Agenda item

7.1

The Committee received a joint report of the Director of Business Planning and Partnerships, Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and the Director of Commissioning, Sheffield City Council, which provided details of the Dementia Strategy and Sheffield Commissioning Plan, within the context of a joint health and social care commissioning approach.  Appended to the report was the Joint Health and Social Care Commissioning Delivery Plan for Dementia 2014/15 and 2015/16.

7.2

In attendance for this item were Sarah Burt, Senior Commissioning Manager, NHS Sheffield CCG, and Joanne Knight, Strategic Commissioning Manager, Sheffield City Council. 

7.3

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

·                In relation to short term care, 20 short term care beds were currently block funded and consideration was being given to the use of day care services in the same facility.  It was proposed to ask people what the best solution was to reconfigure the service and come up with innovative solutions. 

·                There were several provider lists for the provision of respite care, which covered a number of eventualities and there was always the opportunity for people to self-fund.

·                Each dementia home should have members of the team who had experience and training in dementia.  

·                It was accepted that better systems were required for listening to people’s views in relation to the care they received and this was being looked into.  Meetings had been held with interested parties aimed at obtaining details of residents’ experiences, with buddying being under consideration as part of this.  An observational tool was being used by the Care Quality Commission to look at interactions with patients to see how any training was being put into practice.

·                The Adopt a Care Home Pilot linked young people to care homes and this would be evaluated by the University of Sheffield.

·                The Big Lottery funding to tackle isolation and loneliness would not exclude those in residential care homes.

·                Officers would check as to whether there was a figure that could not be exceeded from personal budgets and report back.  If someone chose a different standard of care, they may only get the amount as assessed, but that amount should be enough to meet their needs.

·                There were good examples of how people with dementia had flourished as a result of being introduced to different and new experiences.

·                The high turnover of care staff could be a result of it not being regarded as a profession, often being paid the minimum wage and being mainly female. 

·                Dementia prevention was included in the work being led by Kath Horner, Sheffield City Council.  Further guidance was awaited from NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) and this would contribute to local plans in the future.

7.4

RESOLVED: That the Committee:-

(a)       thanks Sarah Burt and Joanne Knight for their contribution to the meeting;

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

(c)        requests that:-

(i)       officers check that dementia training of care homes’ staff was taking place and being implemented and that this be included in a formal Monitoring Plan for Care Homes; and

(ii)      a progress report on the implementation of the Dementia Strategy be presented to the Committee in six months’ time, to include details of preventative actions.