Agenda item

Purpose of the report: Policy Development Review

The outcome of the Quality Assurance task and finish group work, to review of Surrey’s multi agency Quality Assurance framework and identify opportunities for improvement.

Witnesses:

Helen Atkinson, Strategic Director for Adult Social Care and Public Health

Vernon Nosal, Interim Head of Quality Assurance and Strategic Safeguarding

Rebecca Pettitt, Project Manager, Adult Social Care

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.    Before this item began the Strategic Director gave a verbal update to the Board on developments within the Directorate and focused on two areas: the staff structure and the health & social care integration agenda.

2.    The Public Health directorate has been lifted and shifted into a new combined Adult Social Care and Public Health directorate. The Strategic Director has some new direct reports including the new Deputy Director of Adult Social Care who had a operational lead, the Deputy Director for Public Health, Head of Safeguarding and the Principal Social Worker. The Strategic Director would work closely with both the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Independence and Wellbeing and the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing.

3.    The Strategic Director advised the Board that there was an action plan to align back office functions and work for example on contract management and intelligence. Increasingly, Adult Social Care and the Clinical Commissioning Groups were working together but the Strategic Director did not envisage savings from co-location instead this would come from demand management which relied on the continued integration agenda.

4.    The Interim Head of Quality Assurance and Adults Strategic Safeguarding advised the Board that this project was requested as a result of enforcement action taken in December 2014 that closed a home in Reigate at short notice. The Task and Finish group’s brief  was to review current arrangements with regard to Quality Assurance in surrey Providers already had standards to meet to keep people safe. A multi-agency task group was convened to discuss a new model. There was no national precedent for this and other Local Authorities were interested in the outcome.

5.    The Care Act 2014 placed a duty on the council to understand the market. In Surrey, there are more than 650 providers, however, the quality assurance team consists of five officers and a manager so for the future a robust relationship agreement was required. It was stated that commissioners needed to develop a communications strategy to outline was good looks like for staff and families.

6.    A challenge existed at a time when the council was trying to reduce costs at the same time as trying to develop a pro-active approach with providers and to develop better relationships. The Care Quality Commission inspects against a statutory framework and in the case of Merok Park it was the CQC’s judgement that the home was failing.

7.    In order to prevent future failings the Interim Head explained that more resource would be provided by joining up with those in contact with care providers by implementing a shared framework across the health and social care system. This would be aided by an e-brokerage system and the location of the customer relations team under the Interim Head to make optimum use of complaints and soft intelligence.

8.    The Cabinet Member for Adult Social, Independence and Wellbeing emphasised to the Board that there was a robust safeguarding already in place but that there were a lot of social care cases across the county so it was essential that all the practitioners that work with Surrey residents work together.

Recommendations:

The Board:

1.    Supports the proposals as outlined in the report, concluding the task and finish group work

2.    Supports the first phase of implementation and areas of further work, as outlined in the report, to be set up and managed as a new multi-agency project

3.    Recommends that Officers return to the Board when they have an implementation plan for the Board to review

Actions/further information to be provided:

Strategic Director to provide the new staff structure of Adult Social Care and Public Health to the Board.