Agenda item

The Panel was provided with a report on a range of areas that included;

·         The published Care Quality Commissions (CQC) ratings for Care Homes and Community Services as at 9th January 2020.

·         The local authority area data profile, regarding Doncaster’s provider performance (that included breaches to regulations across South Yorkshire Adult Social Care Services.

·         An overview of the learning and development in Adult Health and Wellbeing (AH&WB).

·         An analysis of the training offered by Doncaster Council Workforce team to external and internal providers, demonstrating how Doncaster supported providers in upskilling and retaining its workforce.

·         An outline of the current contract monitoring activity that supports providers in improving their performance  

Breaches – It was reported that Doncaster had the second highest number of providers yet the lowest number of breaches.  The main areas of breaches for Doncaster were in respect of good governance and safe care and treatment, as well as person-centred care.

It was explained that work was undertaken with homes to ensure that they were of a good quality through providing them with adequate support.  Reference was made to the level of support and work undertaken with providers as part of a rigorous approach.

Training and Development – Members were advised that there was a proactive approach in respect of support, training and development when working with a workforce that included frontline staff.  This approach included access to different training courses from an extensive list that providers could access through classroom based sessions as well as through E-learning courses.  It was noted that certain elements of training were mandatory (as required by CQC and others) and were in place to support the delivery of a quality service.

It was explained that a strong training approach had been achieved through having a good infrastructure in place and with a focus on continual improvement. It was noted that providers might also choose to use their own approach in quality as appropriate.

Performance – It was reported that the Commissioning and Contracts team had worked jointly with other professionals and used the available information and data to identify who and how the authority could support those services that had acquired an ‘Inadequate’ and ‘Requires Improvement’ rating.

In terms of those identified as having ‘Inadequate Services’, it was noted that both cases had mirrored each other in that they were new providers into Doncaster, who had purchased existing services with lessons being learnt.  It was explained that efforts had been made to engage with providers earlier to identify those governance issues, support information and appropriate signposting.

Members were assured that further work was being undertaken jointly with a link nurse, nursing homes and domiciliary care.  It was stated that feedback from the monitoring team had been very positive around feeling more supported from the clinical input in a wide range of areas, for example, medication. It was also confirmed that working was also taking place with Public Health colleagues around infection and prevention.

Concerns were raised by a Member of the Panel that staff were low paid, that there was an ongoing turnover of employment within residential homes and also challenges in recruiting quality and trained individuals.

Role of DMBC - Members were advised how the authorities’ role was separate to that of the CQC although maintaining a strong relationship with them was recognised as important. It was commented that the authority’s role was to support and improve the quality of providers as much as possible.

Localities - Reference was made to the work being undertaken within localities and the potential benefits through care homes being located alongside its residents.  It was commented that this approach would present an opportunity to wrap around support for care homes through better engagement and locality working. 

Resources - Members were informed that there were sufficient resources within the team that included experienced monitoring officers.  It was explained that those officers each had an allocation of work in their portfolio and had developed positive relationships with providers ensuring that they were available if needed.  It was noted that it was a continuously changing picture and a case would be put forward if it was deemed that further resources were required.  It was also commented that resources in Doncaster were adequate when benchmarking against others local authorities.

Current Market - A query was raised about the impact on the market through the prevention agenda when supporting individuals to remain in their own homes.  It was explained that at present, the market was relatively stable with a similar level of vacancies within care homes regionally and nationally.

Unannounced Visits – It was explained that unannounced visits only took place when a safeguarding or serious concern had been raised and provided an opportunity to observe what was happening at that point in time.  It was added that announced monitoring visits formed part of an improvement plan  

RESOLVED that the Panel note the report and the information provided.