Agenda and minutes
PDF 90 KBVenue: 132 Queens Road, London, SE15 2HP Rooms G05 & 6.
Contact: Julie Timbrell 020 7525 0514
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Apologies
Minutes: Councillors Maria Linforth-Hall and Helen Dennis sent apologies, the latter because of maternity leave. Councillor Bill Williams attended as a substitute for Councillor Helen Dennis.
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Notification of any items of business which the chair deems urgent
In special circumstances, an item of business may be added to an agenda within five clear working days of the meeting. Minutes: There were none. |
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Disclosure of Interests and Dispensations
Members to declare any interests and dispensations in respect of any item of business to be considered at this meeting. Minutes:
Councillor Bill Williams disclosed that he works for Guys and St Thomas’ Foundation Hospital Trust.
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Minutes
To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the open section of the meeting on 14 October 2019. Supporting documents: Minutes:
The Minutes of the meeting held on 14 October were agreed as an accurate record.
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Review: Care Homes quality assurance - officer overview
A report is to follow. Supporting documents: Minutes: Genette Laws, Director of Commissioning,
provided an overview of care homes and extra care domiciliary care,
with reference to the report circulated in advance. The Director of
Commissioning highlighted the following points: · There is a commitment to open two new nursing homes by 2022, so that those needing care will live closer to their loved ones and are in services that are subject to a tendered contract. One of Partnership Southwark priorities is improving nursing homes.
· There is also a commitment to establish a residential care charter which officers intend to take to Cabinet in the spring of 2020. This charter will focus on supporting homes to focus on the drivers related to delivering high quality care.
· There is more work to be done to involve the service user voice and wider community in quality assurance. Currently the council are working with Age UK to deliver the Lay Inspectors scheme, however the Lay Inspectors only work with older people. The council would like to ensure similar work with wider groups.
The chair invited questions:
· Members asked if 6 monthly visits are enough. The Director explained that commissioners take a risk based approach, which means that visits can take place more frequently – some are done some quarterly, some even weekly if there is higher risk.
· The Director was asked about the consequences of poor performance and she explained that one outcome is the provision of a default notice on the contract, and ultimately to remove people from the care provision.
· Members asked about the number of safeguarding concerns and complaints received and how these are dealt with. The Director commented that Southwark does seem to receive less than other councils she has worked with. This could be because these Local Authorities were in areas of more affluence and therefore have more self funders and so there could be more confidence and sense of more entitlement. However, she emphasised, that everybody is entitled to complain and this could be an area that warrants more focus. Members asked how the council might ensure that there is an improved ability to raise a complaint and the Director suggested that this could be looked at through the nursing contract and the monitoring process. The Director also offered to provide some comparison with another borough to attempt to benchmark performance, but she cautioned that would be difficult as no two boroughs are alike in terms of types of provision or deprivation.
· Joan Thomas, former coordinator of the Lay Inspection service, spoke from the public audience, and said that often people do not understand safeguarding or what good quality looks like, for example the ability to de-escalate conflict and calm things down, or change a pad regularly. Lay Inspectors are trained in dementia. She added that she is concerned that the Lay Inspector coordinator post has not been filled since her retirement .She said the absence of a coordinator means the volunteers in place are not able to sustain the number of visits, which previously would ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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Review: Care Homes quality assurance - Healthwatch
Catherine Negus from Healthwatch will present. Supporting documents: Minutes: Catherine Negus, Healthwatch Manager, provided an update on Tower Bridge Care Centre with reference to a published report.
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Review: Mental Health of children and young people - Healthwatch
Catherine Negus from Healthwatch will present. Supporting documents: Minutes: Catherine Negus, Healthwatch Manager, provided an overview of work done on mental health, with reference to a published report.
The chair then invited questions. Members asked if there is any repeat work planned and the Healthwatch Manager said that they are doing follow up on Talking Therapies - with a work stream on young people. Healthwatch have also identified the need to do more research on drug use and are recruiting someone to do this.
RESOLVED
Two groups were recommended by the Healthwatch Manager to contact to contribute to the review:
· Southwark Independent Advisory groups - set up with SLAM and equivalent to Lambeth Black Thrive
· Cambridge House’s mental health work with young people |
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Lambeth Hospital redevelopment proposal
A report on this will follow. This item is here to consider setting up a Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JHOSC) on the change proposal from SLaM. Minutes: The scrutiny project manager, Julie Timbrell, reported that SLaM and CCG Commissioners have approached scrutiny regarding a proposal to move acute mental health services from the current site on Lambeth Hospital to a new site on the Maudsley Hospital. They have indicated that this is a substantial variation and as this would impact on both Lambeth and Southwark a Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JHOSC) ought to be considered. There is limited information available in the public domain at the moment because of the pre-election period. More information is due to come to Southwark’s OSC in January where members will be able to take a final decision.
Members commented that this proposal could raise similar issues as the single Place of Safety, which relocated patients to Southwark. The JHOSC, which was established to look at this, ensured that arrangements were put in place to ensure that Southwark social care services were not unfairly impacted. |
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Work Programme
Supporting documents: Minutes: The work programme was noted and the Healthwatch recommendations will be taken forward. Outreach is also planned to Lambeth’s Black Thrive project.
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