Invitees:

 

Susan Cooper, Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing

Cllr Phil White, Cabinet Member – Social Services and Early Help

Jackie Davies, Head of Adult Social Care

Mark Wilkinson, Group Manager, Learning Disability, Mental Health and Substance Misuse

Andrew Thomas, Group Manager - Sports and Physical Activity

Kay Harries, Health and Social Care Facilitator and Operation Manager - BAVO

The Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing presented a report, in order to share with Committee the range of prevention and wellbeing services and community based opportunities for support that is being developed and their strategic importance.

 

The report was supported by two Appendices, Appendix 1 containing a series of case study examples on the work of the Local Community Co-ordination programme, with Appendix 2 outlining a list of Local Community Co-ordination Support Networks in the Llynfi, Ogmore and Garw valleys.

 

She gave a brief outline of the report, following which the Head of Adult Social Care gave a power point presentation to Members.

 

The Chairperson then opened up debate on the report by inviting questions from Members to the Invitees.

 

A Member enquired why the proposals of the report only focused upon and affected the Ogmore Valley and other valley areas, as opposed to Bridgend.

 

The Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing confirmed that the work of Community Co-ordinators had to commence somewhere, and the above areas was where work had been targeted in the in the first instance and moving forward. The level of funding for the initiative had not been sufficient to extend the programme to other locations of the County Borough currently. There were 3 Community Co-ordinator posts being funded to support the project, she added

 

The Group Manager – Sports and Physical Activity that the Community Co-ordinators were supported by 5 Navigator roles employed by BAVO. He confirmed that the intention was to extend the Daytime Opportunities highlighted in the report to other locations as the project hopefully expanded. He was hopeful that further resources in the form of funding streams would become available, in order to achieve this within the not too distant future.

 

The Health and Social Care Facilitator and Operation Manager, BAVO, advised that the next tranche of development of services introduced would look to be rolled out to other areas of the County Borough, however, the project had firstly concentrated on where this was needed in terms of priority. The 5 Navigators supporting the Community Co-ordinators through localised services based on a model of “Active Citizenship,” however, were placed in wider areas both inside and outside the valleys, namely at Cwm Calon (Maesteg), Valleys Gateway and Pencoed , Ty Penybont, Bridgend and the Pyle Life Centre (for Pyle and Porthcawl residents.)

 

It was anticipated that the service would look to extend out further afield in the next 18 months.

 

A Member was concerned about the sustainability of the services available, as the support for these involved primarily the 3^rd sector including from volunteers. She also asked if there was sufficient funding available to train staff to support the development of the initiative.

 

The Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing replied, by stating that partnership working as the service develops was important to provide

necessary sustainability to the project.

 

The Health and Social Care Facilitator and Operation Manager, BAVO, added that funding streams would be sought in order for organisations supporting the work of the project, to build capacity in terms of recruiting further employees, as opposed to over relying on volunteers supporting such wellbeing and prevention services. A part-time post had been introduced in BAVO for the purpose of assisting the expansion of the project.

 

The Head of Adult Social Care referred Members to paragraph 4.9 of the report, where it confirmed that there was growing engagement with primary and secondary schools, recognising their potential to contribute to Ageing Well in Bridgend, intergenerational working, and the development of age friendly communities, including:-

 

a.    Dementia friends and champions training in secondary schools (Archbishop McGrath School, Pencoed Comprehensive School). This has involved strong partnership working with BAVO. The benefits of this work will be further reviewed to identify any learning prior to increasing the scale of the programme.

b.    Inter-generational activities between primary schools and older adults (LCC programme – Ogmore Valley, nursery school visits to Bryn Y Cae etc.);

c.     Facility projects that help to bring people together (Bryn Y Cae dementia garden).

 

The Cabinet Member – Social Services and Early Help, advised that the Local Community Co-ordinators had a very responsible and worthwhile role and the work they undertook was key in respect of the prevention agenda. He added that the wellbeing services and community based opportunities currently being made available in our valley locations was intended to be rolled out to other areas of Bridgend, though resources had to be available for the extension of the project. In view of this, avenues of core funding as opposed to just grant funding needed to be explored in order to fully achieve this.

 

A Member noted from the report, that a lot of the options available for Daytime Opportunities related to supporting individuals of low complexity. She asked if the avenues of support extended to individuals with mental health issues/problems.

 

The Group Manager – Sports and Physical Activity, advised that the current model for mental health services in Bridgend was largely a result of incremental changes in service design in response to policy developments, local pressures and organisational transformations. There was a recognition locally he added, that there needed to be a greater investment in the development of a wider range of mental health services, including the expansion of more community based help and support, including as part of the prevention and wellbeing agenda through engaging in community activities so provided, including for those with more complex needs. One of the aims of the project he added, was to help people wherever possible, to maintain their independence and avoid a managed care arrangement, unless this was necessary in order to improve the quality of life for any individual.

 

The Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing advised, that the main thrust of the report was to endeavour to put in place new and more innovative support services within communities, under the auspices of the  Social Services and Wellbeing Act 2014, with a view to improving people’s lives.  In correlation with this, services also had to manage a huge demand, including of people with more complex needs some of which a few years ago were in hospital or residential care, but were now living their lives more independently as a result of the introduction of more community based  services. She added that past models of care used, ‘sucked’ people into services a number of such individuals may have not required, once more resulting them in losing their independence. Due to an increase in the demand of people requiring a care package, changes have had to be made including looking more closely than previous the extent of support different people need through a level of need “dashboard.” She added, that people’s needs do change in terms of level of support with time, not only in terms of them needing more support than previously was the case, but also less should their health improve.

 

She continued by stating that the Minister for Health had made available £100m over 2 years for local authorities in Wales, in the form of a Transformation Grant for Social Services and bids had to be made for an apportionment of this, of which Bridgend had secured £6.2m, with some of this funding being contributed towards the transformation agenda and integrated care. This grant funding however, had presently only been committed for the next 18 months to 2 years. This together with other avenues of grant funding have provided resource for prevention and wellbeing interventions. There was also a recognition the Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing added, to generate investment into the resilience and scale of the Third Sector, to provide wellbeing support to people and communities.

 

The Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing, added that Officers together with other key stakeholders, had worked hard to ensure that Bridgend had not been disadvantaged by the move to a different Health Authority in the recent past. She agreed with a previous speaker also, in that the project before Members would be evaluated after it had bedded-in, to look at its success or otherwise.

 

She further added that a Governance Board would oversee the project to monitor it and examine the work being contributed to it by all key partners, through a Performance Framework arrangement. This Board would also sit under a Regional Partnership Board, in order to ensure that there is a trail of accountability attached to the project.

 

A Member reiterated the point that ‘Daytime Opportunities’ should be revisited at a future date and before any possible rolling out to other areas outside of the valley communities, in order to collate qualitative and quantitative data together with the social value of the work undertaken, together with examining outcomes and expenditure/savings committed/derived from the initiative.

 

The Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing, confirmed that communication of the proposals to people who would be interested in or qualify for being involved in the project, was key as part of the overall Ageing Well Plan. This could be pursued through a number of different avenues and communication channels, for example Third Sector newsletters, social care staff ie Social Workers (to providers), social media, elected Members and through assessments. So a wide audience could be captured through these and other channels of communication links, including Community Hubs and Local Community Co-ordination Support Networks (Appendix 2 to the report refers).

 

The Cabinet Member – Social Services and Early Help added that the proposals of the report also linked to the National Healthier Wales Strategy.

 

A Member asked if any detailed thought had been given to transporting people to such community based activities, as they may not have a car, etc.

 

The Group Manager – Sports and Physical Activity advised that access could be arranged through Bridgend Community Transport links, the Town Rider Scheme and volunteer drivers. However, if the project expands and is scaled-up, perhaps further avenues would then have to be explored also for this purpose

 

A Member referred to paragraph 4.72 of the report and localised day support/care clubs and drop-in services. She asked where these were located.

 

The Head of Adult Social Care advised that these were located in bullet point format in paragraph 4.33 of the report and alluded to in the eighth paragraph of these minutes.

 

The Member asked a supplementary question, namely if there were any such services available on weekends as well as week days.

 

The Head of Adult Social Care, confirmed that she would put an exhaustive list of all such drop-in facilities that were available, and in turn, send this to  Members accordingly.

 

As this concluded debate on this item, the Chairperson thanked the Invitees for their attendance following which they left the meeting.

 

Further Information requested:

 

Members asked for further information on the Community Hubs and an example of what they look like, where they can be found.  Members asked if there were virtual hubs

Members asked how much money had been saved as a direct result of the prevention and wellbeing initiatives.

 

Conclusions:

 

Members commended the work of the Authority in supporting the roles of the Local Community Coordinators in the Ogmore Constituency but were concerned that the support was concentrated in these communities only.  Members recommended that given the success of the scheme in this area that funding should be prioritised for the support to encompass the whole of Bridgend County to ensure equality throughout the Borough.

Members noted that there were a number of excellent initiatives and opportunities for adults with varying support needs but were concerned at how communities were made aware of the opportunities that are available to them.   Members therefore recommended that the opportunities are displayed on the Council website and also in all public buildings and notice boards such as libraries and leisure centres to reach as many people as possible.

 

Members recommended that the Committee revisit the item in 6 months’ time and the report to include details on the following:

 

·         How many volunteers are used for the provision of the prevention and wellbeing service

·         The direct savings that have been achieved due to prevention and wellbeing approaches

·         How the service is monitored and evaluated

Information relating to any post inspection action plan following the recently concluded CIW inspection