Agenda item

Lay Inspectors

Age UK Lewisham and Southwark have provided a summary of Lay Inspector work for the previous year 2019/20 and plans for 2020/21, in the enclosed letter, alongside a description of the Lay Inspectors work.

 

Commissioners will provide an outline of current and future funding arrangements with Age UK Lewisham and Southwark.

 

Proforma from Age UK used by Lay Inspectors when visiting care homes and two example reports used by volunteer Lay Inspectors when visiting care homes. The reports on care homes are contained in the closed agenda as they identify individuals.

Minutes:

Genette Laws, Director of Commissioning, gave an overview of the future and planed commissioning arrangements between the council and Age UK Lewisham and Southwark. Historically the Lay Inspectors programme consisted of a team of 12 volunteers; the Lay Inspectors. Until recently a coordinator was employed by Age UK for 2 days per week to oversee this function. The Lay Inspector work  in groups of 2/3 and conduct 3 visits (2 day time & 1 night time) per year to each of six Care Homes in Southwark. They produce reports that are submitted to Southwark Council; however there has been no recent active engagement between Contract Monitoring and the Lay Inspectors, and that is a weakness.

 

Ross Diamond, Chief Executive Officer Age UK Lewisham and Southwark explained that there had been a pause in the Lay Inspection work, however this will resume now the funding has been received.

 

The Director of Commissioning said that at a recent meeting between commissioners and Age Concern the parties agreed to redevelop the scope and role of the Lay Inspectors and vitally to establish closer working relationships and joint working. Going forward the focus of Lay Inspectors would be to complement contract monitoring activities, rather than duplicate by focusing on the areas that contract monitoring officers may not get the same outcomes – e.g. speaking with residents to get their views. The Lay Inspectors will focus on seeking the views of service users, family and staff to obtain feedback, rather than formal inspections.  Visits will be coordinated in line with the overall contract monitoring schedule and regular meetings will take place to share intelligence and agree plans.

 

The Director of Commissioning said that the scope of involvement is also to be expanded to include Care at Home. There will also be training and development in line with development of Young Inspectors roles.

 

 

The chair invited questions from members and the following points were raised:

 

·  Six homes visited are those most used by older people in the borough and include the commissioned Anchor care homes and the nursing homes with most Southwark residents.

 

·  The Lay Inspectors would undertake at least one visit per year (3 in one) but would repeat if there were concerns.

 

·  The Care at Homes scheme will be particularly focused on those people without regular family contact and the un- befriended, aiming for a 1000 contacts. It would be a planned telephone call.  If concerns are uncovered the response provided is still being scoped out - it is expected that Age UK volunteers  would relay these to the council and close links with officers will be essential.

 

·  The Director of Commissioning said the Care at Home would be an expanded project with a different cost envelope. Age UK Lewisham and Southwark COE said they would be delighted to take on this extra work and employ more people and more volunteers.

 

·  Both the Director of Commissioning and the Age UK CEO agreed the new Lay Inspection programme can be quite speedily resumed using existing volunteers, though more will be recruited and trained, but there are enough in place to continue. The new Care at Home scheme will take longer to develop and get up and running. 

 

Joan Thomas, former coordinator of the Lay Inspection service, spoke from the public audience. She said said she was very pleased at the planned resumption of the Lay Inspector programme, and also pleased with the additional planned focus on Care at Home. She also commented that it was reassuring to hear that the renewed programme will include close working relationships between contract monitoring and Lay Inspectors, as in her view this is crucial to the success of the scheme.

 

Joan remarked that the inspection template has involved over time in response to family members concerns, for example questions on continence care. She would like to see ongoing dialogue with the Lay Inspectors about content. The Director of Commissioning said that continence care is a good example; she would like to see inspections led by conversations.

 

The chair and Commission members thanked the Chief Executive Officer Age UK Lewisham and Southwark and the Director of Commissioning for attending.

 

 

Supporting documents: