Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any interests in the items under consideration and in doing so state:

(1) the type of interest concerned either a

(a)   personal interest

(b)   prejudicial interest

(c)    disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI)

and

(2) the nature of the interest concerned

If any member requires advice on declarations of interests, they are advised to contact the Head of Democratic Governance in advance of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest on this occasion.

To consider any requests from members of the public to speak at the meeting.

There were no requests from members of the public to speak on this occasion.

To agree the minutes of the last meeting held on 23 February 2023 as a true and correct record.

The Committee agreed to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 23 February 2023 as a true and correct record.

To provide an overview of the work of the Adult Services directorate including financial position.

Ms Karen Smith, Director of Adult Services presented the Adult Services overview report to the Committee.

Ms Smith advised that the remit of the Adult Social Care Teams, both community and hospital based service was to support and promote the wellbeing of vulnerable adults across Blackpool.

Adult Social Care had continued to feel the impact of post pandemic changes in people’s working lives and staffing issues in both the care sector as a whole and the NHS.  Staff had been working a hybrid model, which afforded staff flexibility.  Following the implementation of flexible working, the service had seen a reduction in staff turnover.  A number of Social Work students who had graduated had since been offered jobs.

Ms Smith advised that the Services nationally had experienced an increase in demand following the pandemic.  Delay in contacting health professionals, misdiagnosis, the increase in complexity of care needs and struggles around poverty were reported as a key area for concern.

An Adult Social Care Recovery Plan had been developed which would be closely monitored by the Senior Leadership Team and a number of key officers across the department.

Ms Smith advised that she would be arranging an event for Members to provide a more detailed explanation of the service as a whole.  This would allow Members the opportunity to meet key officers and ask a variety of questions.

Members expressed apprehensions with regards to the Virtual Ward service, but Ms Smith clarified that this service would reduce the need for patients to be in a hospital bed, by conducting tests at home.  It was estimated that the total number of virtual ward patients would be equivalent to one full hospital.

Members requested that they be provided with details of community based initiatives.  Ms Smith advised that an information sharing event ‘Spring into Spring’ had taken place at the Winter Gardens.  A further larger event was planned for the autumn, ‘Active in Autumn’ and invited all Members to attend.

Members were advised that a Carers / Social Workers event had taken place, which focused on promotion of services, networking and appreciation of staff.  Ms Smith advised that this could be rolled out to all members of staff, focusing on Health and Wellbeing.

The Council had started to embed the ‘3 Conversations’ approach within Adult and Social Care. 

With regards to the Assessment and Rehabilitation Centre (ARC) Ms Smith advised that the unit had been utilised for short term care whilst the onward place of care was being finalised.  This had had a positive impact and some of the patients had left the service in a much healthier and mobile position.

Discussion took place with regards to the time limits / restraints of the ARC service.  Ms Smith explained that whilst there was no deadline as such, there was a national standard in place of up to six weeks.  This was assessed on an individual basis and determined by the complexity of their needs.

The Committee Agreed:

1.      With regards to the ‘3 Conversations’  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To provide an overview of the continuing development of the Integrated Care Board (ICB) and NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Partnership (ICP). 

ICB Update to include the development of the vision and strategy

Mr Kevin Lavery, Chief Executive Officer, Integrated Care Board (ICB)and Ms Karen Smith, Director of Health and Care Integration (Blackpool) and Blackpool Council Director of Adult Social Services presented the Members with a detailed update on the work of the Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB. 

Mr Lavery advised that the ICB incorporated South Cumbria, Lancashire, Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwin local authorities.

ICB’s were established in July 2022 and developed to:

•          Improve outcomes in population health and health care

•          Tackle inequalities in outcomes, experience and access

•          Enhance productivity and value for money

•          Help the NHS to support broader social and economic development.

Mr Lavery reported the main challenges being faced:

•          Huge underlying deficit

•          Underlying issues in the way they were configured

•          Huge increase in resource but no corresponding increase in productivity

•          National targets for cutting ICB running costs

He advised that the major operational change would take time to embed, and that there was three year recovery programme in place. 

He advised that the integration would take a minimum of five years, but advised that in the long term improving the basics would allow the rest to follow.

Mr Lavery advised that Blackpool already had good examples of integration, which would allow Blackpool to be a pilot for changes and be an early mover.

With regards to the major organisational changes Members suggested that staff be consulted, it was suggested a safe space open event for staff to provide honest feedback.

Members raised concerns with regards to the persistent restructures and change, they felt that in the past, the changes had not been allowed sufficient time to embed.  They raised concerns how this was perceived by the public.  Mr Lavery advised that whilst he had no control over future structure changes, he felt that multiagency working was key to the success.  Significant investment had been made with the focus being on public engagement for the people of Blackpool.

To provide an overview of the continuing development of the Initial Response Service.

Mr Richard Chillery, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT) gave a progress update upon the development of the Fylde Coast Initial Response Service (IRS).

He advised that the IRS was a new 24/7 model of access for people of all ages in Lancashire and South Cumbria to enable them access to urgent and routine mental health support and advice through a single triage, based on trusted transfer.  This was based on a call centre model but with enhanced clinical support based at the Harbour.

He notified members that three IRS services were in operation aligned to the LSCFT clinical networks with the Fylde Coast launching later in the year.  Evidence had shown that the IRS had received more referrals (due to an increased number of self-referrals) which had in turn resulted in a reduction in referrals to accident and emergency.

Home Treatment Teams were being better signposted to support patients so being dealt earlier, which enabled them to deal with patients differently, had there been a previous delay in treatment.

Members raised concern with regards to the delays experienced by Fylde Coast IRS. Mr Chillery explained that recruitment had been part of the delay, alongside some wider systems discussions with Blackpool Victoria Hospital (BVH) to ensure one single point of access but he was confident that the launch would take place September/October 2023. He explained that it would be a soft launch, but reiterated that all the systems had been tried and tested and any learning from previous launches had been rectified, therefore a much smoother launch was expected on the Fylde Coast.

Mr Chillery advised that the Street Triage Team would bring together the knowledge, experience and training of a Police Officer and a Senior Mental Health Nurse. The Team would work together in situ and work out the best next steps for the patient which would avoid unnecessary trips to the emergency department, or a Section 136 suite.

The Committee agreed to hold a site visit to see the IRS service in place, once it had started and embedded and this was welcomed by Mr Chillery.

To provide an overview of the work of the Blackpool Safeguarding Adults Board and plans to develop a Place Based service.

Ms Smith, Director of Adult Services gave an update upon the Blackpool Safeguarding Adults Board (BSAB) and the plans to develop a Place Based Service, with implementation by September 2023.

She advised that there had been a delay in recruiting a Safeguarding Adults Independent Chair for Blackpool, but advised Members that the interview and selection process would take place in August 2023.

She reported that the Annual Report was in development and would be presented to the Scrutiny Committee in September 2023.

Discussion took place regarding the decision to return to Place Based care.  Ms Smith advised that Local Authorities were previously set up differently and this would bring them inline.  She advised that this would ensure the right areas of focus would benefit the people of Blackpool.  The business unit were supporting the development, driving the initiative and delivery. 

The Committee agreed:  To receive the BSAB Annual Report in September 2023.

To consider the details of the Committee’s workplanning workshop.

The Committee noted the date of the work planning workshop, and was asked to contribute with suggested items that the Members felt they would like to scrutinise further.

The Chair of the Scrutiny leadership Board, Councillor Paul Galley provided the Committee with an overview of the role of scrutiny.

To note the date and time of the next meeting as Thursday 28 September 2023 commencing at 6.00pm.

The date and time of the next meeting was noted as in 28 September 2023 commencing at 6.00pm.