Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Public Health which informed of the plans for the recommissioning of the specialist substance misuse services and the proposed model for specialist substance misuse services. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 10’, is filed with these minutes.

The Committee received a presentation which provided further explanation for the reasons behind the recommissioning of the service and the presentation slides are also filed with these minutes.

Arising from the presentation the following points were noted:

(i)          The model for the current service had been approved by Cabinet in December 2019 and the service had been due to commence in April 2021 but due to the Covid-19 pandemic the start date had been postponed until April 2022. Since Cabinet had approved the proposals there had been some challenges which had arisen. Leicestershire County Council and Leicester City Council had been unable to reach an agreement regarding the length of contract for the substance misuse service. There were also differences in opinion regarding the price quality split and the pricing methodology. In addition, the existing contract was very prescriptive and focused on measuring outputs using Key Performance Indicators whereas Leicestershire County Council wanted the service to focus more on outcomes which would give the service more flexibility. One area where the lack of flexibility had a negative impact was managing the overspend experienced by the existing service provider.

(ii)         It was not proposed to change the model for the way the substance misuse service was conducted but it was proposed to change the footprint so that the City of Leicester would no longer be covered by the service. In response to concerns from members that the new footprint would lose the benefits of partnership working the Director of Public Health provided reassurance that partnership working could still take place but with two services instead of one for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

(iii)       Whilst it was acknowledged that some economies of scale would be lost with the Leicestershire and Rutland only footprint the existing service did not serve the needs of Leicestershire residents as well as it could and therefore changes needed to be made. It was hoped that in future there could be additional locations in the County for the substance misuse service to operate from.

(iv)       The new service would enable targeted work to take place in specific localities for example if drugs or alcohol was a particular problem additional resources could be allocated to that locality to tackle the problem. Members welcomed the flexibility and the ability to focus more on rural areas and market towns.

(v)        It was expected that the new proposals would mean that further delays to the service commencing could be avoided which was important given that early intervention was a key part of the substance misuse service.

(vi)       The financial contribution from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) to the substance misuse service was 3% of the service’s budget which covered the Criminal Justice caseload only. All commissioning partners were members of the Substance Misuse Recommissioning Board and had been so since its inception in 2019. All parties had therefore been aware of the challenges experienced and the delays to key decision making. After Leicestershire County Council made the decision to proceed with a Leicestershire and Rutland service, the OPCC was notified and a meeting took place between OPCC and Leicestershire County Council specifically regarding this matter. The OPCC was welcome to continue to work with Leicestershire County Council regarding the substance misuse service.

(vii)      In response to concerns that in future the substance misuse service would only be available digitally reassurance was given that face to face appointments would continue and digital was an alternative option not a replacement.

(viii)    The Cabinet Lead Member stated that he was positive the new approach could work and would provide a better service for the people of Leicestershire.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the update regarding the recommissioning of specialist substance misuse services be noted.