that staffing was a challenge and since the pandemic there were 50,000 less care workers across the UK.  He advised that staffing had been given priority and that they had started to see some improvement although pay was a challenge in retaining staff.   He explained that staff were valued and supported particularly if they had a challenging day.  He mentioned one benefit to staff was that they were able to use one of the 6 electric cars on a rota basis to prevent wear and tear on their own cars plus it enabled them to go into work if their car was off the road. He informed members that they were looking into getting more cars in the future. 

 He advised that the 16 beds in Marleyfield were direct discharge from hospital beds and individuals needs were assessed in Marleyfield house by a wraparound team to support their assessment and also their re-enablement for their longer term needs.

The Service Manager clarified the context of the word challenging within the report in relation to the 16 direct discharge from hospital beds at Marleyfield.  He explained that partnering with hospitals inevitably can cause pressures from the hospitals on the manager at Marleyfield when they are aware that beds are available. He added that over recent months they had consistently been operating at 14 to 15 beds occupied.

The Senior Manager for Adults added that it was challenging at times to find the appropriate people with the rehab potential if they were in an acute hospital bed because people de-skill quickly and lose independence.  She explained that there was a particular skill in identifying people with potential to get back to their base and improve and stated that things had improved over the last 12 months in identifying people early on in their journey especially over the last 3 months and that was how they had been able to fill those 16 beds.  She added that they would also be working with 5 people who would have been sent home  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

(a)         That members support the progress made regionally in meeting the Part 9 requirements of the 2014 Act which includes a legal requirement to establish a regional pooled fund for care home accommodation for older people and:

(b)         That members support the council entering into a legal agreement between Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and the six local authorities across North Wales, regulating the operation and governance arrangements in respect of the pooled fund until such time that they need to terminate the agreement.

The Senior Manager – Safeguarding and Commissioning introduced the report which was to seek approval for the partnership arrangements between Health and Social Care across regions and the importance of working together for the shared benefit for those who received services.  She explained that Welsh Government required Health and Local Authorities to work together financially as well as service driven.  Within North Wales the Legislation was taken and in the financial year 2019/20 a single regional pooled budget was agreed for the 6 Local Authorities and Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board

In response to Councillor Mackie the Senior Manager – Safeguarding and Commissioning explained that the legislation came into being in 2016 but pooled budgets were complex structures and that all 7 partners needed to come to an agreement on how it could be achieved which took a period of time and resulted in it taking until July 2019 to be compliant but was back dated to the new financial year in April 2019 as part of the original proposal.

The Senior Manager – Safeguarding and Commissioning explained to members that a pooled budget was the sharing of financial risks and as there was a need to recognise Welsh Governments aspirations that they worked more closely with the Health Board it was agreed that all North Wales Local Authorities and the Health Board put the budget that they would spend for older peoples’ care and health within the care home market in the pooled budget she advised that this met with the statutory legislation requirement and that Welsh Government were happy with the arrangement. She stipulated that not everyone put the same amount in but the amount that was put in was the same that came out.  In 2022/23 Flintshire put in £10.5 million.  She advised that there was a shared administration cost of £20,000 per year paid to Denbighshire for hosting the budget on behalf of the 6 authorities and the Health Board to cover the monthly reporting to Welsh Government and audit and admin costs.

The Chief Officer (Social Services) added that he was not aware of the intensions of the Civil Servants that drew up the regulations but the alternative would be a fully fledged pooled budget whereby they all put in what they spent on care homes across the region and that is pooled in one large budget but that way had too many risks.

            The recommendations within the report were moved by Councillor Hilary McGuill and seconded by Councillor Gladys Healey.

RESOLVED:

(a)         That members support the progress made regionally in meeting the Part 9 requirements of the 2014 Act which includes a legal requirement to establish a regional pooled fund for care home accommodation for older people and:

(b)         That members support the council entering into a legal agreement between Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and the six local authorities across North Wales, regulating the operation and governance arrangements in respect of the pooled fund until such time that they need to terminate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

That members support the ongoing development and co-ordinated approach to contextual safeguarding that maximises resources to enable a streamlined and effective approach to individual and contextual safeguarding.

The Deputy Team Manager with the Early Interventions Service within Children’s Services who had been involved with the development of the Contextual Safeguarding approach for Flintshire introduced the report and briefly explained that it was an approach in the safeguarding and protection of young people that were at risk of extra familial harm which was harm outside of the family household.

            In response toCouncillor Bateman the Deputy Team Manager, Early Intervention Services advised that the age range of 10-25 was from the original research that had been undertaken and was based on the development of the brain she explained that up until the age of 25 the brain was not fully developed. She advised that the focus in Flintshire was18 and may go lower than 10.  She confirmed that online safety was a complex matter and that they worked closely with the Lucy Faithful Foundation who offer support.  She confirmed that the team currently consisted of herself from Children’s Services and other partners agencies.

In response to Councillor Gladys Healey the Deputy Team Manager, Early Intervention Services advised that County Lines cases were dealt with on a case-by-case basis depending on the level of risk and that some individuals were moved out of County to a secure placement which enabled them to make the environment safer for when they returned and also for others within that area.

In response to Councillor Hilary McGuill the Deputy Team Manager, Early Intervention Services confirmed that the way they dealt with exploitation did come from the Rochdale Enquiry.  She explained that they worked closely with North Wales Police with Online safety by providing information and intelligence to enable them to target the right areas.  They also worked closely with Youth Services to find out what distractions were needed and their findings suggested that the youths didn’t want organised youth clubs they want a safe warm place with Wi-Fi where they could meet their friends but unfortunately they didn’t have the resources but would use the information to build an evidence base with some of the detached work that was going on.

            The recommendations within the report were moved by Councillor Dave Mackie and seconded by Councillor Hilary McGuill.

RESOLVED:

That members support the ongoing development and co-ordinated approach to contextual safeguarding that maximises resources to enable a streamlined and effective approach to individual and contextual safeguarding.

There were no members of the press in attendance. 

There were no members of the press in attendance.