Agenda item

To consider a report by the Principal Manager: Business Support (copy attached) to enable Members to scrutinise the draft report prior to it being submitted to the Care & Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW).

11.00 a.m. – 11.30 a.m.

The Lead Member for Social Care (Adults and Children’s Services), Councillor Bobby Feeley, introduced the report (previously circulated) to enable Members to scrutinise the draft report prior to it being submitted to the Care & Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW).

The Lead Member emphasised that the delivery of social care services to the county’s residents, and the changes and modernisation of those services, was not solely subject to budgetary constraints.  The requirements of the Social Services and Well-being Act (Wales) 2014 necessitated a number of changes to the way services had historically been delivered. In future there would be greater emphasis on supporting people to live as independently as possible for as long as possible, with a more proactive, prevention and intervention approach to service delivery rather than creating a culture of dependency on residential care type services. 

The Corporate Director: Communities, in her role as the Statutory Director of Social Services, detailed the contents of her report, emphasising that whilst the report was in her name, the work summarised within it was the fruits of the entire social care services.  She expressed particular thanks to the recently retired Head of Children and Family Services, Leighton Rees, and the Head of Education, Karen Evans for their efforts in paving the way for the joining up of the Education and Children’s Services and ensuring such a smooth transition to the new single Education and Children’s Service.

Members were advised by the Director of Social Services that:

·       her report for 2015/16 had been presented in a revised format in order to conform with legislative changes and accommodate the new framework for measuring social care performance;

·       the Director was required to identify the Service’s strengths and weaknesses within the report, and also outline plans to strengthen the identified weaknesses;

·       the Welsh language was important to the Service and it was widely accepted that providing services through the language medium of the service-users choice was a central principle of a good social care service; and

·       her focus was on making a difference to people’s lives and keeping people independent for as long as possible.   Improving the quality of  lives was the ultimate aim, averting the need for statutory services for as long as possible subject to ensuring the service-users’ safety.

Members congratulated the Social Services Department’s work with respect of striving to provide services through the medium of Welsh for adults.  However, they did have concerns with respect to similar services for children, particularly now that the funding for Tŵf had been withdrawn.  Responding to these concerns the Director advised that in North Wales Tŵf now only operated in the Conwy County Borough Council area.  Flying Start had been another early years project threatened by funding cuts.  Nevertheless, Denbighshire was confident that its approach in bringing together Education and Children’s Services would assist with the embedding of linguistic skills throughout early years education, mainstream education and youth services.

Responding to other points raised by Members, the Director advised that:

·       with respect to the review of in-house adult care services, the details requested by Scrutiny and Cabinet in relation to each establishment would be presented to Scrutiny at the earliest opportunity, once the required work and analysis had been completed.  It was likely that they would not be presented to Scrutiny en-bloc, but anticipated that all would be presented before the end of the calendar year;

·       a balance required to be struck in the report between communicating important messages and including the appropriate level of detail i.e. information on the aim of the review of future provision of in-house adult social care services and the number of people using council run services in comparison to private/independents services.   The latter information was freely available for the public in other council published documentation;

·       there had been excellent co-operation on all levels during the work to bring the Education Service and the Children and Family Service together as one service.  Staff in both services had been extremely positive about the merger and on a strategic level both Lead Members and the Leader were involved in regular meetings with a view to ensuring a smooth unification;

·       she was aware of recent press articles in relation to an increase in the number of suicides amongst the young male population in North Wales and concerns raised by a HM Coroner with respect of individual cases.  Directors of Social Services across the region also had concerns with respect of these incidents and were establishing a board to examine access to acute mental health services.  Members were advised that the Welsh Government (WG) was currently reviewing acute mental health provision across Wales and that the Director and colleagues had met with WG officials at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd recently to discuss their concerns on mental health provision in the region.  Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) had recently appointed a new Executive Director of Mental Health services.  Initial analysis of the incidents of suicide amongst young males indicated that in a number of cases the individuals had not experienced long-term mental health problems, but that they were more likely to have experienced a “crisis” situation immediately prior to taking their own life than an enduring mental health problem;

·       delayed transfer of care (DToC) from hospitals to service-users’ home tended to occur when extremely complex care packages were required due to the service users’ health and/or care needs.  This problem was not unique to Denbighshire, in fact, Denbighshire had one of the lowest DToC rates in Wales;

·       no specific references were included in the draft report on potential extra care provision in the Dee Valley area as extra care housing in this particular area of the county was not a feature of the current Corporate Plan.  Nevertheless, if Members wished, a reference to proposed extra care facilities in the Corwen area could be included.

Prior to the conclusion of the discussion, Officers advised that going forward there was an urgent need for Social Care Services and Health Care Services to work closely together to find a solution on how to effectively integrate Health and Social Care Services.   Not solely for financial purposes, but to better meet future demand, which due to demographic changes, was an ever growing demand on both services.

Members thanked the Director for her detailed report and:

RESOLVED to endorse the Director of Social Services Annual Report 2015/16 for submission to the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW).