The Chair welcomed attendees and viewers to the meeting and reminded everyone that the meeting was webcast and retained on the Council’s website for two years.

No apologies for absence were received.

Members are asked to consider whether they have any disclosable pecuniary interests and/or any other relevant interest in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state the nature of the interest.

Members were asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests and any other relevant interest and to state the nature of the interest.

The following declarations were made:

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the meeting held on 25 July 2022.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 25 July 2022 be approved and adopted as a correct record.

No public questions, statements or petitions had been received.

The Wirral Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board Business Manager introduced the report of the Director of Care and Health which updated the Committee on the work of the Wirral Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board (WSAPB) and presented the last annual report of the Merseyside Safeguarding Adults Board.

The Merseyside Safeguarding Adults Board started in 2017 and was a collaboration between Wirral, Liverpool, Sefton and Knowsley. Following a peer review in January 2020 it was decided that the Board would go back to local arrangements.

In response to a query regarding whether recruitment of Social Workers would affect the WSAPB’s strategy it was outlined that the WSAPB had a responsibility to assure itself appropriate arrangements were in place to ensure people were being safeguarded but didn’t take any direct responsibility. This meant that individual services would have their own strategies and work plans.

Members noted that the data showed Wirral’s safeguarding concerns were considerably higher than other authorities, it was clarified that the Merseyside Safeguarding Adults Board had identified that Wirral were processing all items as safeguarding concerns and that nationally Wirral was not an outlier.

Resolved – That the final annual report of the Merseyside Safeguarding Adults Board and the update report in relation to the work of the Wirral Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board be noted.

The Director of Public Health introduced the report which was an independent annual report of the Director of Public Health and was a statutory requirement. The 2022 report was presented in two parts. There was a video which focussed on the key role of the Community, Voluntary and Faith Sector in supporting local people and residents to be resilient in challenging circumstances and there was a State of the Borough report which used a range of statistics to report on health and wellbeing in the borough.

Some statistics were shared with the committee which demonstrated the challenges in Wirral which included over a third of Wirral residents living in the most 20% deprived areas of England and that the life expectancy gap between Wirral and the national average was increasing.

Members queried different aspects of the interactive State of the Borough report and it was agreed that there were some gaps in information and officers were happy to work with Members to improve this. It was noted that when the 2021 Census was published there would be a lot of new data to add to the report.

The Chair emphasised the importance of the Community, Voluntary and Faith Sector in supporting local people and thanked the previous Director of Public Health, Julie Webster, who had recently retired but was in attendance for all the hard work her team had done.

Resolved – That

(1)  the Public Health Annual Report (video) be endorsed and the role of the local Community, Voluntary and Faith sector in the local response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the huge contribution it continues to make for residents and the local economy be acknowledged.

(2)  the ongoing development of the State of the Borough website be supported and an annual report on key indicators, themes, and the progress being made to improve health in Wirral be received.

The Director of Care and Health introduced the report which described the work undertaken to produce the joint Wirral Dementia Strategy 2022-2025.

The Strategy aimed to bring greater alignment of services and more creative responses to people’s needs and focussed on increased awareness, early diagnosis and an improved quality of care.

There were several pillars which supported the strategy which were preventing well, diagnosing well, supporting well, living well and planning well.

The report highlighted the work of dementia champions and the community, voluntary and faith sector.

In response to a query on how waiting times for diagnosis could be shortened and how community services could support people and their families, it was outlined that this was a key area the strategy aimed to deal with and that there was a link between primary care and specialist services and the ongoing partnership work required to continue to improve and develop both the waiting times for diagnosis and the post diagnosis support.

Members noted that there was a lack of detail in terms of measurables in the strategy and queried whether it could be enhanced to show the current position, the aspirational position and how it would be achieved.

On a motion by Councillor Yvonne Nolan, Seconded by Councillor Mary Jordan it was –

Resolved – That

(1)   the Wirral Dementia Strategy 2022-2025 be approved.

(2)   the work undertaken across the Wirral system to establish Wirral as a place where people who are living with, or affected by, Dementia can truly ‘live well’ be noted.

(3)  the Wirral Dementia Strategy 2022-2025 be referred to the Wirral Place Based Partnership Board.

The Head of Community Care Market Commission introduced the report of the Director of Care and Health which provided the Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee with the outcome of a review of reablement provision in Wirral. It was reported that there had been a drop in activity of service provision over the past two years and the Council had an opportunity to transfer, recruit and train an experienced workforce to improve the reablement offer for Wirral residents. The current contract for direct provision was due to be under review in 2023 and officers were keen to specify the contract to align it with a new service offer.

The Director of Care and Health emphasised the importance of these services to get residents back on their feet and as independent as possible and stated that if the Council could drive the training and development of staff, better support would be able to be provided to those who needed it.

Members highlighted concern over recruitment and whether the Council intended to recruit staff who were already fully trained or those who wanted to be trained and it was reported that there would be a blended approach which would take into account the potential transfer of staff into the new service offer, the Healthy Wirral Workforce Academy and recruiting new and experienced staff.

Resolved – That

(1)  the content of the report and the options described at section 2 benoted, and the recommended Option 1 - To establish an in-house reablement service delivered by the Council be approved in principle.

(2)  the Director of Care and Health be requested to progress with engagement, service design and financial modelling for an in-house service, and a further report be brought to a future committee detailing the proposed service arrangements.

The Head of Community Care Market Commission introduced the report of the Director of Care and Health which provided an update for Members on the work undertaken to develop a new model for Supported Independent Living in Wirral for Adults with Learning Disabilities, Autism and Mental Health needs. It was reported that colleagues across the Liverpool City Region had been working on developing a spectrum of accommodation which ranged from renting or owning homes to living in supported or specialist accommodation which looked to enable people to have their own front door and facilities.

A framework of providers had been established with 71 providers on that framework which meant that there was a broader range available for people to choose from when there was a complex case and this enabled officers to undertake effective future planning also. A care and accommodation panel had been established which looked to place people in existing accommodation and also identified unmet need where there is a requirement for more bespoke arrangements.

There were alternative services for young people in transition and officers were looking at accommodation with skills development to enable people to move on to employment.

In response to a query about engagement with the community and self-advocacy groups it was reported that the Council wanted to co-produce the schemes and had worked with a wide range of parents, carers and groups with some bespoke and some generic engagement and that part of the work of the Liverpool City Region group was to widen the co-production element and ensure peoples voices were heard.

Resolved – That the approach to developing the Supported Independent Living offer to people in Wirral with a learning disability, autism or mental health need be approved.

The Director of Care and Health introduced the report which set out the financial monitoring information for the Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee as at Quarter 1 (1 Apr – 30 Jun) 2022/23 and provided Members with an overview of budget performance for this area of activity, including progress on the delivery of the 2022/23 saving programme and a summary of reserves to enable the Committee to take ownership of the budgets and provide robust challenge and scrutiny to Officers on the performance of those budgets.

The pressures around hospital discharge and placement were reported as significant and the Q1 report didn’t show one of the key problems within the financial year which had been the withdrawal of the hospital discharge fund nationally which had been a key factor in enabling people to get out of hospital and be supported locally.

Resolved – That

(1)  the projected adverse revenue position at Quarter 1 be noted.

(2)  the progress on delivery of the 2022/23 savings programme at Quarter 1 be noted.

(3)  the reserves allocated to the Committee for future one-off commitments be noted.

(4)   the forecast level of reserves at Quarter 1 be noted.

(5)  the current activity profiles from 2018 to Quarter 1 of 2022/23 be noted.

(6)  the forecast capital position presented at Quarter 1 be noted.

The Head of Legal Services introduced the report which provided the Committee with an opportunity to plan and review its work across the municipal year.

Members requested an update on the transfer of Wirral Evolutions to an in house Council service, in response, the Director of Care and Health reported that he had met with the day services staff and discussed how they felt about the changes and areas for improvement and conversations were ongoing. 

In response to a query regarding the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership Community Mental Health Transformation task and finish group it was reported that a meeting would be scheduled as soon as possible.

Resolved – That the proposed Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee work programme for the remainder of the 2022/23 municipal year be noted.