Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Laura Miller, Patricia Miller, Rachel Partridge and Forbes Watson.

The Chairman welcomed Mark Blackman to his first meeting.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 30 October 2019.

The minutes of the meeting held on 30 October 2019 were confirmed and signed.

To receive any declarations of interest.

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests were made at the meeting.

To receive questions or statements on the business of the committee from town and parish councils and members of the public.

There were no statements or questions from Town and Parish Councils or the public at the meeting:

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 consider a report by the Executive Director of People - Adults, Dorset Council.

The Board considered a report by the Head of Commissioning - Adult Social Care, Dorset Council, which highlighted performance of the Better Care Fund (BCF) against the metrics for Quarter 2.  The BCF Plan for 2019/20 had been submitted to NHS England on 27 September 2019, had received regional approval and was currently going through the national approval process.

In response to questions members noted that commissioners were working to stimulate and grow the social care market; regular meetings were held with providers and forums to share good practice, discuss challenges and learn from each other; a meeting had been arranged in January/February 2020 on technology  to demonstrate how technology can be used by providers to  deliver services and help  address issues of rurality and travel distances; the next report would provide an update on the impact of the launch of the DCR; there would be a focus on voluntary sector involvement in prevention over the next 12 months; and steps were being taken to raise awareness and an event was being held on 29 November 2019 in Sturminster Newton for this purpose;

Members were reminded that they each had a part to play in prevention at scale, joining up services and maximising the use of technology to help people.  They noted that the local authority was currently finalising the award of contracts for assistive technology partner with effect from April 2020. The Local Authority will link with fire and police services in relation to sharing what each partner were doing

Attention was drawn to the time lag for the production of data and the need for improved data science in order to better understand the BCF metrics.  The Director of Public Health agreed to discuss this with David Plumber, the Data Modellist. 

Members noted that social care delayed transfers of care had reduced and health delays remained high.  It was noted that being delayed in hospital when ready to leave was not a good outcome for the individual. The overall current delayed transfers of care performance might lead to a system review by the Care Quality Commission.  The Board discussed and identified some of barriers and reasons for delayed discharges and considered how it could help improve performance and ensure the best outcome for individuals and ensure that they were not delay unnecessarily in hospital. The Chief Executive of the Clinical Commissioning Group stated that the health delays were due to internal flow issues within the hospitals. It was agreed that the Director of Public Health would ask the Data Modellist for qualitative data as to reasons for delays.  Public Health, the Local Authority and the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group were asked to identify a list of actions to improve performance and outcomes for consideration at the next meeting.  

Reference was made to self-funders, the need for them to be able to access information or be signposted to it and for them to have support to help make decisions about long term care.  The Executive Director would discuss  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

To consider a report by the Executive Director for People - Children, Dorset Council.

The Board considered a report by the Executive Director of People - Children, Dorset Council, which set out actions for them to monitor resulting from recommendations by the Local Government Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO). 

It was explained that the LGSCO had a significant number of concerns about Dorset County Council's offer for Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) and Education Health Care Plans (EHCP) in 2018.  Dorset Council had to respond to the LGSCO's recommendations and when the report had been considered by the Cabinet it had asked the Board to monitor progress. Good progress had been made within the first month, but EHCP involved partnership working, not just the local authority, and this needed to be improved if the offer to children and young people with SEND needs was to be successful.

Members noted that this was not the first time that services had been criticised for not working as well as they could for children and that children's services had not had a high enough profile at Board meetings to date.  They also noted that there had been difficulties in getting appropriate officers to attend joint commissioning meetings and the Board's strategic role could help address the system's challenges in order to get the right provision in place for children and young people with SEND needs.

It was recognised that sometimes EHCPs could be held up by the lack of a confirmed diagnosis and, that although the local authority was meeting its statutory deadlines, it was hoped that the process could be quickened and engagement with families improved.  Although the local authority was the agent responsible for co-ordinating EHCP assessments, partners' role to help improve the system was recognised. 

In order to get shared responsibility for the EHCP process, it was agreed that the Director of Public Health would share the outcomes of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment panel for children with SEND in BCP Council with colleagues in children’s services. This would inform the local work in Dorset to improve joint working and how this was developing.  The Executive Director for People - Children would arrange for this to include progress with the LGSCOs recommendations.  Members were asked to ensure that their organisations were engaged in this process, and to ensure that the role of partners in improving outcomes for children was highlighted.

Attention was drawn to the Board's statutory responsibility for young people up to the age of 25, and that currently 170 children aged 16-18 and 600 children aged 12-14 had EHCPs.  The system needed to change in order to be able to meet this significant need and the increasing number of children with EHCPs.  Early intervention might reduce costs in the longer term.

With regard to the Chief Constable's offer to progress data sharing across organisations, the Assistant Chief Constable and Fire Service representative would meet outside of the meeting to progress this.

Resolved

1. That the action taken since receipt of the Local Government and Social

Care Ombudsman’s report (18 016 599) be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.