Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any Declarations and advise Members accordingly.

None were received.

None were received.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 28 July 2022.

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 July 2022 were approved and moved by Councillor Mackie and seconded by Councillor Cunningham.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes be approved as a correct record.

(a)      That the Committee considers the draft Forward Work Programme and approve/amend as necessary;

(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 pointed out that the Chief Executive of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board was leaving.  The Chief Officer (Social Services) advised that Jill Harris who was previously acting Chief Executive of (BCUHB) would be covering the post during transition.  The Chair requested that any questions that Members had for the meeting with the Health Board on 30^th November should be submitted to the Facilitator by 1^st November in order for her to forward them to the Board to enable them to research the questions and have answers on the day rather than answering at a later date.

            The Chief Officer (Social Services) advised Members that staffing would be referenced in the review of Performance Reporting on 8^th December which Councillor Claydon raised concern about, especially with the pressures in Adult Social Care.

The Facilitator encouraged Members to put forward any items they may wish to add to the Programme.

The Senior Manager for Adults informed Members that staff files and people in supported living were now in a digital format however CSIW were still asking for a paper copy which the Facilitator advised was the only item outstanding on action tracking.

The recommendations in the report were moved by Councillor Rob Davies and seconded by Councillor Cunningham.

RESOLVED:

(a)      That the Committee considers the draft Forward Work Programme and approve/amend as necessary;

(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 Members were satisfied with the effectiveness of the complaints procedure with lessons being learnt to improve service provision.

The Complaints Officer introduced the report advising Members that there had been a small increase in the number of complaints within Adult Social Care but lessons had been learned and on a positive note 251 compliments had been received.  He also advised that the number of complaints had slightly dropped within Children’s Social Services and 204 compliments had been received.

            The Chief Officer (Social Services) thanked the Complaints Officer and all the Managers who responded to complaints in an effective and efficient way and stated that complaints were an opportunity for learning.

            Councillor Mackie stated that the report was well presented but questioned if Councillors should be doing more as a Scrutiny Committee.  The Chair responded by saying that it would be remiss of them not to mention it if there was a pattern to complaints but the responsibility should be left to the Officers on a day to day basis.

The recommendation in the report was moved by Councillor Cunningham and seconded by Councillor Claydon.

RESOLVED:

That Members were satisfied with the effectiveness of the complaints procedure with lessons being learnt to improve service provision.

(a)      That members understood the current availability of day care provision available to adults in Flintshire; and

(b)      That members support the continued commitment to provide and increase day care choices and options across Flintshire.

The Chief Officer (Social Services) introduced the report informing Members that there were currently two formal Day Care Centres for Older People within the Council’s ownership, being Croes Atti in Flint and Marleyfield in Buckley.  He took the opportunity to introduce Chris Phillips the new Service Manager for Older People Services to the Committee before handing over to the Commissioning Manager and the Senior Manager for Adults to give a more in-depth review of the services.

            The Commissioning Manager stated that where there was a high level of need, the day care services continued at a small level throughout the pandemic which enabled people to stay at home rather than going into long-term care. This allowed them the opportunity to explore more broadly in allowing people to have their needs met in a much more person centred way than they did 10 years ago.

She informed Members that a Micro carer had set up their own day service in Flint which was being accessed by people via direct payments, enabling people who do not come into social services directly for services access to some low level preventative support. They were also looking into setting one up in the Saltney area.  She also advised that they were now in a position for the Council to commission their services.

            The Senior Manager for Adults explained that day care had evolved over the pandemic period and was no longer a place where people go for the day to give the carers a well-earned rest, although day care did still exist for those who needed it.  The demand was now for a more mixed and matched approach to enhance hobbies and interests.  Community groups had popped up which were run by local Communities, some in partnership with the Council and Flintshire Local Voluntary Services, which give a much wider range of hobbies and services.   She advised that Croes Atti was still up and running and that there was capacity on a couple of days, which on a short term basis was being offered to exiting users, alongside being advertised and advising the SPOA team and Social Workers, who regularly access people for respite and the need for day care, of any vacancies.  At present Marleyfield had no day care due to lack of demand.  She advised that she was in consultation with Flintshire Local Voluntary Services to come up with ideas to work together to expand services that could be provided there, with a possibility of becoming a warm hub that was being developed by Housing and possibly a foodbank or Community Kitchen.  She was seeking support from two Members, one for each centre, who would be interested in helping and asked that they contact the Social Care and Environment Overview & Scrutiny Facilitator to put their name forward.

Councillors Mackie and Cunningham congratulated them on the report and welcomed the thorough answers to questions raised.

The recommendations in the report were moved by Councillor Buckley and seconded by Councillor Cunningham.

          RESOLVED:

(a)      That  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

(a)      That members accept and note the report as relevant information in relation to the Single Point of Access for Adult social services; and

(b)      That members take due regard to the variety of activity across Single Point of Access and note the continuing development and improvement in the service provision.

The Senior Manager for Adults explained that the Single Point of Access team (SPOA) for Adult Social Services were located in Preswylfa, Mold and that this was where referrals were reported to and signposted to the appropriate team. They also offered advice and gave information and assistance seven days a week.  The Service Manager for Older People added that over 2,000 reports from the Police, Ambulance and Fire Service were received annually which needed to be dealt with and he gave praise to the Officers dealing with them.

The Senior Manager - Safeguarding and Commissioning informed Members that the number to contact the SPOA Team was 03000 858 858,  The Senior Manager for Adults explained that officers received extensive mandatory training, as well as additional training as required, to enable them to give the best advice on a wide range of circumstances. Officers were also debriefed particularly after difficult cases.

Councillor Cunningham commented on how fortunate they were to have this exceptional service as Councillors were often approached for help and advice.  Councillor Maddison said that she had used their service on several occasions and each time had a prompt and professional response.  This was also the view of Councillor Owen.

The recommendations in the report were moved by Councillor Claydon and seconded by Councillor Buckley.

          RESOLVED:

(a)      That Members accept and note the report as relevant information in relation to the Single Point of Access for Adult social services; and

(b)      That Members take due regard to the variety of activity across Single Point of Access and note the continuing development and improvement in the service provision.

That the Committee agreed the Council Plan part 1 reviewed and updated timelines for completion post review of the original.

The Social Care and Environment Overview & Scrutiny Facilitator explained that at County Council in July it was requested that each Overview & Scrutiny Committee review action timelines due to several target completion dates being set as March 2023.  The review could be seen appended to the report.  Dates had been reviewed by Officers to ensure accurate targets were now identified.  The document contained updated target dates and rationale for the changes or no changes.  The three categories of rational were:-

·         Core Business – activity is ongoing

·         Project – activity has clear start and end date

·         New Initiative – activity has clear start date which may develop in the future

Councillor Mackie questioned the number of items on the review compared to the Council Plan. The Chief Officer (Social Services) advised that as far as he was aware, this was a summary of the list.  The Social Care and Environment Overview & Scrutiny Facilitator would check with the performance team and report back to him.

The recommendation in the report was moved by Councillor Mackie and seconded by Councillor Davies.

          RESOLVED:

That the Committee agreed the Council Plan part 1 reviewed and updated timelines for completion post review of the original.

That the Committee support the proposed Priorities, Sub-priorities and Well-being objectives of the Council Plan 2023-28, as set out at Appendix 1.

The Social Care and Environment Overview & Scrutiny Facilitator advised Members that the Council Plan for 2023-28 had been reviewed and refreshed to reflect the key priorities of the Council for the five year term of the new administration as a requirement of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) - Act 2021 for organisations to set out any actions to increase the extent to which the Council is meeting the performance requirement.  She explained that a full review had taken place that included:-

·         Priority actions that continue from 2023 onwards for sustained attention

·         Priority actions which could be removed as they have been completed or become operational

·         Emerging priority actions for 2023-28

The proposed structure of the Council Plan 2023-28 consists of seven priorities, well-being objectives and sub-priorities as listed in 1.03 of the report.

The final plan would be available as a web-based document published on the Council’s website following adoption by County Council in June 2023.  The table in the report provided an overview of proposed priorities for the Council Plan 2023-28 in relation to personal and Community Well-being.

The Chief Officer (Social Services) added that the five elements in the report were only a summary of what goes into the Corporate Council Plan.  The Social Care and Environment Overview & Scrutiny Facilitator added that the drilling down would be part 2 of this plan which they would have at a future date.

            The recommendation in the report was moved by Councillor Mackie and seconded by Councillor Buckley.

          RESOLVED:

That the Committee supports the proposed Priorities, Sub-priorities and Well-being objectives of the Council Plan 2023-28, as set out at Appendix 1.

That members support the response that Flintshire County Council have produced to provide to the Welsh Government in relation to the proposals for changes to primary legislation.

The Commissioning Manager advised that the Welsh Government (WG) was seeking views on a number of proposals for changes to be made to primary legislation through a consultation process with all responses to the consultation being received by 7 November.  The consultation covered:-

·         Eliminating profit from the care of children looked after

·         Introducing Direct Payments for Continuing Health Care

·         Extending mandatory reporting of children and adults at risk

·         Amendments to regulation of service providers, responsible individuals and the social care workforce.

The draft response from Service Managers within Social Services were included within the report.  The views from other Portfolios within the Council would also be gathered and Members were also encouraged to submit any comments they wanted to be included to the Commissioning Manager before the response was finalised.

Councillor Mackie raised concerns about the effect the proposed change in legislation to eliminate profit making from Children’s Care Homes would have and suggested that if WG put more money into the service that the Council provided, they would be able to hold their own. The Chief Officer (Social Services) explained that the WG had a commitment from their programme to Government to remove the profit out of the residential care market in Wales. He added that in some ways the Council agreed with this in that they wanted to have a more in-house publicly controlled service but could not afford to destabilise the care market as they were reliant on the providers.

            The Chair asked for an explanation on direct payments between Health and Social Services.  The Chief Officer (Social Services) explained that if someone had local authority funded care, they could have direct payments which gave them the freedom to make their own decisions but this had not been possible with NHS Continuing Health Care (CHC) which he believed was wrong.  Many of the people supported by the Council moved along the spectrum from local authority to CHC and lost that right.

The Commissioning Manager explained that in some respect, direct payments with CHC were already on the way with the development of personalised trusts, which the Council welcomed as this would give individuals more flexibility and choice over their care and support.  However she advised that in order to get the system up and running there were some barriers to overcome and processes that need to be put in place.

The recommendation in the report was moved by Councillor Mackie and seconded by Councillor Owen.

          RESOLVED:

That Members support the response that Flintshire County Council have produced to provide to the Welsh Government in relation to the proposals for changes to primary legislation.

There were no members of the press or public in attendance.