Agenda item

The Executive Director, Communities, Adults and Health noted that report covers progress on implementation of the Dementia Strategy and Carers’ Strategy, and an update on new Care Quality Commission Assurance Process for councils, and the published 2022-23 data from National Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework.

Cllr Paul Edwards, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care spoke to the report. He thanked officers for their work in providing adult social care services. He noted that it needs to be recognised that there is a funding crisis in social care and officers are working in difficult circumstances to maintain the council’s statutory responsibilities.

Cllr Edwards continued that the council has been working to refresh the council’s resident-facing policies and plans for adult social care over the past year, in co-production with 300 residents who draw on care, and their carers. ‘Our Plan for Adult Social Care’ is a statement of the council’s policy and ambition, embracing its core focus on improving the lives of thousands of Barnet residents every year, and has been co-produced with residents who have shared what works well and what needs to be improved. The Plan will be presented to Cabinet for approval in March – Cllr Edwards welcomed any suggestions from the committee.

Cllr Edwards added that he wanted to recognise the role of the fantastic voluntary sector in Barnet to support its vulnerable residents.

A Member noted that there is a reduction in admissions to care homes and that there are short-term services to help people stay in their own homes. He asked what impact the funding crisis has on what social care can achieve. Cllr Edwards responded that demand is outstretching supply and funding, so this is a challenge, but every local authority is facing this. There is a £1.5billion funding gap for the 2023-24 financial year which would increase annually unless additional resources are provided.

A Member asked about the £500million announced by the government today for all local authorities and the likely allocations of this. The Executive Director, Communities, Adults and Health responded that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has not yet announced details but allocations will be made based on the Relative Needs Formula, via Social Care Grants. Officers would share this information as soon as they have been informed of the amount to be received for Barnet.

A Member asked what could be learnt from the people who use adult social care services, about improvements needed. The Executive Director, Communities, Adults and Health reported that Natalie Soffer, Engagement and Co-production Lead, had spoken to a lot of people who are being supported by adult social care staff and the document provides a snapshot of some of the feedback, particularly regarding consistent points being raised. This includes communication, being able to make contact by telephone, accessibility of communications including for residents with autism and sensory impairment, the need for interpreters, and the need to ensure contacts are timely and clear explanations are provided. Equality of access has been raised as well as the need for more staff and better training. It has also been fed back that residents want preventative care, independence and wellbeing.

A Member enquired what can be done to ensure equity of access given that the data from the Adult Social Care Plan shows that disabled ethnic minority residents are less satisfied with access to services. The Executive Director, Communities, Adults and Health responded that this had also come to light in the residents’ perception survey so was not just the case with adult social care. The council commissioned a report by Habitus who reported that intersectionality did not seem to be recognised, given that residents are part of multiple communities. They also noted that there were physical barriers to access for some disabled people. An Action Plan was developed from the research by the Corporate Strategy Team on how to improve access to council services, which will be reported to Cabinet.

The Assistant Director, Adult Social Care added that a big part of the adult social care service’s workforce plan for staff includes cultural competence to help staff to understand the wide variety of backgrounds, and how services need to meet their cultural needs. In addition the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism has been rolled out to all Barnet staff.

The Chair asked the advisors whether they felt that resident engagement is helping to inform what is needed. Ms Patel responded that it does help, but encouragement is needed to obtain feedback from a larger number of residents.

Ms Patel asked what is being done to improve on the two mental health indicators that have shown more than a 10% decline. The Assistant Director, Adult Social Care responded that adult social care has to report the mental health indicators although they concern a much wider group than adult social care services. The council works with hundreds of people every year with mental health conditions to help with their social care needs, and carries out a lot of joint working with the mental health trust, housing colleagues and others around how social workers and other professionals can work together.

Ms Omijie noted that she has a mental health care package and emphasised the importance of keeping those staff that some residents are cited as saying they are happy to reduce. It is important to recognise the high quality of the staff and work out what the cost of not having them might be.

A Member asked, given the LGA noting a £4billion funding gap for the next two years, and £15billion by 2024-25, as well as the over 75s being the fastest growing age group, whether sufficient staff are being provided to cover services, or whether there will be an increase in others, for example GPs, having to deal with housing and other issues when they see patients.

The Executive Director, Communities, Adults and Health responded that Barnet’s staff recruitment and retention of social workers and occupational therapists is  good compared to other London Boroughs. The staffing budget for Barnet is £21million, with a current overspend of around £15millio,n and care and support overall costing £110million a year in Barnet. She had not seen any evidence that the council is passing social care responsibilities onto Primary Care and she noted that the council works closely with the ICB and the Chief Executive of the group of Primary Care Network Clinical Directors who would highlight this if it is an issue.

A Member asked whether Barnet could recoup the costs of residents moving from other boroughs and receiving Barnet care packages. The Assistant Director, Adult Social Care responded that officers take a robust approach to identifying residents who are the funding responsibility of another borough, and ensure the borough picks this up. Because Barnet has a large number of providers and there are pressures from people who are self-funded initially but subsequently run out of funds.

A Member enquired what officers need to do to prepare for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections. The Executive Director, Communities, Adults and Health reported that officers are carrying out a thorough self-assessment against the CQC framework. Officers would bring the draft self-assessment to a meeting of the committee in the near future.

Action: Scrutiny Officer

The CQC will carry out ‘case tracking’ where they receive a list of 50 existing cases from officers and the CQC selects ten of these, and tracks six. The CQC also looks at the council’s written records, and speaks to the person with lived experience and the practitioner. The service already has an ongoing quality assurance process, with independent practice audits, which will form part of the preparation. The council has not yet been notified of the timetable, but the inspection could happen at any point over the next two years.

The Chair thanked Cllr Edwards and officers.

RESOLVED that the Committee noted the report.