Decision details

Community Dementia Commissioning for activities for 18/19 until 21/22, including:

·         Community Activities

·         Specialist Advice

·         User Voice

·         Capacity Building

The Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care:-

(i) approves the Dementia Commissioning Plan for 2018-19 to 2021-22;

(ii) approves the necessary procurements and commissioning needed, as detailed within the report;

(iii) approves the issuing of grants to the Sheffield Dementia Action Alliance and the Sheffield Dementia Involvement Group, as detailed within the report;

(iv) delegates authority to the Director of Commissioning, Inclusion and Learning in consultation with the Director of Finance and Commercial services to award the contracts and complete all necessary documentation; and

(v) delegates authority to the Director of Commissioning, Inclusion and Learning in consultation with the Director of Finance and Commercial services and in consultation with the Director of Legal and Governance to take such steps as they deem appropriate to achieve the outcomes set out in the report.

The commissioning plan combines two elements:

1.    Reprocuring some existing services, which allows us to update the specifications to ensure they match our current objectives, as well as providing a continuing service for existing users and spaces for new users; and

2.    Commissioning new projects to widen the number and range of services and activities available to people with dementia and their families in Sheffield

Together, these provide a comprehensive and complimentary selection of activities and services across the city and follows our strategic vision of keeping people safe and well in their own homes for as long as possible.

For this reason, we recommend this approach as it updates existing provision whilst ensuring continuity for service users and their families, as well as providing more opportunities across the city.

In making the recommendations two other options were considered and rejected:

a.    Continue with the existing services and do not invest in other provision

This alternative was rejected for a number of reasons: it does not allow us to update the current service specifications and increase the number of places in day activities; and neither does it meet our commissioning objections of investing in the VCF sector and making Sheffield more dementia friendly.

b.    End the existing services and invest in other new provision

This alternative was also rejected for a number of reasons: it would mean existing clients would lose their day activities and dementia cafes, and the new provision would not be complimented by these existing services.