Agenda and minutes

Mary Ryan (Head of Adult Services).

None.

The minutes of meetings held 14^th March 2023 were accepted as a true and accurate record.

The Strategic Director for Social Services presented the report. 

Questions:

The Committee asked if there had been any financial support for arriving unaccompanied children.

·       The Strategic Director informed the Committee that support is provided from the Home Office.

The Committee queried the 300 referrals a month to social services figure in the report.

·       The Strategic Director noted most referrals are made by family members or neighbours. The Strategic Director detailed that a high number of referrals have no actions as they are referred to the correct services such as community connectors, carers support etc.

·       The Strategic Director noted the 300 referrals a month figure related to Children’s Services but Adult Services received similar numbers.

·       The Strategic Director informed committee that some referrals are unactionable due to refusal of service by persons that are sound of mind.

The Committee appreciated the pressure social services is under.

·       The Strategic Director noted the privilege to help people and the positives in of job despite stress.

The Committee questioned what data is collected in reference to client voice.

·       The Strategic Director noted hard data isn’t specifically collected. The Strategic Director noted the feedback is recorded on their system but appreciated that it could be tracked and presented more efficiently.

·       The Strategic Director highlighted that all staff within the service listen to those they are helping.

The Committee noted comments about the increasing number of residential care homes.

·       The Strategic Director highlighted that older people with significant needs are placed into these types of homes which could be run by the Council, charities, or private landlords. The Strategic Director also noted that some care packages are offered in Newport via external companies. The Strategic Director highlighted that many domiciliary carers used are local businesses in Newport.

·       The Strategic Director noted that as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, where sufficient care wasn’t available, the need for residential care has increased.

·       The Strategic Director informed the Committee that in Newport there is 1 outstanding package of care and highlighted that in Winter, packages of care need to be obtained faster following discharges from hospital due to the nature of the season.

·       The Strategic Director detailed the work that the team does with the resident and family to make sure they feel comfortable in choosing what type of care they feel is most appropriate.

The Committee noted in a previous meeting the Strategic Director, the issue of data had arisen.

·       The Strategic Director noted the challenge of distorted data as a result of the previous years and Covid-19 pandemic as well as Welsh Government requirements.

·       The Strategic Director also noted that while there was a lot of data provided to Committee, without extensive knowledge of it, it may be difficult to understand.

The Committee agreed that it was difficult to find balance with social care packages and praised the team for their hard work.

The Committee queried whether the Short Breaks Service was what had been proposed to be cut in the previous budget meetings.

·       The Strategic  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Following the completion of the Committee reports, the Committee will be asked to formalise its conclusions, recommendations and comments on previous items for actioning.

·       The Committee wanted to express their thanks to Social Services for their continued hard work.

·       The Committee felt that the term “coproduction” when referring to care packages could be clarified within the report.

·       The Committee recommended that service user data regarding information such as race, ethnicity, age etc should be included in the report so that they could better understand those accessing services.

·       The Committee noted that reflection on previous years’ underspends and overspends should inform budgetary decisions for the following year.

·       The Committee were content with the report.

a)      Forward Work Programme Update (Appendix 1)

b)      Actions Arising (Appendix 2)

The Scrutiny Advisor informed the Committee that a few items are still outstanding, but these are still being chased up.

The Scrutiny Advisor detailed the Forward Work Programme.

·       The Committee were content with this Work Programme.

The date of the next meeting was noted to be 11^th July 2023.

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