Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meetings held on 13 January 2015 and 20 January 2015 were taken as read, confirmed and signed.

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

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.

Ms Newton CC declared a personal interest in item 9 Quarter 3 2014/15 Performance Report as her daughter was a Nurse Practitioner at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.

There were no declarations of the party whip.

The Chief Executive reported that no petitions had been received under Standing Order 36.

The Cabinet Lead Member for Adult Social Care, Mr. D. W. Houseman MBE CC, has been invited to attend for this item.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Adults and Communities, the purpose of which was to provide an update on the new model of preventative mental health services for the citizens of Leicestershire. A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 8’ is filed with these minutes.

The Chairman welcomed to the meeting the Cabinet Lead Member for Adult Social Care, Mr. D. W. Houseman MBE CC. Mr Houseman advised the Committee that under the previous arrangements there had been issues regarding access to ‘drop-in’ Mental Health Services both in relation to the geographical spread and in relation to certain minority groups. However, since the Richmond Fellowship had won the contract for Leicestershire initial feedback appeared to indicate that access to services had improved.

Arising from discussion the following points were raised;

(i)         Work was ongoing to raise awareness of mental health issues in    Leicestershire and further embed services amongst communities.

(ii)        The Richmond Fellowship had won the contract for all the 6 available        areas in Leicestershire. The areas did not correspond exactly with          district boundaries. The areas of Blaby and Oadby and Wigston were            merged together into 1 area.

(iii)       Overall, for the first quarter under the new system 515 people used             the      preventative            mental health services, as compared to 456 previously.

(iv)       Census data had been used to assess the percentage of people from        Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities using mental health           services in Leicestershire.  Improvements had been seen in the      number of BME people accessing services. Prior to the Richmond Fellowship obtaining the contract, 66 individuals from         BME   communities in Leicestershire were using the service,          whereas under         the new service the figure was 132.

(v)        There would be a more outcome led approach to assessing the        effectiveness of the mental health services which would include      monitoring the progress of individuals. However, it should be             recognised that the Richmond Fellowship were not providing a crisis         response service but rather a preventative service which would make           assessing their effectiveness more difficult.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the report and the generally positive initial feedback be noted.

(b)       That the Director be requested to provide further information to         members on the performance of this contract.

The Cabinet Lead Member for Adult Social Care, Mr. D. W. Houseman MBE CC, has been invited to attend for this item.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Adults and Communities, the purpose of which was to provide an update of performance at the end of quarter 3 of 2014/15. A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 9’ is filed with these minutes.

The Chairman read out a statement from the Cabinet Lead Member for Heritage, Culture and Arts, Mr. R. Blunt CC regarding the performance of the cultural services provided by the Communities and Wellbeing Service. The statement noted the increase in visits to heritage sites, and decrease in use of libraries. A copy of the statement is filed with these minutes.

Mr Houseman MBE CC introduced the report and referred to comments by members at the previous meeting regarding how the RAG (Red, Amber, Green) ratings were assessed. He pointed out that an explanation of how the assessments were made was provided in Appendix 2 of the report. Members welcomed the changes to the RAG rating system.

The Director advised that in setting targets the Department had sought to maintain these at previous levels or set improvements. This had proved a challenge especially at a time of increasing demand pressures and diminishing resources. In setting future targets the Department would need to have regard to this.

The Director reminded the Committee that the purpose of this report was to highlight performance in key areas and it was not intended to provide a comprehensive analysis of the department’s activities. He went on to state that the information requested on the range and usage of the heritage service would be provided.

With regard to specific performance issues the Committee was advised:

(i)         Supporting people with Learning Disabilities had been given an amber     rating because it was believed that this was an    issue with recording the     data, rather than poor performance.

(ii)        Whilst there had been some issues regarding delayed discharges due       to difficulties with commissioning domiciliary care, the majority of the      delays were due to the NHS not undertaking timely assessments,            particularly for Continuing Healthcare. However, this needed to be             seen in the context of unprecedented demands on the NHS and social     care. An action plan had been developed to address the issues and the     additional funding of £520,000 in a grant from the Department of Health          would have an impact. The Director was confident there would be an             improvement in performance at year end.

(iii)       A Development Plan was in place to provide safeguarding assurance        across Leicestershire and Rutland which would sit under the Safeguarding Adults Board. Additionally, independent research had     been commissioned from The Ann Craft Trust to investigate numbers         of safeguarding referrals and provide a reasonable benchmark on        which to assure performance across Leicestershire.

RESOLVED:

That the report and information now provided be noted.

The next meeting of the Commission is scheduled to take place on 2 June 2015 at 2.00pm.

RESOLVED:

It was noted that the next meeting of the Commission would be held on 2 June 2015 at 2:00pm.