Agenda item

7.1

The Committee received a report of the Director of Adult Services. Phil Holmes (Director of Adult Services) took the Committee through the report, which set out how the NHS and the Council were performing in Sheffield with regard to Delayed Transfers of Care, the factors causing it, and how they would be addressed over the next year.

7.2

Members made various comments and asked a number of questions, to which responses were provided as follows:-

·         Although the figures for this period were similar to last year, the situation had been much more complicated owing to the weather conditions. It was noted that measures put in place for this year allowed this difficult period to be controlled and prevented it from being unmanageable.

·         There had been a significant improvement in relationships between the Council, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group, with much greater shared understanding of the root causes of people staying too long in hospital. This meant a programme of work could be set up to tackle these core issues comprising both “in-hospital” and “out-of-hospital” workstreams.

·         Although adult social care did not directly affect Delayed Transfers of Care figures, Members noted that capacity had been increased which enabled a greater number of people to return home with care.

·         In terms of improvements, the immediate focus was to reduce the numbers of people waiting in hospital from current levels, then move on to strategic actions to ensure that performance did not slip again once the next winter approaches. Another area for improvement was to provide consistent practice within and out of hospital so that queues did not develop around holiday periods.

·         Members noted that Sheffield had recently been subject to a System Review by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on health and care arrangements for older people, which included Delayed Transfers of Care.

·         Sheffield would receive a report of the CQC findings in June and will then hold a local summit to set out improvement actions including operational measures to ensure Delayed Transfers of Care reduce, as well as preventative action so that a greater number of older people could stay at home. The aim was to ensure the voices of older people in Sheffield and their carers were being listened to, and that those views would drive the provision of care and identify prevention points.

7.3

RESOLVED: That the Committee thanks those attending for their contribution to the meeting and notes the contents of the report and the responses to the questions.