Agenda item

6.1

The Committee received a report giving an update on Adult Health and Social Care.

6.2

Alexis Chappell, Director of Adult Health and Social Care first of all apologised for the late circulation of the report and thanked the social care sector for all their hard work carried out during the pandemic. She stated that in addition to dealing with Covid, a whole range of facilities to all kinds of people had been delivered. She stated that her priorities for the people of Sheffield were to provide the best level of social care possible to a wide range of people.  There were two key points in the report, firstly the implementation of an enhanced assurance framework for adult social care as set out in the Health and Social Care Bill 2021, through the development of Integrated Care Systems aimed at tackling inequalities, the improvement of population health and wellbeing, the delivery of excellent care and the use of resources.  The second key point was to note and identify key areas of priority, and through home care delivery, people could live the life they deserved, and look at a new model giving support for enabling young people to transition well into adulthood and adult services so that young people could have the best start in life.  Ms Chappell concluded by stating that the Adult Social Care Service was looking to increase its workforce capacity, so that it could be proactive and responsive. 

6.3

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

·                Relating to practical programming and the impact on the NHS, the Service works closely with the NHS and had a very good relationship with it across the city.  There was a Working Group consisting of all directors who work to identify impact pressures and how to deal with them.

·                There was an Escalation Hub which comprised Heads of Service and Managers, and which met regularly to look at issues that arose and worked towards solutions to get the bet outcomes for people.  It was recognised that there was still considerable work required on this issue.

·                The Change Programme looked at people’s experiences and was trying to put those experiences and views at the heart of what they do.  The Service was looking at the national framework and the CQC framework to make sure people’s voices were heard when developing the assurance framework.

·                There were 117 care homes across Sheffield, not all funded by the Council, as many were self-funded. Whilst it was difficult, there was a promise to gather more data regarding under-occupancy.

·                The workforce plan sets out how the Service valued and empowered its social care sector across the city by implementing the national living wage, a career pathway and incentives for working in social care, by using a range of measures and services to do the best they can under sometimes under very difficult circumstances. It was important to value the work of social care workers, and to let people know that they were valued and supported.

·                The Service was trying to develop a baseline measure of the care pathway to social care. There was need to understand why people needed social care and also why they chose to leave.

• Like every social care service, the Adult Health and Social Care Service has had to balance many things, but a key priority was to focus on strengths and outcomes by holding conversations with individuals to understand their needs. The Home Care Transformation Programme was a suite of interlinked projects, with the common purpose of supporting transformative improvements in home care in Sheffield.  The views of service users were essential to understand how patients go forward and the delivery home care services in the future.

6.4

RESOLVED: That the Committee:-

(a)      thanks Alexis Chappell for attending the meeting;

(b)      notes the introduction of an assurance framework for Adult Social Care through the passage of the Health and Social Care Bill;

(c)      agrees that regular updates on (i) the implementation of the Adult Social Care Assurance Framework and Sheffield City Council preparations and (ii) the progress of priority actions identified arising from the self-assessment, are provided to Committee.