Agenda and minutes

Councillor Jenny Hannaby sent apologies and nominated Councillor Janet Godden as a substitute.

None

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 6 September 2011 (AS3) and to receive information arising from them.

The minutes of the meeting of September 6^th 2011, were approved.

None

10:15

John Dixon, Interim Deputy Director for Adult Services, will give a verbal update on key issues.

John Dixon, Deputy Director for Adult Services, updated the committee on local and national developments:

The recent changes in functional responsibility for department directors were outlined. Sara Livadeas, Deupty Director for Joint Commissioning will focus on Commissioning across CEF and SCS, John Dixon, Deputy Director for Adult Services, will focus on Localism and the Personalisation agenda, and Simon Kearey, Head of Strategy and Transformation, will focus on Infrastructure Development. Recent developments in commissioning and localism were discussed further:

Commissioning – The appointment of Sara Livadeas as Deputy Director for Joint Commissioning is the first step in reshaping the commissioning process. The aim will be to deliver joined up services across the age ranges, ensuring a smoother transition at key junctures. This will result in a more holistic family-based model of commissioning.

An autism board has been set up to look at issues from a family perspective with children and parents on its membership. The board recently met for the first time.

John Jackson is working with Steven Richards, Chair of the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Consortium, on the governance arrangements for joint commissioning with the NHS including the need to improve the functioning of the pooled budget.

Members questioned whether there was an overemphasis on the inadequacy of current transitioning between children and adult services. Sara Livadeas suggested that whilst transitions weren’t always bad there were a number of areas in which improvements could be made, for example children accessing out of county services. This is a major driver in plans to develop a local autism facility in the county.

Localism – Increased locality working will complement the changes underway in commissioning services. 

A major aim is to devolve decision making to the lowest level. We are already seeing increased member involvement in decisions through the new commissioning model for tier two day services. Increasing the penetration of self-directed support will ensure that more decisions are taken by individuals in receipt of care.

A new set of performance measures are being developed by the deputy directors to manage the performance of locality teams. These developments will result in greater performance accountability within services.

The committee requested some transparency on the level of individual spending under the self-directed support model compared with the previous model. John Dixon assured the committee that this is an ambition but is not currently possible.

In response to questions around the capability of elected members to commission local services, the Cabinet member for Adult Services responded that, as with the day opportunities, members will be briefed and will receive appropriate training prior to any decisions.

Officers AGREED to distribute a summary of key dates in the Day Opportunities process.

The South East Cabinet Members and the LGA are submitting a response to the Dilnot commission.

ArashFatemian, Cabinet Member for Adult Services, AGREED to circulate a link to the presentation by Andrew Dilnot on the future funding of Social Care.

John Dixon, Deputy Director for Adult Services, updated the committee on local and national  ...  view the full minutes text for item 163/11

11:00

Steven Richards, Chairman of the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Consortium will deliver an update on current performance and progress within the Acceptable Care for Everyone programme.

A briefing note on current performance is attached (AS6).

Steven Richards,Chairman of the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Consortium, updated the committee on recent developments regarding delayed transfers of care and outlined the measures in place to improve performance. These developments are outlined in the attached briefing note (AS6).

Members were encouraged by the level of attention the issue is currently receiving and acknowledged that recent developments may take time to translate into performance improvements.

The committee requested an update on performance at the meeting in March.

11:15

Sara Livadeas, Deputy Director for Joint Commissioning, and John Pearce, Service Manager for Strategic Commissioning, will deliver an update on the new approach to commissioning services for carers. The update will include discussion of performance against the objectives of the new strategy.

The outline strategy document (AS7a), and a report on recent performance (AS7b) are attached.

John Pearce, Service Manager for Strategic Commissioning, discussed the content of the attached report (AS7).

Members raised concerns about the loss of the Oxford facility used by the Oxford Young Carers Project and questioned whether the current arrangement would adequately meet the needs of young carers.

Officers stated that although the current project is run in partnership with Age UK, the provider is aware of the need to connect to young carers. It was also pointed out that the new Early Intervention hubs will be the first point of contact for referrals of young carers.

The committee AGREED that the issue of identification and support for young carers will be raised at the next meeting of the children’s services scrutiny committee.

11:45

Andrew Colling, Service Manager Contracts Team, will deliver a briefing on the recent developments and current performance of the Brokerage service.

A report is attached here (AS8).

Andrew Colling, Contracts Team Service Manager, gave an update on the first year performance of the Brokerage Service. A detailed summary is attached (AS8).

The committee discussed the experience of users, questioning whether the feedback samples were of sufficient size to draw firm conclusions on current performance. Officers assured the committee that work is underway to develop more robust monitoring systems.

12:00

Andrew Colling, Service Manager for the Contracts team, will deliver a verbal update on the county council’s response to the recent financial troubles at Southern Cross Healthcare.

Andrew Colling gave a verbal update, outlining the approach taken by the directorate in managing the collapse of the Southern Cross care group. The transfer of the 6 Oxfordshire care homes was coordinated with ADASS and CQC. The homes will be transferred to two new providers, Methodist Homes and Four Seasons, in a two phase process. The following transfers were complete at the end of September:

·        Brookfield – Methodist Homes

·        Mill House – Four Seasons

·        Longlands – Four Seasons

·        The Triangle – Four Seasons

The following transfers will be complete by the end of October:

·        The Albany – Four Seasons

·        The Crown – Four Seasons

County council officers have held positive meetings with the new providers.

Members expressed concerns regarding the financial viability of other care home providers and sought assurances that the service would be prepared if similar problems emerged elsewhere. Andrew Colling assured the committee that the financial position of all providers was closely monitored and future difficulties would be dealt with early.

12:15

Adrian Chant will deliver an update on the Local Involvement Network and field questions from the committee.

A paper update is attached (AS10).

Adrian Chant and Sue Butler discussed the attached update on the Local Information Network (AS10).

Adrian Chant AGREED to table a report on care home visits for the meeting of March 6^th.

12:30

Natalia Lachkou, Supporting People Programme Manager, and Simon Kearey, Head of Strategy and Transformation, will deliver a briefing on the Alert Project.

A report on the project is attached (AS11)

Simon Kearey, Head of Strategy and Transformation, briefed the committee on the Alert Service, as outlined in the attached document (AS11) with particular reference to new assessment guidance produced in conjunction with the Oxford Citizens Housing Association. Lessons have been learned regarding the central importance of extensively communicating service changes.

The committee questioned the legal basis of the changes pointing to the case of Smith vs Portsmouth City Council. Cllr Arash Fatemian, Cabinet member for Adult Services, AGREED to circulate a written response on the legal ramifications of the Portsmouth case.

13:00

The Committee is asked to suggest items from the current Forward Plan on which it may wish to have an opportunity to offer advice to the Cabinet before any decision is taken, together with details of what it thinks could be achieved by looking at any items.

Members requested information on the current financial strength of the Four Seasons care group. It was AGREED that this would be mentioned in the directors update at the December 6^th meeting of the committee.

13:05

The meeting closed at 13:10