Agenda item

6.1

The Executive Director, Communities, submitted a report on the progress made on the Adult Social Care Local Account 2012/13, and inviting feedback from Members on the approach being taken, along with the design, structure and content of the early stages of the first draft of the report.

6.2

Ben Arnold, Development Officer, Business Strategy, Communities, introduced the report and responded to questions from Members of the Committee as follows:-

·                     It was appreciated that some service users, particularly those who had no one to assist them, would find the questionnaire difficult to complete, due to its size and level of detail, but the Authority was bound by national guidelines in terms of its size and contents.

·                     Details of the budget in terms of the funding available with regard to helping people with learning difficulties find employment could not be provided at the meeting, but such details could be obtained and included in the final report.

·                     The annual report of the Complaints Team was to be published in October 2013, and the relevant details from the report, which would include the level of detail now requested, would be included in the final draft of the Local Account.

·                     The reason for the relatively high number of patients being discharged from hospital into care homes for them to recover, which resulted in more people being admitted on a permanent basis, was possibly due to the lack of preparatory work in terms of assessing patients’ physical ability and their homes, in terms of relevant adaptations.

·                     It was accepted that there were too many graphs in the report and efforts would be made to look at whether the information could be portrayed in some other format.

6.3

The following comments were also made:-

·                     It would have been helpful to see the questionnaire so that the list of questions could be seen.

·                     It would have been helpful to have the detailed information on complaints to enable Members to provide feedback.  As well as the proposed information in terms of complaints, as detailed in the draft report, there should be further detail in terms of what action had been taken, how many complaints had been referred to the Ombudsman and comparable statistics with other local authorities.

·                     In terms of the graphs, it would be useful to include information to show why the Authority had performed well or poorly during certain years.

·                     More accompanying information was required in terms of the statistics regarding the number of patients being discharged from hospital into care homes for them to recover, which resulted in more people being admitted on a permanent basis, as the relatively high figures, as detailed in the graphs, during 2011/12 and 2012/13, contradicted what the Service was aiming to achieve in terms of intermediate care.

·                     The case studies need to be more visually attractive and interesting, whilst still being easy to read.  There needs to be better arrangements in terms of planned discharges for patients leaving hospital and planning was required, at an early stage, in order to assess whether patients leaving hospital could be discharged to their homes, rather than care homes.

·                     Details of performance should be included in the report, whether good or bad, together with details of how the Service’s budget had been allocated.

·                     There should be some reference in the report where decisions and policies had been made on a national level.

·                     The ‘I statements’ were welcomed, but would be better if they were linked to something, such as the four outcomes.

·                     There could possibly be too many comparables in terms of the graphs, and it may be preferable just to have two comparables, such as surrounding areas. 

6.4

RESOLVED: That the Committee:-

(a)       notes the contents of the report now submitted, together with the comments now made; and

(b)       requests Ben Arnold to consider the suggestions now raised in terms of the contents and layout of the Adult Social Care Local Account 2012/13.