Agenda and minutes

The Adults and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on Monday 8 March 2021 at 2:00pm will not be open to the public in line with Government advice on public gatherings.

This meeting will be filmed for live or subsequent broadcast via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWFpwBLs6MnUzG0WjejrQtQ

The minutes of the meeting held on 18 January 2021 were taken as read, confirmed and signed.

The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 34.

The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5).

There were no urgent items for consideration.

The Chairman invited members who wished to do so to declare any interest in respect of items on the agenda for the meeting.

Members of the Committee who were also members of district councils in Hinckley and Bosworth and North West Leicestershire declared a personal interest in the report on the Provision of Short Breaks and Supported Living Services (agenda item 8 - minute 48 refers).

All members of the Committee who were also members of district councils declared a personal interest in the report on Museum Accreditation – Review of Last Period of Submission (2015-19) and Preparations for Next Submission (2022-2026) (agenda item 10 - minute 50 refers).

Mr. J. Poland CC declared a personal interest in agenda item 10 (Museum Accreditation – Review of Last Period of Submission (2015-19) and Preparations for Next Submission (2022-2026)) which included reference to Charnwood Museum, as the County Council operated this in partnership Charnwood Borough Council where he was a member of the Cabinet (minute 50 refers).

Mrs. A. Wright CC declared a personal interest in agenda item 9: Care Homes Sustainability (minute 49 refers) and agenda item 11: Framework for Integrated Personalised Care (minute 51 refers) as she was a health care solicitor working in the area. 

There were no declarations of the party whip.

The Chief Executive reported that no petitions had been received under Standing Order 35.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Adults and Communities, the purpose of which was to seek the Committee’s view on the future use of the Trees Residential Care Home in Hinckley, and the proposed development of the site at Cropston Drive in Coalville, in advance of consultation and engagement with those who accessed services on these sites.  A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 8’, is filed with these minutes.

The Director in presenting the report advised the Committee of comments received from Mr M Wyatt CC as the local member for Coalville South.  He reported that overall, Mr Wyatt had confirmed his support for the proposals but had asked that if development plans at the Cropston Drive site were to be less intensive, consideration be given to making appropriate use of the land space around the development, the effects to the borders and the local neighbourhood, and to ensuring adequate screening around the site by the planting of additional trees.

The Chairman highlighted that comments had also been received from Dr T Eynon CC as the local member for Coalville North, a copy of which had been circulated to Members and is filed with these minutes.  In response the Director confirmed the following:

(i)      If the re-development of the Cropston Drive site was no longer required a small number of existing short breaks’ service users in North West Leicestershire could be affected by increased travel to a new location, but the consultation process would provide an opportunity for those needs and the views of those service users and their families to be formally considered and their feedback would be used to inform future service proposals and development plans.

(ii)    Newer purpose-built units for short breaks including the newly refurbished units at the Trees Residential Care Home in Hinckley tended to provide better occupancy as the designs were often better suited to service user’s needs. Occupancy levels for Short Breaks’ services across the County were currently between 60-80% and the levels mainly depended on the individuals who resided in the Short Breaks’ units and their space and support requirements.

(iii)   It was anticipated that any developments to Transforming Care (TC) services would require a joint approach between Health and Care. The Council and the NHS shared a trajectory to ensure good coordination of TC services to help provide people with the right accommodation and support in accordance with their needs. The Department had a directory of people seeking to move from educational or hospital accommodation into supported living arrangements.  Whilst there had been a number of successes with people transitioning between these different types of living arrangements it was recognised that even with support, gaining a tenancy and taking on the responsibilities of community living could be a significant change for some and this would need factoring into any plans to re-develop TC services. Members noted that evidence had showed that people transitioning to a TC step through facility were more likely to remain and thrive in the community in the long-term.

Arising from discussion the following points arose:

(iv)   As part of the last short breaks services review in 2018 detailed analysis had been undertaken to consider the positioning of facilities across the County and the length of journeys service users would be required to undertake to reach these. It was the intention that a similar exercise would be undertaken again as part of this process and service arrangements and user requirements would be explored to ensure that facilities could be fully utilised, and occupancy maximised based on the needs of those eligible for this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

[Mr M Mullaney CC and Mrs A Wright CC left the meeting at this point and did not return to the meeting.]

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Adults and Communities which provided an update of the current position in care homes across Leicestershire and the support being offered to them by the County Council to provide safe and effective care, in the context of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.  A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 9’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussion the following points arose:

(i)      Members noted the uncertainty of future Government funding for infection control and rapid testing which had been provided in response to the Covid-19 pandemic but due to come to an end on 31 March 2021.  Members further noted that the free Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) scheme launched by the Government last year was only due to run until June 2021. It was not yet known whether such Government support would be extended.

(ii)    A member raised concern about the impact this would have on care homes emphasising that the Covid-19 pandemic was ongoing, and without sufficient funding they would be under additional pressure to manage infection control and to source PPE out of existing shrinking budgets. It was questioned what level of financial support the Council could realistically provide to care homes in this regard if no further funding from the Government was made available. The Director advised that it was difficult to be certain at this stage until the Government had confirmed its plans, but it was expected that a flexible approach would be needed, and the Council would have to consider requests for support on a case by case basis. 

(iii)   It was acknowledged that the additional pressures and costs care homes were experiencing as a result of the pandemic were likely to continue for some time, and if the additional Government income stopped and vacancy levels continued to rise, the risks to resident and staff welfare and overall sustainability of the sector would increase.  Assurance was provided that the Department would continue to work closely with service providers to monitor the situation and provide support wherever possible, keep in regular contact with other authorities, both regionally and nationally, and feed into national research which was being undertaken to evidence the pressures and costs care homes were facing.  Members noted that one of the key areas that would be considered over the coming months as part of the research was regarding insurance premiums.

(iv)   A member questioned the potential impact locally if a large group of care homes collapsed due to lack of financial viability.  The Director provided assurance that larger organisations would likely be able to offset some of the risks by making use of their other care homes within their group.  However, smaller organisations might have less options available.  The Director highlighted that whilst the sector overall was comprised mainly of large national organisations, the local composition was mixed which was thought provided a level of resilience. Members were pleased to note that, as well as keeping in regular contact with service providers, the Council also received wider intelligence from a number of other organisations including other local authorities, the Care Quality Commission and the emergency services who were often able to provide a good indication of the risks present, particularly regarding national organisations.

(v)    It had recently been reported in the national news that the UK’s largest care provider, HC One, was planning to close four of its care homes and put 52 up for sale. Members were advised that HC  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Adults and Communities, the purpose of which was to provide an update on Museum Accreditation and invite comments on the review of the 2015-2019 activity. The report also sought comments on the review of policies in preparation for the next submission, in particular: the vision and statement of purpose, collection themes and future priority areas and the access policy. A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 10’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussion and questions, the following points arose:

(i)      There was a number of ways that collections were made accessible to the public for example, most collections were usually displayed on a regular rotation around the various County locations and temporary exhibitions were also programmed in to ensure variety. There was also a search function online called Image Leicestershire which enabled people to search through curated aspects of particular collections and order images should they wish. In terms of whether providing an online Museums’ Service had been considered it was confirmed that developing a digital platform to display more content online was a future aim which was expected to be key in providing service users with a greater level of accessibility. Members supported this approach and encouraged innovative ways to make collections more accessible.

(ii)    The Council worked closely with Leicester City Council and other organisations to ensure collections and displays were not duplicated and to identify joint project opportunities. Work had recently been undertaken by the County and Leicester City Councils to review the collection items held by both authorities to ensure they were correctly situated.  Much loaning activity had also taken place between the Leicestershire Museums’ Service and other organisations during the reporting period to maximise collection display opportunities and efforts would continue to be made to promote loans going forward. The Thomas Cook collection was another example of partnership working, which was taking place between the County, City and Rutland Councils. The Collection was currently held in Leicestershire’s Record Office and the City Council was planning to hold some exhibitions to display the collection items over the summer period.

(iii)   Regarding unprepared archives relating to contracted archaeology and archaeological depositions and whether opportunities could be being missed by the Leicestershire Museums’ Service not accepting these, it was confirmed that ensuring finds were properly catalogued and marked was an essential requirement to ensure items were identifiable and fit for use by the Service. For example, as part of planning processes developers were sometimes required to undertake some form of archaeological investigation and prepare the material in advance of deposit with a registered repository (locally this was the Leicestershire Museums’ Service). The guidelines for the transfer of archaeological archives to Leicestershire County Council’s Museums collections (set out in Appendix A to the report) provided prospective depositors with guidance on the conditions that should be met for finds/archives to be acceptable. The level of preparation required to be made on such finds depended on the types and range of the discoveries which often varied greatly.

(iv)   The Council was working with Charnwood Borough Council to prepare for celebrations to be held in 2021 for the 800th anniversary of Loughborough Fair. A member remarked that the part of the project they had been involved in which was being led by the County Council had been very well organised so far and they had found communication with the officers involved, including those at the Leicestershire Museums’ Service, to be positive.

RESOLVED:

(a)    That the activity undertaken by Leicestershire Museums relating to the last Accreditation period (2015-19) set out in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Adults and Communities which provided information and sought comment on the Framework for Integrated Personalised Care, which was intended to supersede the Health and Social Care Protocol (2014).  A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 11’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussion the following points arose:

(i)      In response to a query regarding the proposed governance arrangements and the process for taking decisions quickly for the benefit of service users, the Director confirmed that overall governance arrangements for Leicestershire would be through the Health and Wellbeing Board whose membership included both NHS and County Council representatives. This would therefore provide for decision making to be coordinated between local partner organisations. The Board was also supported by a sub-group, whose membership included key service provider representatives, which took account of decisions made by the Health and Wellbeing Board to ensure these were fed into operational practices. Once the Framework was approved and came into effect it was thought unlikely there would be any disruptions or barriers to how health and care services were delivered to individual service users.

(ii)    The new Framework would build on existing practices and it was expected to improve service delivery outcomes for service users. In terms of how these outcomes would be monitored, the Director advised that bi-weekly meetings already took place between health and care partners across LLR under existing arrangements and these would continue under the new Framework. Members noted that such meetings provided an opportunity for individual cases to be reviewed and care responsibilities and costs apportioned to the appropriate organisation(s).

(iii)   Members noted that a shared care form would be generated for Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) staff to consider how to apportion responsibilities and costs between Health and Adult Social Care, and that the Adult Social Care Management System had a funding mechanism built in to support that process.  The Director highlighted that staff across the MDTs would work to ensure that services were coordinated effectively so that service users that were entitled to free public healthcare were not charged for healthcare related tasks. This element would also be picked up as part of the service user review process and had been built into delivery and customer expectations service models which would require staff to ask questions to ensure the service being received was efficient and at the level expected.

(iv)   The way costs were budgeted for and apportioned between Health and Care depended on the level of service required. For example, if a person’s social care needs could be met by the Council with two calls a day but there were additional health related elements that required a third call these may be included onto the Council’s system for an invoice to be issued to charge the relevant NHS Clinical Commissioning Group for the third call.  In other cases, it may be that the level of service provided was required to be shared equally between both organisations and therefore costs were apportioned in an equal way.

(v)    Members were assured that staff would continue to receive appropriate training and be assessed for competency for any task they were required to undertake. Currently there were two levels of training that staff in the social care workforce could receive. Training at the first level was provided to all staff members undertaking a role in social care and designed for those carrying out generic tasks. Training at the second level was an enhanced level of training that was designed around individual service user needs to enable staff to carry out specific tasks to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

The next meeting of the Committee is scheduled to take place on 7 June 2021 at 2.00pm.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on 7 June 2021 at 2.00pm.

The Chairman announced that this would be the final meeting of the Adults and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee that Mr Richard Blunt CC would be attending and thanked him for his attendance at these meetings and the responses provided to the questions and comments raised.