Agenda item

The following officers were in attendance for this item:

·         Rachel Soni, Alliance Programme Manager

·         Kate Pierpoint, Chief Executive Age UK

·         Paul Etheridge, Personal Independence Co-Ordinator

Rachel Soni, Alliance Programme Manager introduced the item to the committee by advising that the item was being brought to Scrutiny for consideration and comment before the OBC business case is presented to Cabinet in January 2018.

Members were advised that a business case was being presented to request an extension following this transition year, with recommendations on a 2 -10 year plan that would include the extension of the programme beyond the current over 65’s model. The review included plans for the next phase and updated Members on the progress that had been made to date.

The programme had been focused on community intervention through partnership working to prevent and reduce recurrent admissions to hospital for over 65’s and this has been realised through a strategic approach and use of the following:

·         Personal Independence Co-ordinators;

·         Living Independently for Everyone (LIFE) Programme; and

·         Integrated Community Network.

Officers informed the Sub-Committee that some of the areas in the proposal for the next phase included:

·         Improved choice for service users;

·         Integration with Mental Health Services;

·         Use of specialist services and care homes;

·         Increased use of voluntary sector in delivery of care;

·         Increased support for carers;

·         Addressing patient length of admission in hospital; and

·         Integrated Network of GP practices by March 2018.

Officers explained to the Sub-Committee that the Alliance had been working with its partners on winter planning, preparation, and improvements for service users. The Sub-Committee were informed that strategies were in place to meet demand and that services such as adult care packages and assessments was easily accessible due to longer Brokerage arrangements have been put in place during the winter period.

Members were given an account of the work that had been done by Age UK and Personal Independence Co-Ordinators in the last twelve months that had enabled service users to experience improved long term outcomes. Officers informed the Committee that in the last twelve months there had been six Co-Ordinators employed who had been able to engage with 209 patients across surgeries for an average of 14 weeks. During the engagement period, 90% of service users achieved the personal subjective goals set around their health & wellbeing, empowering and maintaining independence. GP’s had expressed their happiness on the positive impact the scheme had on service users’ lives.

A case study was presented to the committee by Paul Etheridge, Personal Independence Co-Ordinator, detailing the work undertaken with service users.  The support involved tailoring services to individual needs, multiagency team working between GP services, occupational therapy and district nurses to assess and make provisions based on needs such as equipment, access to social activities and benefits.

In response to Members’ queries on challenges faced by Personal Independence Co-Ordinators, Officers advised that not being able to manage demand due to limited resources was problematic. They were currently mapping out gaps in service delivery and the information was being fed back to the Alliance.

Officers informed the committee that the Alliance way of working recognised that there was still a lot of work to be done in the community. Presently, the focus was on priorities and areas where the biggest impact could be made through delivery of programmes, flexibility of long term partnerships and by working proactively with providers so that they could be sustained.

Members queried why the projected savings were based on the 2017/2018 period even though this was a transition year and were concerned about the impact this would have on the savings that CCG planned to make. Officers from the CCG advised the committee that they were confident that they would still meet their savings targets.

Members questioned officers regarding the progression of Mental Health transformation to which officers responded that the CCG had been working closely with SLaM to explore the Alliance’s methods of early intervention and had also looked at work undertaken by Mental Health Boards in other Local Authority areas.

The Committee queried whether a Housing dimension would be brought into the work done by the Alliance. Officers responded that this would be given consideration in the future. They would have to look at how best to integrate into what is currently being done in order to establish the right balance and achieve the best outcomes. There would be scope for more integration and better support for the community. The committee was advised that there was currently work being done in relation to housing through the Gateway services, CREST pilot and Shared Lives Services.

CONCLUSIONS

Following discussion, Members were in agreement that they were encouraged by the work done thus far by the alliance and recognised that the achievements to date were commendable.

The Sub- Committee highlighted the need for the Alliance to maintain control of the programme in terms of meeting demand when considering planned expansion of the scheme.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Sub-Committee agreed to recommend that the report for the December 2017 Cabinet meeting contain more detailed analysis of the projected savings to be made.