Agenda item

6.1

The Committee received a presentation from Phil Holmes, Director of Adult Services, on Adult Social Care performance.  Mr Holmes referred to supporting statistical information regarding satisfaction, timescales, cost of services, consultation, finding out about services and social contact.

6.2

Members of the Committee raised questions and the following responses were provided:-

·                It was difficult to explain why, despite average gross weekly expenditure per person on learning disability support for clients aged 65 and over in long-term residential and nursing care being the highest in Sheffield than all other Core Cities, whereas the figures in terms of user satisfaction rates were the second lowest of all the Core Cities.  The figures in respect of user satisfaction were considerably higher than carer satisfaction, in comparison with the other Core Cities. 

·                Data also suggested that the City’s spending on older clients who have mental health needs, or require sensory support, were much lower than other Core Cities.

·                The target was to try and ensure that Sheffield should be the best Core City in terms of user satisfaction rates.  There was a need to see people being happy with Adult Social Care services in the City.

·                The comparisons used to assess user satisfaction were identical across all Core Cities, so it was relatively easy to make a reasonable comparison.  Benchmarking was helpful as it highlighted the fact that there was more work to be done to improve satisfaction rates.

·                The reduction in the number of carers reporting that they have been included or consulted in a discussion about the person they care for had reduced, resulting in Sheffield being the second worst of the Core Cities in this area. This had highlighted the need for staff to listen to carers more carefully and to be more ‘emotionally intelligent’.

·                In terms of the reduction in the number of users who received a review in the past 12 months, which continued to be a cause for concern, Adult Social Services were working with Continuing Healthcare in the NHS, to look at how performance could be improved in this area.  There was a need to ensure that the right quality of conversation was held with the users, depending on their individual needs, either in person or by telephone.

·                The Service’s Management Team, which now comprised a number of new members of staff, met on a monthly basis to discuss all the different aspects of service improvement, which included looking at how the Service could learn from the complaints received, as well as discussing how improvement could be made in terms of health and safety, timeliness and approach to customer standards.  One initiative that had been considered was the introduction of a staff acknowledgement scheme, where members of staff who, in the view of the Management Team, had performed above and beyond their expected performance levels, would receive some form of formal recognition.  It was also hoped that other members of staff would learn from each other in terms of best practice.

·                With regard to performance for 2015/16, it was not envisaged that there would be a significant difference to the figures for 2014/15, although it was expected that there will be some areas of improvement and that the Service would have a better awareness of what and how improvements had to be made.  It was hoped that there would be a general upward trend in performance over the next few years. 

·                It was accepted that a number of Council engagement events had been held in the Town Hall, and had been attended by a number of Council officers, and that this was not always suitable for those users who attended the events.  Steps would be taken to look at how the Council could make such events more user-friendly. 

6.3

RESOLVED: That the Committee:-

(a)       notes the information reported as part of the presentation, together with the responses to the questions raised;

(b)       welcomes the approach being adopted, as now reported, in terms of the steps being taken to improve performance of the Adult Social Care Service; and

(c)        requests the Director of Adult Services to attend a meeting of the Committee in 12 months’ time, to provide a further update in terms of performance.