The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting as well as those watching the webcast.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Brenda Hall.

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.

Councillor Gail Jenkinson declared a personal interest as a client of hers was in receipt of direct payments in order to pay her.

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the meeting held on 17 October 2023.

Members considered the minutes of the meeting of the Committee on 17 October 2023. It was noted the Councillor James Stewart Laing was present at the meeting as a substitute.

Resolved – That, subject to Councillor James Stewart Laing being noted as present, minutes of the meeting held on 17 October 2023 be approved as a correct record.

There were no questions, statements or petitions to report.

The Assistant Director for Integrated Services and Commissioning presented the report of the Director of Care and Health which provided an update on the Unscheduled Care Programme workstream for Care Market Sufficiency. The purpose of the workstream was to ensure sufficiency in the community care market to respond to local needs, and to remove barriers to people leaving hospital care to either go to their own home or into domiciliary care. Capacity and demand modelling had been undertaken to assess future demand and prepare for it. The numbers of people requiring packages had not increased but the complexity of the packages had since 2019. The numbers of clients awaiting packages had reduced to zero and there were also six new providers in the care market.

Members asked about the due diligence for new providers and about recruitment and retention. They also asked about the consideration of cultural diversity among carers and clients and were interested in seeing figures on this at future meetings.

Resolved: That

1.  the improvements to the care market capacity and flow for domiciliary care be noted.

2.   the work completed with care homes to improve safe transfers of care from a hospital setting be noted.

3.  the future work of the Care Market Sufficiency Group be endorsed.

The Director of Care and Health introduced his report which set out the financial monitoring information for the Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee as at Quarter 2 (1 Apr – 30 Sep) 2023/24. The report provided Members with an overview of budget performance for this area of activity, including delivery of the 2023/24 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. At the end of Quarter 2, there was a reported adverse position of £0.435m on the Committees net revenue budget of £130.579m. Underlying pressures and extra funding were detailed.

Members queried aspects of the report including extra care housing developments. It was noted that some applications for development had been rejected at Planning  Committee and a workshop with Planning officers was suggested to examine the issue. The use of technology to assist with care was also discussed.

Resolved: That

1.   the adverse position presented at Quarter 2 be noted.

2.   the delivery of the 2023/24 savings programme at Quarter 2 be noted.

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

4.   the level of reserves at Quarter 2 be noted.

The Appendix to this report may not be suitable to view for people with disabilities, users of assistive technology or mobile phone devices.?Please contact nancyclarkson@wirral.gov.uk if you would like this document in an accessible format.

The Assistant Director Operational Delivery and Professional Standards presented the report of the Director of Care and Health which was a performance report in relation to Adult Social Care and Public Health. It was noted that the increase in care home clients was less than proportional to the increase in population which was a sign of positive interventions of the Home First initiative. There were measures in place to improve the quality of care homes and to enable reablement of clients so they do not suffer a detriment to their lifestyle as a result of treatment.

Members questioned the distribution and improvement progress of care homes.

Resolved: That the content of the report be noted.

Members considered the work programme for the Committee.

Various changes were suggested including:

• the addition of a workshop with planning officers on supported living projects (i.e. Extra Care Housing) to work through the approach of such developments to the planning process;
• The moving of the National Substance Misuse Grant Funding Update to March 2024 when there would be more substantial issues to report;
• The All Age Disability And Mental Health Service Delivery Review be considered before the contract expires in September 2024;
• Front Door To Volunteering item in March 2024 looking at the initiative being led by Wirral Community and Voluntary Services including funding and social prescribing
• An update on the Domestic Abuse Strategy as it relates to the Health and Wellbeing Strategy

Resolved: That, subject to the changes noted above,  the proposed Adult Social Care and Public Committee work programme for the remainder of the 2023/24 municipal year be noted.