Agenda item

Members were presented with an update report following an earlier report in April 2018 that had highlighted weaknesses in the Council’s processes for managing and monitoring the carrying out of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) assessments by the Council. This substantial project had been ongoing, and 49 Audit recommendations had been agreed by Management out of which, 26 had now been completed and almost all others were currently in progress.

It was noted that significant progress had been made by the DoLS Team over a relatively short period of time, and whilst further work was still needed in some areas, it was felt that this area could now be removed from the ‘critical list’ as a result of satisfactory improvements.

Members were invited to address Officers with any questions or concerns that they may have in relation to this issue in order to accept the recommendations contained within the report.

The Committee welcomed the positive report, and in relation to a number of queries regarding the outstanding actions and risks, Members were assured that whilst there had been some slippage of dates on some actions, progress was still considered to be good.

The Assistant Director of Social Care and Safeguarding was in attendance at the meeting and endeavoured to provide Members with any further information they required in relation to issues they raised.

Issues with regard to assessments and referrals were raised as Members were concerned that these had increased and that there were a number of outstanding assessments. The Committee was reassured that whilst it there had been an increase in assessments waiting to be undertaken, there were always peaks and troughs within this service and this could also be seen nationally across the board, where the national trend had shown an increase in 10% per annum for referrals and subsequent assessments. However, Members were also informed that figures were affected by working to a managed level of a waiting list of 20% which had been assessed as realistic to manage and that there could never be no waiting list due to the processes involved. There were complications in relation to a number of individuals across the Borough who currently resided in settled placements but who were battling a condition such as dementia, and therefore there was continuing conflict as to how to deal with these cases.  However, this issue was being looked at in more depth in order to ensure that the problem regarding prioritisation of referrals and assessments was legitimately addressed,

With regard to a query regarding staffing levels and problems, team motivation and morale, Members were informed that whilst there were some staffing issues, a new full time DoLS Manager had been appointed and this had made a big change with an improved focus by the team overall, and they looked to be in a much better place moving forward. Additional staffing had been put into place for the next 12 months, and the team had adapted well to the Improvement Plan that had been put into place.

Councillor Jones thanked Officers for the report and Members were pleased with the progress made but still felt there was a way to go and felt that the Committee would be neglecting their responsibility if they did not look at this issue again.

            RESOLVED that:-

1)    Members receive an update report at a future meeting; and

2)    The Audit Committee note the current DoLS position and the progress made.