Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 5 December 2023 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

There were no declarations of interest to report.

Representatives of town or parish councils and members of the public who live, work, or represent an organisation within the Dorset Council area are welcome to submit either 1 question or 1 statement for each meeting.  You are welcome to attend the meeting in person or via MS Teams to read out your question and to receive the response.   If you submit a statement for the committee this will be circulated to all members of the committee in advance of the meeting as a supplement to the agenda and appended to the minutes for the formal record but will not be read out at the meeting. The first 8 questions and the first 8 statements received from members of the public or organisations for each meeting will be accepted on a first come first served basis in accordance with the deadline set out below.  Further information read Public Participation - Dorset Council

All submissions must be emailed in full to kate.critchel@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk by 8.30am on Thursday 22 February 2024.

When submitting your question or statement please note that: 

• You can submit 1 question or 1 statement.
• a question may include a short pre-amble to set the context.
• It must be a single question and any sub-divided questions will not be permitted.
• Each question will consist of no more than 450 words, and you will be given up to 3 minutes to present your question.
• when submitting a question please indicate who the question is for (e.g., the name of the committee or Portfolio Holder) 
• Include your name, address, and contact details.  Only your name will be published but we may need your other details to contact you about your question or statement in advance of the meeting. 
• questions and statements received in line with the council’s rules for public participation will be published as a supplement to the agenda. 
• all questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting.   

There were no public questions.

To receive questions submitted by councillors.  

Councillors can submit up to two valid questions at each meeting and sub divided questions count towards this total.   Questions and statements received will be published as a supplement to the agenda and all questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting. 

The submissions must be emailed in full to kate.critchel@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk  8.30am on Thursday 22 February 2024.

Dorset Council Constitution – Procedure Rule 13 

There were no councillor questions.

To consider the draft Forward Plan.

The forward plan update and the draft plan was received and noted.

To receive an update on developments relevant to Care Dorset.

The Interim Programme Director, Commissioning, Market Relationships, Major Contracts & over 65’s introduced the report that sets out the developments on the part of the Council relevant to Care Dorset and highlighted the following points.

·       Positive dialogue continued between commissioners, other council teams and Care Dorset.

·       The Business Plan for Care Dorset was due to be considered by the committee in October 2024.

·       Officers were working towards specification services, including residential care framework tendering which meant that the council was talking to Care Dorset around the specification of their services along with the wider market.

·       Plans for building new bedded reablement services were also reaching key gateways in the outline design development phases.

·       Work had been undertaken to agree a position on the rent and maintenance of the premises occupied by Care Dorset.

·       In respect of performance and services, there remained continued discussions as to the bed based which transferred from Tricuro. General occupancy had greatly improved and the rapid conversion of some beds to flexi-beds or short term reablement beds continued to deliver positive results.

·       Discussions continued around day opportunities.

·       In respect of new long-term developments, there had been several constructive planning sessions to move forward on the Council’s plans. This included to construct further reablement and rehabilitation facilities.  Progress around the option to build on the Dorset County Hospital site, as well as other options continued to be investigated.

·       Referred to value delivery by Care Dorset, sighting a diagram set out in the report at figure 1.

In response to a question, the Programme Director confirmed that there was a lot of positives in Dorset having its own care company.  However, it was important to work to strengthen Care Dorset, but there was also a need to respect and sustain the council’s responsibilities in the wider private sector market of adult social care.

The Portfolio Holder for People - Adult Social Care and Health welcomed the report and the opportunities to shape the market, this approach would have a vital impact on the market and provision of services in a rural setting.

Members welcomed the report and the ongoing work, and the Programme Commissioner confirmed that the Business Plan would build on the commissioning strategy going forward.

Noted

(a)           That the continued progress made in development of the relations between Commissioners and Care Dorset, be noted.

(b)           That the priority areas being addressed and plans in place to further develop Care Dorset priorities in line with Dorset Council “A Better Life” Commissioning Strategies, be noted.

To consider the report of the Chair of the Independent Board of Directors.

The Chair of the Independent Board of Directors presented the report setting out a company update. The following points were highlighted.

·       Since the last meeting, an all-councillor webinar had been held and was well attended.

·       Residential bed occupancy at the end of January 2024 was at 91%.

·       Community reablement was working well with significant savings in hours of prescribed care. Care Dorset continued to aim to use beds more flexibly.

·       With the support of the commissioning team, Care Dorset was working more closely with NHS colleagues.

·       Recruitment activity was continuing to do well and was above the national average.

·       Significant work was taking place on the 5-year strategy which was going to be closely aligned with the Council’s commissioning strategies.

The Managing Director for Care Dorset provided an update on the most recent colleague survey.  There had been an increase in the response rate compared to the previous survey in 2022, with 27.3% of submissions. Areas for focus going forward included communication, senior management visibility and transport.

In response to a question regarding the levels of recruitment retention, the Managing Director indicated there was room for improvement.  In respect of a further question around development opportunities, the Managing Director advised that an apprenticeship offer was being developed and Care Dorset had a healthy training budget for core and additional training.  Preparations were in place for a leader programme to be launched later in the year.

In response to a question around the communication offer, members were advised that the following communication vehicles were already in place, a weekly bulletin, and a fortnightly letter from the managing director. He further advised that the service was planning to run a series of town hall events to facilitate community engagement.

In response to a question around feedback from users, members were advised of the current practice which was an evolving process.

Noted

To consider any items of business which the Chairman has had prior

notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to section 100B (4) (b)

of the Local Government Act 1972. The reason for the urgency shall be

recorded in the minutes.

There were no urgent items.

To move the exclusion of the press and the public for the following

items in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within

meaning of paragraph(s) x of Part 1 of schedule 12 A to the Local

Government Act 1972 (as amended)

The public and the press will be asked to leave the meeting whilst the

item of business is considered.

There is no scheduled exempt business to report at this meeting.

There were no exempt items for this meeting.