Decisions

The Rapid Response Pathway, Community Bed based Health & Social Intermediate Care is part of transformation of intermediate care and wider system redesign as part of Doncaster Place Plan. The Positive Step capacity to support DTOC is also part of the Intermediate care redesign. Both business cases requested an extension of 12 months in March 2019. These were approved but only for six months and both were aligned to be reviewed at the same time. It was anticipated that through the Intermediate Care review, the future model and hence funding for the Rapid Response Pathway and Positive Steps Unit – PSU - would have been secured. However, this has not happened in the timescales required. An extension of a further six months has therefore been agreed.

To agree to use the Non-recurrent Better Care Fund Earmarked Reserve allocated to the Place Plan.
Intermediate Care Rapid Response Pathway
Approve the extension of the non- recurrent BCF funding for six months (1 March 2019 – 30 September 2019) - £362,123 - to enable the continuation of the Rapid Response Service until the resources can be released from the bed based service.
Approve the extension of the non- recurrent BCF funding for a further six months (1 October 2019 – 31 March 2020) - £362,123.
Positive Step Unit Capacity to support DTOC
Approve the extension of the non- recurrent BCF funding for six months (1 March 2019 – 30 September 2019)
Extension of 6 additional Support Worker x 24 hour part time posts (0.65 FTE) - £41,820
3 part time x 21.5 hour part time posts - (0.58 FTE) - £25,500 Total £67,320
Approve the extension of the non- recurrent BCF funding for a further six months (1 October 2019 – 31 March 2020) - £67,320
Total investment required: £858,886

Askern Community Hub (ACH) is a registered charity based in what was Askern Community Library. ACH operates as a community resource including: library, conversation point and importantly offers the utilisation of upstairs rooms for a number of local community groups. The primary aim of the Hub is to offer a safe community space and an environment that is about enabling and empowering local people to access the local resource. The Hub through its community offer addresses social isolation and loneliness. As a conversation point, people can attend the library to receive advice and guidance around housing, benefits, local services, volunteering opportunities, employment advice and support and a multitude of other support services. The Hub has a friendly and relaxed environment for local people to meet and socialise, whether they are part of an established group or not.

The large upstairs room, which groups use for weekly activities and other events, has a ventilation system that the ACH have been informed is inadequate, therefore the group activities have had to cease until such time when a new ventilation system is installed. This funding will pay for a new ventilation system and fitting. Once fitted the community will be able to use the space again. Without this, the ACH cannot provide the space for the community groups. ACH is a popular space for residents to gather, for example in the first three months of 2019, ACH had 3,236 visitors. Additionally, the number of groups and the length of time many of these groups have been operation is testament to how necessary this Hub is to the local community. Currently individuals are unable to benefit from attending activities and this may, if it not addressed, impact negatively on their wellbeing. Attendees have stated that since the activities have ceased they have noticed negative effects on their mental and physical health. It is therefore imperative that the wok required upstairs in the Hub is undertaken at the earliest.

To support the purchase and installation of a ventilation system at Askern Community Hub. The system is required to enable the continued access of the upstairs rooms at the hub for local community groups. If the application for funding is not supported, then for health and safety reasons the upstairs room cannot be used.

The CRM system is heavily utilised by Customer Services as well a number of different services throughout the council The current CRM system is long overdue an upgrade to the latest version. The council procured its current CRM solution (Lagan) in 2012 and has been utilised as a central point of digital developments, communication and relationship management for customers, residents of Doncaster, Doncaster Council staff and its partners.

The council’s current version of Lagan (version 8) is out of date and is running on best endeavour support with the supplier. Upgrading to (version 15.4), will provide a supported version and it will remove a number of critical issues that are caused by the current version.

Additional reasons for the decision are:

- A CRM system & integrations which are fully supported
- Improving the organisations PSN compliance due to java & browser compatibility
- Removing current PSN compliance issues relating to the CRM
- Provide additional features which can be leveraged in future Digital Transformation projects

This option utilises a path of least resistance considering time and cost, as the procurement route is via the incumbent provider and contract.

To approve the purchase of an upgrade for the organisations Customer Relationship Management system. Upgrading of the infrastructure hosting the CRM (Lagan) environment and preparation for software upgrade.

Doncaster Council are currently approaching the end of a 3 year contract with Microsoft for the licensing of the Desktop Software and Productivity Products. A new contract must be in place by the 1st of June 2019.
The council’s ICT desktop estate runs on Microsoft Desktop Operating Systems (Microsoft Windows) and productivity products (Microsoft Office).
An Enterprise Agreement is the most efficient way to meet the council’s requirements for Microsoft software. Microsoft software underpins the majority of the council’s day to day working, line of business applications and customer interactions.
Licensing the organisation this way will secure unit pricing for 3 years to allow predictable cost management and flexibility.
In February 2018 Microsoft made a major announcement how the UK Public Sector would receive price support from May 1st 2018.
As part of the UK government’s Cloud-First policy, the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has signed a new, non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Microsoft that will help the government’s ongoing digital transformation agenda and the UK governments Cloud-First policy. This arrangement is called Digital Transformation Arrangement (DTA).
The products chosen on this recommended option leverage Microsoft 365 technologies that are heavily discounted in the Digital Transformation Arrangement.
The new technologies that are deployed with Microsoft 365 better serve our workforce, customers, residents and partners by offering enhanced security, collaboration, information protection, new online services and a modern workplace environment.
This option will allow the council to stay current with software versions to protect against vulnerabilities.
Future savings will be made by utilising the included cloud services which will drastically reduce the requirement for on premise hardware, support and 3rd party products that are currently in situ.
In January 2019 procurement tested the market, sending our requirements to all suppliers on Lot 1. From the responses, it was discovered that our incumbent supplier still offered best value.

DECISION TAKEN
Enter into two contracts:
1. A 3 year contract with Trustmarque solutions Ltd (a reseller for Microsoft) and
2. A 3 year Enterprise licensing agreement with Microsoft for licensing of Doncaster Councils Desktop, Server and Productivity software, choosing Microsoft 365 products that allow for the use of cloud technologies to support a modern and agile desktop. DCST will be named as an Affiliate on the DMBC licence with Microsoft and as such DMBC will be responsible for the actions / omissions of DCST.
The route to market for this contract will be the KCS Framework Y17038 – Lot 1 – Microsoft, which is a fully EU compliant framework.

Since 2008, the Council has used outside agencies for the collection of a number of its debts including Council Tax, Business Rates, Sundry Debts, Parking debts and Housing Benefit over payments.
The most recent contract for these services was awarded from the 25th January 2016 for a maximum period of 4 years. The contract was procured under 000587 YPO Enforcement Agency DPS Model call off framework. The contract is due to expire on the 24th January 2020.
As central funding to local government continues to reduce, it is now more important than ever to maximise income collection. In order to recover these unpaid amounts, professional enforcement services may be required, as permitted under various legislation. This knowledge and skills is outside the existing specialisms of the Council, meaning that 3rd party organisations are required in this area. By obtaining specialist Enforcement Agency firms, the Council should be able to take the required action more effectively, potentially recovering unpaid amounts or minimising future losses.
The YPO framework has been replaced by framework 000953 and by re-procuring using the framework the Council will continue to actively pursue its debts using specialist services.

To appoint a minimum of 3 Enforcement Agent companies for the recovery of unpaid Council Tax and Business Rates (Non-Domestic Rates); Parking debts; Former Tenant Rent Arrears; Housing Benefit over payments; sundry debts and commercial rents in order to maximise income for the Council. The contract is to begin at the expiry of the existing award on the 25th January 2020 and it will be awarded for a period of 4 years under the terms of YPO Framework 000953 Enforcement Agency Services.

Background:
The Adults Health and Wellbeing Service (AHWb) face a number of challenges in the current economic climate arising from demand due to an aging population, fragmented services and an increased cost of delivering health and social care. As our local Place Plan documents we have a compelling vision where ‘care and support will be tailored to community strengths to help Doncaster residents to maximise their independence, health and wellbeing’. Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care recently stated in his speech about his vision for technology in the NHS:
“…We need technology that makes life easier for hard-working and often over-stretched staff. We need technology that can run basic tasks and processes more efficiently. This will save…money and free up staff time – money and time that can be better used to provide great care…”
This funding is being requested to ensure Adult Social Care (ASC) and Support achieves both their service objectives as well as delivery of the AHWb Transformation plan in relation to the implementation of the MOSAIC case management system. Backfill arrangements for the Subject Matter Expert (SME) and funding four trainers are now required to ensure AHWb service are
actively engaged in data migration, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), sign off of processes as well as providing an effective link between the programme team, as they have extensive working knowledge of current systems and practice.
The AHWb service have already allocated and delivered resources to the programme so far, including identifying 25 super users who will work with the programme in the run up to and post go live of the system, with no backfill arrangements in place thus delivering resources “in kind.” Although this commitment has not been quantified, its value in terms of time and resource committed is substantial and demonstrates the AHWb’s commitment and willingness to actively engage in the development and implementation of an effective case management system.
Current situation:
We are now in the implementation stage of the case management system. Our approach to implementation has been revised and a decision was made by the DIPs Sponsoring Board to
implement the Best Practice Configuration (BPC). This is the solution as purchased which meets all statutory and regulatory requirements. It is acknowledged that BPC may not include the requirements for all services to support improved ways of working. The priority criteria for managing changes needed as agreed by the Sponsoring Board are:
• Replace functionality currently in core legacy systems
• Replace functionality that is partially in core legacy systems and partly outside
The criteria is based upon an understanding that the timescales to implementation are extremely ambitious. Longer term (post go-live) there will be a full programme of work to implement additional functionality/changes that are not achievable for the current go-live dates. This approach will:
• Enable the business areas to move onto the system quicker as implementation time is reduced due to minimum changes.
• Provide an opportunity to start using the system ensuring changes are needed.
In order to have a consistent approach to change management and implementation, it has become apparent there is a significant resource expectation from the AHWb service, at a point when service demand levels remain high and the service is expected to deliver efficiencies and achieve significant savings targets.
Having worked closely with the programme team, the resources needed to ensure the service is actively engaged in the implementation of the system is a combination of subject matter expert, technical, training, testing, migration and reporting expertise which will be drawn from relatively small teams with high workload. The majority of this requirement will be met “in kind” with no backfill arrangements to be made. However, there are key roles where the expectation is that individual officers will play a critical function in the implementation phase, and where more formal arrangements will need to be in place to cover their business as usual activity.
Having worked closely with the DIP’s programme team this decision has been taken to ensure the service is actively engaged in the implementation of the system is a combination of subject matter expert, technical, training, testing, migration and reporting expertise which will be drawn from relatively small teams with high workload. The majority of this requirement will be met “in kind” with no backfill arrangements to be made. However, there are 5 key roles where the expectation those individual officers will play a critical role in the implementation phase, and where more formal arrangements will need to be in place to cover their business as usual activity.
These are:
Subject Matter Expert
1 FTE commitment for 12 months
Backfill costs £29,498 per annum (Grade 7 – Top of scale)
Technical, testing and training leads.
2 FTE commitment for 10 months to cover testing, training and development of Standard Operating Procedures
Backfill costs £24,581 x 2 = £49,163 (Grade 7 – Top of scale)
Recruitment of 2 external trainers for 45 days @ £475 per day equals £42,750
Total costs: £121,411 (This excludes the additional “in kind” commitment costs, estimated to be £224K).
In addition to this resource commitment, AHWb has already allocated an additional 450 officer hours to the current BPC workshops, although this figure excludes the finance workshops, so the actual commitment is higher.
Whilst it is anticipated levels of activity will taper as we approach the MOSAIC Go-Live, the current systems will need to be supported up to this point as they deliver statutory services that will require business continuity throughout. No backfill arrangements will severely limit our ability to support current systems and ensure that, at the point of Go-Live, there is no disruption to services.

To backfill posts within the Adults Health and Wellbeing Directorate to support the implementation of the MOSAIC case management system. The backfill costs will include the recruitment of 3 Community Care Officer posts and 2 external trainers. The total cost in 2019/20 will be £121k.

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.

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.