Agenda item

7.1

The Committee received a report of the Interim Director of Adult Social Care (SCC) on Winter Planning which gave details of the governance structures and citywide partnership working, along with a summary of key developments with regard to patient flow, in order that Delayed Transfers of Care (DTOC) do not increase and become a significant issue as in previous winters.

7.2

Present for this item was Sara Storey, Interim Director of Adult Social Care, Sheffield City Council.

7.3

Sara Storey stated that the last year had been very challenging with regard to delayed transfers, particularly during the winter months, but there had been notable improvements.   She said that the real focus had been on getting people home after a stay in hospital and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust was still under a lot of pressure to make this happen.  She added that the city has a good home care network and support agencies were working well together.

7.4

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

·                     With regard to the documents that were embedded within the report, it was confirmed that links to those documents would be made available.

·                     The City-Wide Care Alarm Scheme (CWAS) is now offering support similar to  the Community First Responder (CFR) scheme in other areas operated by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service, where volunteers are trained to use life-saving skills in their local area; the CFRs are volunteers based within the community). Now, if someone calls 999 or 111 and has fallen but is not injured, CWCA can attend.  Even if an alarm is not activated, they may only be a minute or two away from a medical emergency and very often their role is to simply provide vital reassurance to patients and their families.

·                     Even if someone doesn’t have a city-wide alarm, they can be redirected to the service.

7.5

RESOLVED: That the Committee:-

(a)       thanks Sara Storey for her contribution to the meeting; and

(b)       notes the contents of the report and the responses to the questions raised.