Councillors and committees

Agenda and minutes

Venue: REMOTE MEETING

Contact: Ben Cullimore, Scrutiny Officer 

Media

Items
No. Item

1/21

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS

    Purpose of the item: To report any apologies for absence and substitutions.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Apologies were received from David Mansfield and Daryll Ratiram.

     

2/21

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETINGS: 17 DECEMBER 2020 pdf icon PDF 254 KB

    Purpose of the item: To agree the minutes of the previous meeting of the Adults and Health Select Committee held on 17 December 2020 as a true and accurate record of proceedings.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    The minutes were agreed as a true record of the meeting.

3/21

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

    Purpose of the item: All Members present are required to declare, at this point in the meeting or as soon as possible thereafter:

          I.        Any disclosable pecuniary interests and / or

        II.        Other interests arising under the Code of Conduct in respect of any item(s) of business being considered at this meeting.

     

    NOTES:

    ·         Members are reminded that they must not participate in any item where they have a disclosable pecuniary interest.

    ·         As well as an interest of the Member, this includes any interest, of which the Member is aware, that relates to the Member’s spouse or civil partner (or any person with whom the Member is living as a spouse or civil partner).

    ·         Members with a significant personal interest may participate in the discussion and vote on that matter unless that interest could be reasonably regarded as prejudicial.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Clare Curran declared a personal interest in the Development of New All-Age Autism Strategy item as she is non-executive director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Surrey Choices.

4/21

QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS

    Purpose of the item: To receive any questions or petitions.

    NOTES:

    1.    Due to the Covid-19 pandemic all questions and petitions received will be responded to in writing and will be contained within the minutes of the meeting.

     

    2.    The deadline for Members’ questions is 12:00pm four working days before the meeting (13 January 2021).

     

    3.    The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting(12 January 2021).

     

    4.    The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    None received.

5/21

SURREY HEARTLANDS HEALTH AND CARE PARTNERSHIP COVID-19 RECOVERY PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 1 MB

    Purpose of the item: To update the Select Committee on Surrey Heartlands’ Recovery Programme.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Witnesses:

    Helen Coe, Recovery Director, Surrey Heartlands

    Helen Rostill, Director of Mental Health Services, Surrey Heartlands

    Giselle Rothwell, Associate Director of Communications and Engagement, Surrey Heartlands

    Liz Uliasz, Assistant Director of Mental Health, Adult Social Care

    Diane Woods, Deputy Director of Adult Mental Health Commissioning, Surrey Heartlands

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

    1.    The Recovery Director stated that the Covid-19 recovery work had been ongoing since the first wave of the pandemic in March/April 2020. The recovery work included a major priority of restoration of services following the first wave and the report demonstrated that Surrey Heartlands was having considerable success prior to Christmas 2020 (when the second wave hit) in tackling the backlog that built up following the first wave and reopening elective care services. NHS England monitored the performance of Surrey Heartlands’ recovery programme against a trajectory. There had been mutual aid between providers throughout the recovery, and some positive changes had been made to the system, such as the introduction of virtual consultations.

     

    2.    The Director of Mental Health Services said that the surge in mental health demand and acuteness had accelerated since Christmas 2020 and that the mental health impact of the current lockdown would likely be seen for some time to come. A weekly cross-sector group had been set up to look at mental health pressures and immediate actions that could be taken. Surrey Heartlands was looking at supporting people in their homes in order to improve their mental health; for example, by conducting deep cleans or providing furniture. There was also wraparound support for people with autism and mental health needs. Measures were being put in place to ensure people had support when being discharged from hospital. The Assistant Director of Mental Health explained that Surrey County Council Adult Social Care (ASC) had established a hospital discharge team to work with Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SABP) and were looking to appoint an occupational therapist as part of this. There had been a significant number of young people experiencing mental health crises, and Surrey Heartlands was looking at providing additional resources to tackle this.

     

    3.    The Assistant Director of Mental Health added that district and borough councils were working with SABP to provide longer-term housing for people with mental health needs.

     

    4.    A Member asked how Surrey Heartlands was monitoring the capacity of the third sector to support the recovery. The Recovery Director replied that Surrey Heartlands had activated the ‘surge’ ability, which enabled them to take over six independent providers to use their resources and facilities. This was being monitored daily in partnership with NHS England.

     

    5.    A Member enquired how capacity and demand were aligning in terms of autism support and how Surrey Heartlands was coping with specific areas of need. The Assistant Director of Mental Health stated that a social worker with a specialist autism and mental health background had been appointed in order to help people with autism and mental health needs to access resources.

     

    6.    Expanding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5/21

6/21

ADULT SOCIAL CARE TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMMES UPDATE pdf icon PDF 251 KB

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    Purpose of the item: To provide a progress update for the programmes which make up the Adult Social Care 2020/21 transformation programme.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Witnesses:

    Sinead Mooney, Cabinet Member for Adults and Health

    Kathryn Pyper, Senior Programme Manager, Adult Social Care

    Liz Uliasz, Deputy Director of Adult Social Care

    Simon White, Executive Director of Adult Social Care

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

    1.    The Select Committee was shown two videos used to train Adult Social Care (ASC) staff in the roll out of the strengths-based approach. The first video showed a group of people with lived mental health experience talking about their experiences of accessing mental health services and the advantages of the strengths-based approach to mental health. The second video showed a carer talking about how the ASC system should best approach and interact with carers.

     

    2.    A Member asked what the new care pathway programme of work involved and what the timescale was for its roll out. The Deputy Director of ASC replied that the care pathway involved setting up a consistent front-door offer (i.e. place of initial contact with the social care system) across the whole of the Council, not just the ASC service. The Senior Programme Manager added that other areas included in the new pathway would be community and prevention, ongoing work around the reshaping of reablement, and workforce redesign to support the work on the front-door offer. Moreover, it involved linking in with partners, such as Community Connections. The Deputy Director stated that a specialist reablement service was being developed for learning disabilities (LD), mental health and autism. In practice, the new care pathway involved improvements to signposting and monitoring, and digitalising certain systems. It was important that service users felt that the service provided meaningful, effective signposting and support and that service users’ outcomes were at the heart of the system. The Cabinet Member for Adults and Health offered to arrange a briefing session to inform Members on this subject. The Select Committee agreed this would be useful.

     

    3.    A Member expressed concern that the Council was approaching the planning application system in a way that meant applications for Extra Care Housing and Independent Living sites were unlikely to be approved. The Cabinet Member encouraged the Member to share any specific examples with her for a further response. Good communication with the local community was important and could be effective in tackling this issue.

     

    4.    A Member asked when it was expected that the heads of terms issues regarding the Pond Meadow site would be resolved, what impact this had had on timelines and what would be learnt from this experience. The Cabinet Member responded that the issue should be resolved quickly and there was ongoing communication between Surrey County Council and Guildford Borough Council. The impact had been minimal. The Executive Director of ASC added that the Council was in regular contact with the developer of the site.

     

    5.    A Member asked what had been learnt from the discovery phase of the Enabling You with Technology programme and feedback received on the programme. The Deputy Director of ASC stated that as a result of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6/21

7/21

DEVELOPMENT OF NEW ALL-AGE AUTISM STRATEGY pdf icon PDF 332 KB

    Purpose of the item: To update on progress in developing a 5-year All-Age Autism Strategy across Adult Social Care, Children, Lifelong Learning and Culture, and Health in Surrey.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Witnesses:

    Hayley Connor, Director of Children’s Commissioning

    Kay Hammond, Chairman of Children, Families, Lifelong Learning and Culture Select Committee

    Marisa Heath, Deputy Cabinet Member for People

    Steve Hook, Assistant Director of Learning Disabilities, Autism and Transition

    Julie Iles, Cabinet Member for All-Age Learning

    Mary Lewis, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families

    Sinead Mooney, Cabinet Member for Adults and Health

    Simon White, Executive Director of Adult Social Care

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

    1.    The Select Committee expressed approval that the new strategy covered all ages. The Deputy Cabinet Member for People stated that the transition between childhood and adulthood was a key part of the new strategy. She acknowledged that the governance of the strategy could seem opaque and so the strategy needed to clarify how it could streamline the governance. Mental health was a high priority and the strategy aimed to see a reduction in mental health issues.

     

    2.    A Member asked what proportion of school-age children with autism attended mainstream schools. The Assistant Director of Learning Disabilities, Autism and Transition replied that in 2020 just over one quarter of young people with autism attended mainstream schools. In 2019, the figure had stood at about 30%. The Director of Children’s Commissioning added that the Council was working with schools to ensure that more children with autism were accommodated in mainstream schools where appropriate.

     

    3.    The Co-Chair of the Surrey Coalition of Disabled People expressed concern at the long waiting times for assessments and asked what the plan was for prioritising workstreams. The Assistant Director of Learning Disabilities, Autism and Transition responded that the service was working closely with the Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SABP) Neurodevelopmental Service to improve adult diagnostics. Also, certain workstreams would be prioritised as necessary. The Director of Children’s Commissioning said that CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) were being recommissioned and as part of this, changes had been made to the Neurodevelopmental service. Work would be focused on responding more quickly to children’s needs.

     

    4.    A Member expressed concern that Surrey County Council was not providing access to horticultural or animal husbandry activities for people with learning disabilities and autism (LD&A); these activities could be beneficial. The Assistant Director of Learning Disabilities, Autism and Transition replied that the LD&A service did offer a range of day activities for people with LD&A, including horticulture and animal husbandry, which were aimed at furthering employment opportunities. However, feedback suggested that many people with LD&A wanted opportunities to further their education and employability, meaning that alternative activities may be more suitable in order to allow people with LD&A to lead fulfilling, ordinary lives. The Council’s commissioning of horticulture and animal husbandry services was proportionate; some services were commissioned specifically for people who would benefit from working with animals. Unfortunately, these sorts of services had been impacted considerably by the pandemic. The Director of Children’s Commissioning confirmed that children’s LD&A services also worked with young people with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7/21

8/21

APPOINTMENT OF A NAMED STANDING OBSERVER AND SUBSTITUTE FOR THE HAMPSHIRE TOGETHER JOINT HEALTH OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE pdf icon PDF 132 KB

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    Purpose of the item: To appoint a named standing observer and substitute for the Hampshire Together Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    It was agreed that Bill Chapman would be the named standing observer and Fiona White would be the named substitute on the Hampshire Together Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

9/21

RECOMMENDATIONS TRACKER AND FORWARD WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 24 KB

10/21

DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING

    The next public meeting of the committee will be held on 3 March 2021.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    The next meeting of the Adults and Health Select Committee would be held on 3 March 2021.