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In line with the Opportunity Area Delivery
Plan’s Priority Three Commitment to ensure that ‘No
Career is out of Bounds’, we have put in place a Careers Hub
to bring Careers Leaders in
schools together with employers and universities to develop best
practice careers education information advice and guidance. Through
the work of this group, the need for meaningful experiences of the
world of work has come out clearly as a key need in the borough. To
do this Doncaster needs a hub of willing employers on board from
all sectors in order to maximise the choice and experience to
school children in our borough to enable them to make the
right
choices about their ambitions about work.
Decision Maker: Director of Learning, Opportunities and Skills
Decision published: 25/02/2022
Effective from: 08/10/2019
Decision:
To award £106,200 of Doncaster
Opportunity Area (OA) grant funding to support the development of a
work experience placement support function within Opportunities
Doncaster Chamber of Commerce.
Lead officer: Riana Nelson
To re-tender the Communication Service for
Deaf and Deafened People to commence from 1 April 2020. The current
contract ends 31 March 2020.
• This is a statutory Service
• Doncaster Adults service along with DCCG and DBTH have
contracted a BSL service for a number of years to meet the
communication needs of Deaf, Deafened or Deafblind residents
• This service is to provide Communication Support services
that effectively meet the needs of residents, regardless of
ethnicity, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation religion or
belief.
• The new contract will be jointly commissioned (Doncaster
Council, Doncaster Clinical Commissioning Group and Doncaster,
Bassetlaw Foundation Teaching Hospital) and provides the
opportunity to refresh the current Service Specification and to
ensure that it fits with the current Adults Transformation Strategy
and makes use of new technology.
• The current contract is due to expire 31st March 2020 is
held by BID services.
• Quarterly contract review meetings take place with BID and
the service is working well and is demonstrating added value
(providing an in house interpreter and offering quality
improvement meetings with the deaf community)
• However in 2018 BID were only achieving 75% against
performance target of 98% to fulfil assignments, primarily because
the contract paid below the market rate exacerbated by a shortage
of fully qualified Communication Support Interpreters.
• It was agreed (ODR ref: AHWB 0.68.2018) to increase the rate
paid to freelancers from 1 November 2018. The in house interpreter
remained at the original rate. This has improved the fulfilment
rate, which is currently 94%.
Decision Maker: Director of Adults, Health and Well-Being
Decision published: 14/11/2019
Effective from: 09/10/2019
Decision:
To undertake an EU compliant procurement
exercise of the Communication Service for Deaf and Deafened People
for a new contract to commence on 1 April 2020 for 36 months with
the option to extend for 2 x 12 months. The current contract ends
31 March 2020.
Current Council spend is around £21k per annum. Doncaster
Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Doncaster and Bassetlaw
Hospital Trust (DBHT) are charged for any health assignments in
addition to this.
The Council wishes to commission a service on an outcome focused
approach that will provide Doncaster residents who are deaf,
deafened or deafblind with a:
• comprehensive and independent communication service
available at the times required by Service Users and other parties
involved in the assignment,
• fully accessible service, easy for stakeholders to contact
and compliant with all equal opportunities legislation,
• qualified and competent communication support,
• responsive to the communication needs of the Service User
and other parties involved in
the assignment,
• person centred, flexible service that can meet complex needs
of Service Users’ e.g. dual sensory loss, mental health
needs.
Service Review 2019.
A full service review has been undertaken to inform future
commissioning. It was identified that there had been some issues
around cancellations/non-attendance of interpreters that had been
booked for appointments. This appears to have improved since
Doncaster Council and partners decided to increase the guaranteed
freelance fee from two to three hours.
However, the fees are still below the NUBSLI (National Union of
British Sign Language Interpreters) guidelines due to financial
constraints of the contract that has now been in place for over 8
years.
BID continues to strive to meet the communication needs of the deaf
community in Doncaster by providing a robust accessible booking
process and providing high quality communication support and
professionals. A team of dedicated co-ordinators manage the booking
process and work closely with service users and
professionals.
All BID’s interpreters are registered with NRCPD (National
Registers of Communication Professionals Working with Deaf and
Deafblind People (UK)) with a minimum Level 6 qualification.
In June 2019 BID introduced a new web-based portal booking
system.
It is clear from the previous feedback from service users there
have been some issues around cancellations/non-attendance of
interpreters that had been booked for appointments.
The issues appear to be with the freelance interpreters rather that
the contracted staff members, we have addressed this by increasing
the appointment times from 2 to 3 hour minimum slots in-line with
other organisations using the freelance interpreters.
Lead officer: Marie Hall
This ODR is in line with the following Adults
Health and Wellbeing Commissioning 2018/19 Cabinet Report (27 March
2018) approved recommendations:
• To approve the Commissioning Procurement Plan for 2018/19
including the proposals and activity contained in this
report.
• Delegation of authority to agree and sign off commissioning
recommendations, to the Director of People, or nominated deputy, as
the work plan is progressed.
• Delegation of award of contracts to the Director of People
in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Adult Social
Care.
Background
1. Doncaster Council (Adults Health and Wellbeing) and Doncaster
Clinical Commissioning Group jointly commissioned a Home from
Hospital service. The contract was awarded to Age UK Doncaster for
2 years with the option to extend for 1 year. The contract
commenced on 1st April 2019.
2. The primary aims of the service are to:
• support planned discharges from hospital
• reduce re-admissions into hospital
• prevent premature admission to residential care
• Deliver a flexible person-centred service and support
carers.
3. Quarterly contract review meetings take place with Age UK and
the service is working well and is demonstrating added value:
• It offers timely intervention including ‘Ready for
Home Support’ to aid discharge, and has proven to reduce
re-admissions. Positive relationships have developed with referrers
(e.g. Hospital Ward) with regular discussion as to appropriate
discharge options. On average the Service receives 360 referrals
per year. The ward contacts Age UK Home from Hospital Service, who
will contact the service user on the same day and support a safe
discharge to ensure the length of hospital stay is no longer than
it needs to be.
• Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF) indicators have
consistently exceeded national and contractual targets. Latest
performance for ASCOF 2b (proportion of older people supported to
remain at home 91 days after discharge from hospital) shows the
service achieved 100%, above the 81% national target.
• Client feedback has highly rated the Service over the past 5
years. 95% of clients said the service was useful and 100% of
clients said they would use the service again.
• A person centred approach is taken to support increased
independence post-discharge. Qualitative feedback from service
users showed 47% said the best of the service was ‘getting
their independence back’.
4. The long-term strategy for Intermediate Care is still being
determined and agreed, however the type of service offered by Age
UK Doncaster provides invaluable support in aiding people to return
to and remain at home. This service is likely to be a key component
either in its current form or re-designed.
5. The Better Care Fund (BCF) Business Case to fund the service at
£100K per annum (£71.5K Better Care Funding,
£28.5K General Fund Revenue Funding) was approved by Joint
Commissioning Operational Group (JCOG) at the meeting on
25.09.18.
Decision Maker: Director of Adults, Health and Well-Being
Decision published: 13/11/2019
Effective from: 10/10/2019
Decision:
To seek retrospective approval to award a
contract following an EU compliant tender exercise for a period of
2 years with the option to extend for 12 months, for the provision
of a Home from Hospital Service.
Lead officer: Andrea Hedges
Weight management continues to be a priority
for Doncaster as the obesity statistics for Doncaster remains
unchanged and could potentially grow further. The impact of
increasing obesity levels (and associated long term conditions). on
health and social care services would be increased without low
level prevention and upstream approaches, and the longer term
impact on our increasing ageing population would need to be
factored in to the future planning of services and budgets.
The Fit Rovers health and wellbeing programme will compliment the
current healthy weight portfolio and provides a frontline
initiative for males and females around weight reduction and
behaviour change approaches in the absence of a Tier 2 weight
management service.
The current service has received some short term funding from the
Doncaster Clinical Commissioning group and previously a small grant
from the Sport England fund however those funds are now depleting
although some CCG funding will continue to support the marketing
and wider health benefits of the service and compliment the DMBC
grant as it will not meet the full service costs. The DMBC grant
will support delivery costs only for part year 2019/20 and the
funding for 2020/21 onwards will need further consideration in line
with finance planning going forwards in 2020/21 but there are no
formal commitments for this at this stage.
There is currently no alternative weight management service in
Doncaster other than the Tier 3 weight management service which is
a pre-bariatric service for the morbidly obese and therefore the
Fit Rovers service currently fills a gap in the lower level
prevention (tier 2) weight management services approach.
Current data from the programme demonstrates good uptake, retention
and outcomes from males and females and the large waiting list
(over 200) indicates the need and demand for such a service in
Doncaster.
For the reasons above there is currently no alternative service
available and if rejected the programme would inevitably have to
close and leave unmet need and add to a growing obesity epidemic
and further burden on health and social care services.
The Director of Public Health has already had conversations with
our Procurement team and finance to ensure that this meets our
corporate policy guidelines around grant agreements. The grant
agreement will be facilitated through our legal department
following sign off the ODR and conversations have already commenced
with that department.
Decision Maker: Director of Public Health
Decision published: 14/10/2019
Effective from: 11/10/2019
Decision:
It has been agreed by the Director of Public
Health in conjunction with the Portfolio Holder (Councillor Nigel
Ball) to provide a grant for 2019/20 (September 2019 -31st March
2020) to the Club Doncaster Federation to support implementation
and delivery of the Fit Rovers Health and Wellbeing programmes. A
grant of £30k would be paid in 2x £15k instalments for
2 periods (September to December 2019) and January –March
2020 respectfully based on performance reporting/ monitoring and
outcome data from the provider.
Lead officer: Dr Rupert Suckling
Eden Lodge and Wickett Hern are both purpose
built, CCQ registered, 24/7 short break buildings owned by
Doncaster Council.
Each unit has 9 bedrooms, 18 in total. In each unit there are 4 on
the ground floor wheel chair accessible and 5 bedrooms upstairs.
Both units will accommodate emergency admissions for those people
who experience crises as a result of family or personal issues or
who are transitioning into community supported living. Occupancy
fluctuates pending on the time of year and the availability of
ground floor rooms. Ground floor rooms are sought after and are
generally pre booked in advance reducing the offer of emergency
respite for people who have complex needs.
The demand for downstairs beds has increased. Snap shot of
occupancy comparisons between 2017 and 2018 are set out in more
detail in the attached Officer Decision Record.
As a result of limited availability of downstairs respite
rooms.
The proposal is to install a lift (one off cost) into Eden Lodge
providing 5 rooms that will accommodate people with mobility issues
and are at risk of using stairs.
The lift installation would:
- Reduce the need to commission out of area and expensive respite
places. (Based on the lowest £257 per night rate from
alternative respite services compared to our cost £140 per
night. One of the new Eden Lodge accessible rooms x 365 days can
save £42,705 per annum per person). This could save the
Council circa £213,000 per annum if the 5 rooms were in
use.
- Provide consistency of care in Doncaster
- Reduce carer stress and uncertainty for people requiring short
stay breaks.
- Support people and their carers through their life changes.
It is recommended the lift be installed before April 2019 due to
occupancy levels rising from April. An early installation would
avoid disruption to service delivery.
RDASH have approached Doncaster Short Stay services to accommodate
people whose respite services cease end of February 2019.
Decision Maker: Assistant Director Adult Social Care and Safeguarding.
Decision published: 10/10/2019
Effective from: 06/03/2019
Decision:
To approve the Capital Bid Application of
£97,153.50 to install a Lift at Eden Lodge Short Stay Unit
for Adults with Complex Needs plus a wet room costing circa
£9,000.
Lead officer: Karen Johnson
Backfill arrangements are required for the
Head of Service (Adults In House Community Provision) for 3 months
as the substantive post-holder is seconded into the Community
Assistant Directors post until the end of June 2019.
Further details are provided in the attached Officer Decision
Record.
Decision Maker: Director of People
Decision published: 10/10/2019
Effective from: 13/03/2019
Decision:
To approve a 3 month assignment for a Service
Manager within Adult Community Provision commissioned through Reeds
Recruitment agency.
This contract extension will be effective from 1st April to 30th
June 2019.
Lead officer: Damian Allen
See attached Officer Decision Record for
details.
Decision Maker: Director of Public Health
Decision published: 09/10/2019
Effective from: 08/10/2019
Decision:
To award the contract of £150,000 (along
with a further £200k budget allocation to be developed and
approved by the GDM Programme Board) to an external provider to
deliver a marketing and communication approach to address
inactivity.
This decision is following the approval by Cabinet on the 23.09.19
to receive £1.8m from Sport England to maximise opportunities
from the Local Delivery Pilot and delegate to the Director of
Public Health in consultation with the Chief Financial Officer and
the relevant portfolio holder to ensure spend is in accordance with
the bid and for Doncaster Council to undertake the accountable body
role.
Lead officer: Clare Henry
Decision Maker: Cabinet
Made at meeting: 01/10/2019 - Cabinet
Decision published: 01/10/2019
Effective from: 01/10/2019