Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Lowndes. 

Apologies for absence were also received from Denise Radley, Executive Director of Adult Social Service and John Webster, NHS Peterborough.

No declarations of interest were made.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 January 2011 were approved as an accurate record.

There were no requests for call-in to consider.

John Webster, Director of Turnaround at NHS Peterborough had sent his apologies for tonight’s meeting due to ill health and unfortunately there was no one who could represent him.

Councillor Fower asked for it to be placed on record the Commission’s disappointment that no one was able to attend to discuss an important issue.

At the invitation of the Chairman, Mary Cooke of Peterborough Pensioners Association stated that it was not common sense to reduce the funding for hip replacements and not offer physiotherapy as it would be likely that patients would become ill again.

ACTION AGREED

(i)                  That the Scrutiny Commission would not be making any comments on the report at this time.

(ii)                That Mr Webster be invited to the Commission’s informal meeting next week to discuss any issues with the NHS Peterborough Turnaround Plan.

The report detailed progress against adult social care key outcomes and targets for the year 2010-11.

The current Department of Health proposed outcome framework for adult social care identified the following outcome domains for Adult Social Care and proposed specific performance indicators to support monitoring of achievement of these outcomes:

·         Promoting personalisation and enhancing quality of life for people with care and support needs

·         Preventing deterioration, delaying dependency and supporting recovery

·         Ensuring a positive experience of care and support

·         Protecting from avoidable harm and caring in a safe environment

A number of the proposed performance measures were new and therefore had no current or historical data available at this time.  Of the measures reported two were rated red - behind target and plans were not likely to bring back on target, whilst three were rated amber - behind target but plans in place and likely to resolve issues or behind target but good comparative performance/progress.  Six measures were rated as green – on target.

The latest, and final provider quality ratings published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) continued to show that overall the quality of residential and nursing home services commissioned by the PCT was poorer than our comparators and the national average, whilst the quality of commissioned domiciliary care services was better than our comparator and national average.

Promoting personalisation and enhancing quality of life for people with care and support needs

This was the outcome where most performance indicators sat.  A number of the indicators would be measured via the Adult Social Care User Survey.  This was a survey which had been sent to 1000 service users who received a care package.

Percentage of adults and older people receiving self directed support

The target for this indicator was 60% and as of today performance was at 39.2%.  It was unlikely that the target would be met.

Percentage of adults in contact with secondary mental health services in paid employment

The target for this indicator was 7.5% and performance was currently 5.9%.  The Mental Health Trust had looked to address issues around data quality and it is now an actual problem and not a data issue.

Between January 2010 and November 2010, Peterborough Council for Voluntary Services (PCVS) provided advice to 109 carers covering the following:

·         76 carers received advice about benefits

·         63 were referred or signposted to a relevant service

·         68 applied for the emergency support service

·         36 received emotional support

·         Many other pieces of advice were provided including advice on accessing community and religious services and accessing GPs and dentists.

A group of adults with learning disabilities called the Pyramid Pioneers were developing and setting up a personalised range of day opportunities in the community.  Activities were chosen by the Pioneer group members and included arts and performance activities, developing their IT skills and accessing leisure opportunities such as going to the theatre.  The group had plans to expand the range of activities they were involved in and had been contacted by others  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The report provided an update on the latest performance on adult safeguarding.

Since the Scrutiny Commission meeting in November 2010, the Safeguarding Adults Board had met on two occasions and the latest performance report was presented to the Commission.  The report also provided a summary of a recent Serious Case Review which had been completed by an independent person.

The key points from the performance report were:

• That although there had been some improvement overall, performance was adequate rather than good.
• There had been a total of 76 referrals in the months of December (34) and January (42) with a further 28 alerts that had not progressed to referral status.
• A possible area of concern was the upward trend in the referral type ‘emotional abuse’ and ‘physical abuse’.  This was matched by a downward trend in the referral type ‘neglect’.  Further work was being undertaken on this area but it was believed that staff were now tighter on recording the referral type.
• The Personalisation agenda with an associated increase in the use of direct payments did not appear to have had a negative impact on referrals, as these had remained fairly static over the year to date.
• Team managers continued to receive specific mentoring around the safeguarding role.
• An interim Safeguarding Co-ordinator had been appointed to take forward the quality assurance work that was required within the safeguarding arena.
• The Safeguarding Board now had an independent Chair.

The Serious Case Review showed that some of the agencies involved with the older person since 2007 could have done better in some respects. The main areas for improvement were identified as:

·         Care management assessment and review by adult social care;

·         The direct payments arrangements;

·         Recognising safeguarding concerns;

·         Occupational therapy assessment; and

·         The approach by primary and community health care.

The review also highlighted that Housing Options’ contribution was an example of good practice.

ACTION AGREED

(i)                  To note the latest performance on adult safeguarding.

(ii)                To note the recommendations from a recent Serious Case Review.

The latest version of the Forward Plan, showing details of the key decisions that the Leader of the Council believed the Cabinet or individual Cabinet Members would be making over the next four months, was received.

ACTION AGREED

To note the latest version of the Forward Plan.