Agenda and minutes

There were no public statements made.

The Committee considered a report relating to the transformation of Adult, Health and Well-being services in Doncaster, addressing how the approach would be phased, to ensure the local people were provided with appropriate care support packages to assist them to continue to live at home.

The Chair thanked the officers for the detailed report and the Committee then address the following issues:

Consultation – The Committee was assured that extensive consultation had been undertaken over the last two years with care providers, care organisations, local health organisations including the Doncaster Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and service users.  New Horizons had engaged with 1000 individuals, 60% of which had face to face discussions. 

There were three areas arising from discussions, those being:-

·      Consistency of carers – service users struggled with inconsistency, not knowing who would be undertaking the caring each day;

·      Time of visits – no certainty could make people nervous and insecure;  and

·      Availability of evening calls – sometimes carers would make their last call between 6pm and 7pm to prepare people for bed, which in some circumstances was too early.

Members highlighted that the choice for people needed to be as flexible as possible.

Six Geographical areas – the Committee noted the 6 geographical areas that have been developed for future care and home support.  Each zone would have a Strategic Lead Provided appointed following completion of the procurement process.  The zones have been developed in conjunction with providers to ensure they are operationally viable and contain a mixture of both urban and rural areas.

It was noted that with there being 6 providers if one failed then there were 5 others available to pick up any issues early.  It was explained that, particularly for rural areas, assurances were given to residents that the requirement for a good quality service had been built into contracts.  Relationships have been built with current contractors over the last 6 to 8 months to ensure any issues are brought to the Council’s attention when problematic issues were raised and wish to this to be continued through new contracts.

Time Schedule – Members were assured that between October, 2016 and June, 2017 there would be a period of stabilisation where cases would be handed over correctly to the new provider.  It was confirmed that no one would be forced to change a provider if they were happy with current arrangements, however, if the provider was failing to provide appropriate provision then a change would be required.

TUPE arrangements for staff – It was confirmed that there were no TUPE implications for Council staff at this time.

Whistle blowing – It was confirmed to the Committee that providers would have to have a whistle blowing policy in place for staff to ensure they were confident to report any issues of concern.

Zero Hour Contracts – Following concern expressed by Members, it was explained that some staff prefer zero hour contracts to enable them to be flexible with the hours they work from week to week.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.