Invitees

Councillor Jane Gebbie - Deputy Leader of Council and Cabinet Member for Social Services and Early Help

Claire Marchant - Corporate Director - Social Services and Wellbeing

Jacqueline Davies - Head of Adult Social Care

Carmel Donovan - Integrated Community Services Manager (Bridgend)
Michelle King - Integrated Community Services Manager- CRT (Bridgend Locality)

Vicki Wallace - Deputy Director of Planning and Partnerships - Cwm Taf Morgannwg

The Head of Adult Social Care presented the report, the purpose of which was to detail the service pressures being experienced in Adult Social Care, describe the mitigating actions the service was undertaking and the work across Health and Social Care to manage the overall situation, focusing on the Care and Support at Home/Domiciliary services, and the social work service.

The Chairperson thanked the Head of Adult Social Care and Members discussed the following:

·         The single and multidisciplinary goal-orientated rehabilitation programmes used in short-term intervention services with the focus on the delivery of services in the home.

·         The number and average age of people awaiting packages of care at home and in hospital, factors affecting the variable waiting times for a care and support package.

·         Active management of waiting lists including regular phone calls, social work visits, reassessments and therapies.

·         The impact of the pandemic on people’s physical and mental health, the significant recovery funding received to help rebuild capacity and the importance of preventative services.

·         Age profile of care workers and encouraging uptake of GCSE and A Level social work courses to attract younger people and raise awareness of the benefits of social work.

·         The increased cases of dementia, whether dementia patients require more complex packages of care and the focus on living well with dementia at home and in a dementia friendly and supportive community.

·         The cost of care at the new dementia unit in Parc Prison, an initiative by the Health Board.   

·         The level of support offered by independent provision, the need to rebalance the market in relation to independent providers and in-house support and that workers should be paid for all hours worked, including between calls.

·         The necessity for a professional level of pay, terms and conditions, highlighting the competitive market in non-regulated sectors offering higher wages.

·         Attractive NHS terms and conditions for some job bands and arrangements enabling domiciliary care staff to be employed under NHS terms and conditions and work for the Local Authority under the Council’s governance.

·         Support for care staff including help maintaining a car, public transport passes and recent funding obtained to support staff wishing to take driving lessons. 

·         Reasons for Social Workers leaving the Authority, including retirement, the competitive market for registered Social Workers along the M4 corridor and the cost-of-living crisis.

·         Exit interviews routinely conducted in Children’s Social Services but not yet been fully implemented in Adult Social Services.

·         20 days average time for allocation of social work cases and active management of unallocated cases.

·         The number of BLACK level/Business Continuity Stages being called and recognition that it had become a more frequent occurrence over the past 3 months. 

The Chairperson advised that there were no further questions for the Invitees, thanked Invitees for their attendance and, advised that if they were not required for the next Item, they may leave the meeting.

RESOLVED:            Following detailed consideration and discussions with Officers and Cabinet Members, the Committee made the following Recommendations:

1. That consideration be given to whether there is adequate promotion/awareness of the benefits available to support care staff with their fuel or other travel expenses incurred during their shifts and the recent funding obtained to support staff who wish to take driving lessons.

2. Having heard that exit interviews routinely take place in Children’s Social Care, that consideration be given to how this can also take place in Adult Social Care, as soon as possible, in order to capture the data and reasons why staff and social workers in particular, are leaving the local authority.

3. Having heard that the Health Board had been recruiting staff into domiciliary care under the more favourable NHS Terms and Conditions, and those staff then worked for the local authority under a Section 33 arrangement, the Committee recommended that consideration be given to how there could be a rebalancing of staff terms and conditions in order that being employed directly by the Local Authority is equitable.

and the Committee requested:

4. A copy of the response to the Cabinet’s letter to the Welsh Government Minister regarding the cost and funding arrangements for care staff in Parc Prison, when received.

5. The number of occasions a BLACK level/Business Continuity Stage has been called in the Princess of Wales Hospital in the last 3, 6 and 12 months.