LD Care Forum Date:, Tuesday 12 th September, 10am 12pm, Room BL1, Linskill Centre Present: Haley Hudson (NTC) Chair, Joanne Safe (NTC), Ernie Holden (Parent/Carer), Eddie Gorman (Parent/Carer), Scott Woodhouse(NTC), John Brunetti (Home Group), Tim Keilty (New Prospects), KH (Home Group), Susan Dryland (IANE),KL, DB, VB, JP,JS, Michelle Burrows (Coquet Trust), Ruth Jacques (Coquet Trust), David Robinson (LD North East), NC, Clare Penny-Evans(NT User Forum/Skills for people), Denise Surteees (Carex), LE, J Redfern (Azue), G Convery (Healthwatch) Apologies: Ellen Vick (Chair, New Prospects), Sue Wood (NTC), KA Acronyms FSO: Flexible Support Options, CCRG: Cornerstone Carers Reference Group, CHC: Continuing HealthCare CLDT: Community Learning Disability Team, ASC: Adult Social Care, LA: Local Authority, CQC: Care Quality Commission, DBS: Disclosure & Barring Service, NHS: National Health Service, NTC: North Tyneside Council, ATB: All Together Better, WLD: Whole Life Disability Item No. Agenda Items Discussion/Action Lead 1. Welcome, Introduction and review of the actions from the last Forum Haley Hudson opened the Forum. Reminder from Geraldine, Healthwatch that she is collating case studies from parent carers on the experiences of care and support whilst in hospital, to take to North Tyneside CCG. Case Studies can be sent to g.convery@healthwatchnorthtyneside.co.uk Geraldine advised the deadline is the 20 th September for Case Studies to be sent. Ernie advised a letter was sent out by Jacqui Old regarding an update on the status of provider rates. Ernie feels the letter did not give any new information however he felt it was positive that we received correspondence. Ernie advised he met with Councillor Hall, the Elected Member for this area. Councillor Hall did reiterate the difficulties the Local Authority is facing and that Cabinet is aware of the issues. Eddie advised he was also at the meeting and would like to make a plea for all providers to write to the Council to express their views.
2. Update on Social Worker structure Haley advised following the discussion at the last Forum about the Occupational Health Service, we have asked Eleanor Binks to attend a future Forum to provide an overview of the service. Whole Life Disability Service update paper provided (copy attached). Joanne advised there is a 5 year plan for Whole Life Disability (WLD); we are one year into the plan. Joanne provided an update on some of the work for: A Integrated assessment board Task and finish groups which are ongoing Person centered planning Education to employment 0-3 Joanne also discussed some achievements we have made so far in the first year of implementation; We have co-located the teams. Childrens Disability now sits alongside the Community Learning Disability Team. The Childrens Disability Team was included in the Ofsted Inspection for safeguarding and help protection earlier this year. The report is published online and had a positive outcome. Transitions have been a big improvement. We feel this is due to social workers being able to co-work now. We now have six best interest assessors across the whole of the WLD service. Adults and Childrens IT Systems are changing to Liquid Logic. Haley advised that our current systems are around 17 years old. The whole life disability service now has an integrated administration team across health and social care. Joanne advised she will continue to provide an update to the Forum as the WLD service moves forward. Questions Joanne Safe
3. 2016/17 Quality Monitoring outcome David asked, what is the difference between Childrens Social Worker case loads and Adult Social worker caseloads? Joanne advised Adults Social Workers have a case load of active and inactive cases. The average active amount of cases is usually around 25 cases. Caseload weighting is monitored in staff supervisions. Joanne advised Childrens Social Workers have a caseload of around 30 cases as every child is allocated a social worker and case load weighting is also monitored. David asked, are the recruitment and retention issues for Childrens Social Work and Adult Social Work different? Haley advised that Childrens and Adults issues are different at this time but most Local Authorities are expecting recruitment challenges, particularly in children s services. Ernie asked for an update on the Council looking at touch light assessments / reviews. Joanne advised this may be something we can look at next year once the new systems are in place. Scott advised that the Quality Monitoring report is produced annually. A task and finish group was set up last year to review the approach for 2017. There are currently around 100 ISLs in the borough; the Council is visiting each ISL as part of its quality monitoring programme. Once visits have been completed, a report will be published on the Council website. This year s report should be finalised by November 2017. Individual service reports go back to the providers, who are then encouraged to share with the family members and individuals. The individual service reports do not get published by the Council. Scott will also bring a presentation summary of the report back to the Forum in January 2018. Scott advised that CQC also complete a national and regional report analysis which shows all the registered social care services. ACTION Scott to share the CQC graph. Questions Scott Woodhouse
4. Complex and Non Complex tool working group update 5. Potential changes to housing benefit and the possible impact on building developments and tenancies for people with an LD It was asked when will the parents/carers find out the rating for providers? Scott advised it is up to each provider to send out a synopsis to their stakeholders. This information is also always available on the CQC website. It was asked, can a providers contract be ended if there continues to be areas of improvement? Haley advised when we identify issues with a provider then we put together an action plan that they need to work too. Joanne will be setting up a task and finish group in around 4-6 weeks and is looking for volunteers. Joanne advised the first meeting will look at Terms of Reference, there will be around three meetings held. If you would like to volunteer please email Joanne.Safe@northtyneside.gov.uk Questions It was asked if Direct Payment rates have been reviewed. Scott advised we are looking at this. Haley advised we will invite Pam McArdle to come a future Forum to receive an update on this work. (presentation provided by John and discussed) John advised the LHA (Local Housing Allowance) Cap came into force around two years ago. The government capped the core rents of rented properties with registered social landlords. This cap and reduction impacts on supported housing as payments would not fund service charges. John advised this also leaves uncertainty for building future supported living schemes however the build for Charlton Court is still going ahead. John advised there is a risk for all supported accommodation landlords however safety of tenants is priority. We are hoping that an update will be given in the Autumn statement. Details of Secretary of State; Joanne Safe John Brunetti
6. Disability Strategy Rt Hon David Gauke MP Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Caxton House Tothill Street London SW1H 9NA North Tyneside Council has started some work to develop a high leave disability strategy. This would set out the offer of support for people with a disability in the borough. Tim Keilty has been asked to support this work by gathering some stories from people who have used services to describe what the current offer of support looks like and what is working well and what is not. Tim advised he can visit people at home to collect the story or discuss this over the phone. If anyone is interested in sharing their story Tim can be contacted on; To get involved in this work and share your experiences, please contact Tim on Telephone 0191 251 7737 or Email Tim.Keilty@new-prospects.org (Leaflet provided by Tim Keilty) Tim Keilty 7. Open Forum 1. Ernie advised that he has been involved with a task and finish group regarding housing options available in North Tyneside. The idea behind this was to give advice about a family member living independently or to remain living at home. A booklet has been put together called choosing a home. This is available on the Inclusion North Website via the below link; http://inclusionnorth.org/resources/information-packs/choosing-a-home-northtyneside/ 2. Heather informed she read an article in the Chronicle regarding the opening of Sienna Court care village in North Shields. Scott Woodhouse advised the opening day was Friday 8 th September. Scott advised this is not a commissioned service by North Tyneside Council however this can be considered as an ISF or direct payment option. 3. Ernie discussed the sleep in rate. Scott confirmed the rate is being looked at by the Council. 4. A request was made for the benchmarking report to be shared by Scott Woodhouse.
Haley advised Jacqui old will be attending the Forum in November and Mark Longstaff has also been invited who is the head of commissioning for peoples services in North Tyneside. Dates and times of future meetings: Tuesday 4 th November 2017, 10am 12pm, Room BL1, Linskill Centre