My report to council

Posted By: Dale Mulgrew
Date Posted: 07/10/2008

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Health and Social Care Portfolio.

Adult Care

General Overview:

Under the leadership of our Interim Director of Adult Care - Jim Wilson, the Adult Care Service continues to make strong and steady progress in its improvement plan after last year’s inspection. A new and robust managerial framework has been developed around the three key strands that underpin every sphere of adult care.

This has involved the setting up of senor management boards on a rotation cycle, with the performance board monitoring operational and delivery issues; the finance board seriously examining the budgetary implications of the challenging budget strategic savings expected to be achieved from this financial year; and the third is the transformation board that is tasked with the progression of the evolving self directed care and personalisation agenda.

Just expounding on the importance of the modernisation programme in adult care, and this is the transformation board’s major assignment. It is fast becoming apparent that there is upon us the biggest change in social care working for several generations.

The government has set a directive that all local authorities have to start shifting to a ‘personal budget’ policy and to facilitate such a move each local authority has been set a target. This is no different for Rochdale and we have been set the challenging objective of allocating 1,980 service users with an individual budget by 2010.

This will mean some serious transformational work to be undertaken, involving a radical shift in the focus of social services staff and for our operations, and a mini revolution in the way the recipient will be empowered with choice and control in the future.

We will work to bring about this progressive agenda, with smooth and measured planning, allied to bold innovation, so that we are able to adapt within the new constricts that Government has set.


Learning Disability Service:

It is a concern that part of the continuing overspend of the adult care budget is attributed to the Learning disabilities service. This is a huge budget of around £24 million, which is a pooled arrangement between the Local authority and its health partner – PCT (soon to be NHS local).

This recurring challenge was the main driver behind a Learning Disability away day that was held in April. It was well attended by both partner organisations, which I acknowledge, and as a result of this constructive approach from participants it turned into an excellent and highly productive day. It really stimulated and invigorated one and all to think how the service is being delivered presently and what are the changes required.

The end product of the away day was a number of projects initiated that now have been started and I will report back to Council on progress made. Some of these work streams involve issues that really force a severe pressure on our ability to control the budget, such as out of area placements. But then it would be naïve not to think this is a complex world and often factors overlap and prevent progress on individual cases. I took the decision at the last executive that out of the ten projects conceived that we needed to really drive forward the four important ones as our priorities and external placements is part of this select panoply.

Finally, I am really thrilled to report to Council that the executive agreed in May to fund a LD newsletter. I believe this will become an important communication channel that will not only keep people in the touch, but in a world where isolation and social exclusion is the norm, we can really get these communities together and tell them of the opportunities available to them that the Council provides.

Services to Older People:

The pilot for the short term assessment and re-ablement service (STARS) is almost complete and a report will be expected to be tabled to the policy overview and scrutiny process very shortly. Cabinet was due to review it around mid July.

My first overtures from the pilot are extremely positive. Certainly my understanding is that a number of people have gone through the new service and have managed to fulfil the main mission of STARS, which is returning to independent living. I spent half an hour with the inaugural service user through the service, who found the experience highly effective and very caring. However, she did indicate to me that we may have to be a bit more joined up with health in how we operate this service.

I continue to monitor the situation with regards to hospital discharges across the acute hospital sites as we strive for a better and safer system and set of procedures. My Involvement extended to an intervention I made to the PCT about the transportation situation, who agreed that it is under resourced and in the interim they are investing additional resources, especially at the weekend.

In the long term there is to be a centralisation of the contract for the northwest ambulance service, and a consultation across the north west sector who are served by this organisation is currently under way with the ambitious target of completing and having the new service specification up and running before Christmas. The local authority will have an input into the consultation and then hopefully this will mean an improved, more coherent, and co-ordinated ambulance service after this de-fragmentation of the various ambulance contracts across the region.

Community transport though, as Age Concern expressed recently in a letter to the local press, will be something all politicians will have to get engaged with in the future.

Health

Equitable Access Project:

This is a project from the PCT that all members of The Council will welcome and hail as extremely important and necessary.

It will bring a new GP led health clinic to central Middleton, and deliver four new GP practices to the following wards: West Heywood, Smallbridge and Firgrove, Central Rochdale and Balderstone and Kirkholt

The PCT have conducted one of the best public consultations in relation to this project and will be nominated for an industry award. I am happy to give them the acclaim they deserve on this achievement and they really have captured a range of public views on what clinical services should be provided at these new surgeries that this project will deliver.

The Equitable Access project is due to our extremely low ranking in the number of GP’s per capita across Rochdale and I congratulate our health partner on the way they are delivering this project and the breakneck speed at which they are managing the process has to be lauded. They have to sign off contracts with providers of these new health services by the end of the year, so a whirlwind pace is required, but will accelerate the delivery of these health services and this should please all members.

Health and Well Being Strategy:

The Council has produced a health and well being strategy and I am sure colleagues have seen sight of it as a copy was presented as part of the Township papers at the recent round of meetings.

It really sets out the objectives and aspirations the Council has in this area and how it should have more influence on health outcomes for the Borough’s populace. It touches also on how we can be more joined up and better connected internally on this cross cutting theme and externally in better partnership working.

LINKS:

The host of the local involvement network (or LINKS) for Rochdale has been appointed and will be The GADDUM centre.

This organisation previously co-ordinated the Patient Public involvement forum, the predecessor to the LINK, and so they were adjudged the best party to take on the responsibility of this new function for public participation in health affairs.

New Foundation Status for Pennine Care:

The Pennine Care mental health trust was formally granted foundations status at the start of the month.

I congratulated them on this significant landmark at a meeting of their new council of members which has been set up as part of their new foundation status structure. I will continue to represent the Local Authority in this arena.

Supporting People
Audit Commission Inspection:

The audit commission SP inspectorate released their judgement of this service last month and I was very disappointed to hear the verdict.

I appreciate the frank and honest discussion we had at between all members of the SP consultative group which followed the announcement. We concluded that we all have a role to seriously confront where we are not delivering and really get to grips in helping to take action to improve.

I personally took encouragement from the inspector’s judgement that strong leadership has been shown over the last eighteen months and that there are promising prospects for the service.