Issue - meetings

Mark Tyson, LBBD Commissioning Director, Adults’ Care and Support, presented the report and explained that the Local Account was the Council’s statement to the local community and service users on the quality of social care services within the Borough.  This year it was decided that the document should be short and to the point and be representative of the views of the residents and services.  Consequently, the Local Account has been produced as a six page leaflet, which is available on the main Council website and the Council’s Care and Support Hub.

The Local Account looks back at areas of achievement in the past year and at those areas that require improvement of development in the year ahead.  It also gives an overview of social care performance and expenditure in the previous financial year.  To enable the details to be of use as a tool to drive improvements and assist in commissioning decisions, the earlier the Local Account is produced the better.

Mark drew attention to several areas, including the commencement of the All Age Disability Service, personalisation of living support, particularly around hospital discharges.  There was some positive performance of note, such as 10% more people receiving services and 34% less delays in transfers from hospital. 

Matthew Cole said that the Borough does well in comparison to other councils regarding adult social care and drew attention to the amount spent on prevention.  Mark highlighted the difficulty was in deciding the percentage share of funding between prevention and provision.  Mark also confirmed that prevention needs would be a considerable challenge, especially with the projected increase in the number of those needing higher levels of support.  Inspection and provider market risks would also have an impact.  Sharron Morrow said that the number of over 65s and those between 45 and 65 that have more health issues will impact on care needs later, therefore, prevention and early diagnosis will assist in the pressure on long-term costs.

Mark suggested that a short video on ‘One Borough Live’ should be tried to help stimulate the conversations and dialogue with residents / user forums.

The Chair said that whilst we don’t have a perfect transfer of care system in place yet, action was being taken to deal with the operational issues.

Anne Bristow reminded the Board that prevention can in some instances still only delay and reduced the impact on dependency for longer, but high-level support may still be needed.

The Board:

(i)  Noted the content of the Local Account;

(ii)  Supported the suggestion that a short video on ‘One Borough Live’ should be tried to help stimulate the conversations and dialogue with residents / user forums; and

(iii)  Concurred with the aim of the Local Account being produced earlier to enable the details within it to be used to inform commissioning and strategies.