Agenda item

The Committee received a report of the Director of Public Health which gave the outcomes of the Care Quality Commission inspection that was undertaken for Turning Point, and summarised performance of the service generally. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 11’, is filed with these minutes.

The Chairman welcomed Dr Andy Ball and Sarah Hancock-Smith (Senior Operations Manager) from Turning Point to the meeting for this item.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

(i)        Clarification was given that this specific contract with Turning Point related to providing services in Leicester and Leicestershire but not Rutland. Some of the funding was provided by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicestershire. A separate contract to provide services in Rutland had been signed at a separate date.

(ii)       Concerns were raised by Members that the percentage of clients that successfully completed treatment to the point of being free of dependence was low, however reassurance was given by Turning Point that the figures were in line with the national average.

(iii)      An Expression of Interest had been submitted regarding the national trial to develop drug and alcohol dependency Individual Placement and Support. Turning Point were due to find out in November or December 2017 whether their Expression of Interest had been successful and the trial was due to go live on 1 April 2018. If Turning Point were taking part in the trial they would need to recruit additional staff and members were reassured that there was sufficient time.

(iv)      Turning Point were receiving an increasing number of referrals involving  individuals who were taking legal highs however this was because legal highs were often taken by opiates users. There were less referrals for individuals who solely took legal highs and not any other substance.

(v)       Engaging more young people in the services offered by Turning Point was a challenge. In order to tackle this problem the Young People’s Team had changed its focus towards people in the 18 to 24 age group however this had the undesirable result that less focus was on people under the age of 18. Consequently work was underway to rebalance the focus towards the under 18 age group and promote the work of Turning Point to all age groups. It had been noted that there was a decline in referrals from the Youth Offending Service (YOS) and meetings were taking place with the YOS management team to identify the causes of this.

(vi)      The Privacy and Confidentiality issues raised in the CQC report related to a consulting room which was located off the reception at the Loughborough premises. Consideration was now being given to whether this consulting room could be moved elsewhere in the building. Service users would be consulted to establish their views on the matter.

(vii)    In response to a question from a Member it was confirmed that the success of Turning Point did depend to an extent on the input of other services with the clients and multi-agency working was key. One example where a joint working approach was important was mental health as this often combined with addiction issues. Officers from Turning Point regularly held meetings with Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust to improve joint working.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the outcome of the Care Quality Commission inspection of Turning Point, and the update on service performance of Turning Point be noted;

(b)       That officers be requested to produce a further report on the work of Turning Point for a future meeting of the Committee to include an update on the success of the Expression of Interest which was submitted regarding the national trial to develop drug and alcohol dependency Individual Placement and Support.