Meeting documents

To consider the report

The Committee discussed a report setting out the current position on Adult Social Care Performance. The report highlighted the following areas:

·         Managing Demand – The focus on managing demand, improving outcomes and investing in strengths-based conversations with those seeking assistance via Somerset Direct has enabled the Adults team to meet the target of 60% resolution at first point of contact.  The number of overdue assessments for Locality Teams stood at 63 at the end of January 2020. This represents a reduction of approximately 74% compared to the same point last year. For assessments completed since April 2019 the average time someone waited for an assessment was 18 days – this is measured from the date of the initial contact to the date the assessment was completed. The number of overdue reviews has reduced by approximately 33% and stood at 1,306 at the end of January 2020. The planned trajectory will see all overdue reviews cleared by September 2020 whilst maintaining the quality of the reviews. Over 90% of people with an overdue review have received a review within the last 2 years.

·         Care provider quality - The quality of local regulated care provision in Somerset has seen steady and continuous improvement over recent years, evidenced by the high proportion of providers judged by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to be ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’.

·         Delayed Transfers of Care (DToC)/Home First – The target for Delayed Transfers of Care at a CCG level is that no more than 2.5% of available beds are lost to delays.   Current performance (January 2020) is slightly above target at 2.71%.

The Committee heard the performance priorities for the year ahead; Strategic Managers across Adult Social Care have now submitted their core ambitions for the coming year as part of the annual corporate service planning process. The two service plans (one focused on the commissioning function, and the other on frontline operational priorities) outline how the work of the service contributes to the overarching ‘Improving Lives’ vision. Managers are ensuring the activities within these plans filter down into individual appraisal objectives and team-work plans. The content of the plans will also inform service-level risk registers and performance scorecards.

The Committee discussed the report and asked why some of the measures for care homes had declined over recent months. It was explained that some of the measures have changed recently and some measured relied on digital recording of all cases and some are not being recorded in this way.  The Committee asked if the performance was broken down into greater detail to cover disability or need. They were informed that this was recorded but that the performance focus was on making sure everyone was treated equally and that all needs were measured and scored equally.

The Committee welcomed the information that outstanding reviews were no under control and coming down very quickly. They wanted to know if these included those who were self-funding their care. They heard that everyone is entitled to ask for a review of care need; those who were discharged from hospital would have one, but those self-funding would have to request a review if they wanted one.

The Somerset Scrutiny for Policies, Adults and Health Committee: -

·         Commented on the updates in relation to Adult Social Care performance trends captured within the report and welcomed the actions being taken to continue to improve the service.