Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Social Care and Health Integration and the Head of Commissioning for Learning Disabilities and Health (HCLDH) presented a report on the Council’s Disabilities Improvement Programme. The Programme was put into the context of unprecedented challenges facing the Disability Service in relation to a rapidly growing population, the increasing complexity of service user needs and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was also noted that much of the improvement work undertaken had been based on consultations with service users and their carers, the gaps that they had identified in provision and their experiences of services. 

The Head of Commissioning for Learning Disabilities and Health highlighted issues facing the Disability Service and the case for change, as demonstrated through service user feedback. An extensive Improvement Programme had been designed to address the various pressure points within the system and provide service users with a wider range of tailored support that could be flexed according to their needs. The HCLDH detailed the six strands behind the Improvement Plan and the actions that underpinned these. 

In response to several questions, the HCLDH stated that:

·  The obligations of other Local Authorities in relation to those people with complex needs who were placed within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham were dependent on the reason why these people were placed within the Borough.

·  If service users were placed within the Borough because of Domestic Violence or for social care reasons, the Council would go back to the originating borough of the resident and ask for a financial contribution towards the service users’ education or their health and care plans. If the service user moved in the Borough purely because they had wanted to do so, the Council had to pay for their social care costs.

·  Many of the Borough’s service users had moved into the Borough from abroad, meaning that there was no originating authority. Both the Cabinet Member and the HCLDH outlined some cases whereby families with profound complex needs had moved into the area from abroad, resulting in extensive cost to the Council.

·  A lot of housing stock in the Borough did not lend itself well to adaptation. The team had been working with Reside in regards to a new pilot at Brocklebank to produce Council accommodation tailored to those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

·  The team worked very closely with the ComSol housing department. There was a monthly meeting involving heads of housing and social care, where practitioners could discuss cases and look very practically into either how adaptations could be made to properties that service users were living in, or into the safeguarding risks of these properties. This ensured that all risks could be flagged as far as possible.

·  The team had just started a piece of work relating to those living with dementia. This had so far involved working with the Insight Hub, who had provided information showing that 20% of all residents with dementia lived alone. The Council did not know who a further 19% lived with, meaning that potentially, 40% of those with dementia in the Borough lived alone.

·  The team was looking into assisted technology, with an improvement plan in process. They were working with the Lead Commissioner for Innovation and Personalisation, with the aim to keep people living at home for as long as possible.

·  Early diagnosis and early support were key to supporting those with dementia, rather than working with residents when they were already in crisis. Figures showed that there were 1,300 residents in the Borough with dementia, although this was likely to be an underestimation.

The Cabinet Member also stated that Brocklebank would result in a 1-million-pound saving for the Council in terms of what it would have to pay for residents to have placements outside of the Borough. She was soon to have a meeting with the Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Housing, where she would be able to request the development of new accommodation, as well as the potential locations for these. The Leader of the Council was also in negotiations with a Foundation that was looking to purchase some properties in the Borough, with the Council keen for these to be purchased so that it could develop some adapted properties.