Agenda item

To receive an update on the Point of First Contact Service Design and the Implementation Plan for Adult Social Care.

The Director for Adult Social Care presented a report, a copy of which has been circulated and appears as Appendix ‘A’ of these minutes in the Minute Book.

The Committee received a presentation that provided an overview of the two, current points of first contact for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) residents and the proposed, new single model.

Members heard that having two different points of contact, with different operating models, created an inconsistency in the service area and was also unhelpful to local residents. A review had been undertaken by KPMG between 2 September 2019 and 8 November 2019, which members heard had identified a proposal to combine both current, first points of contact into a single point for all BCP residents, to be temporarily known as the ‘Front Door’ for adult social care.

It was explained that there was a rising demand for adult social care services and the projected population of the BCP area would reach 412,000 by 2024, with 23% being aged 65 and over.

The Committee was shown a diagram of the proposed front door service and informed that community empowerment, resilience and early engagement were the foundations of the new model. Through these means, it was hoped that access to up to date information and advice, community-based information ‘hubs’, improved community outreach using ‘Care Navigators’ and digital, supported self-assessments would see adult social care issues either prevented or resolved before coming to the front door service. Members were told that the front door service would involve good levels of staffing, featuring specialists, to provide accurate and helpful advice that would then signpost the user to the relevant service.

Although the final structure of the front door service had yet been created, the Committee was shown its distinct parts: Call Handling, Professional Response and Community Response. The Director of Adult Social Care also emphasised the importance of partnership between the different sectors, including Primary Healthcare, Community Healthcare and the voluntary sector.

As an indicator of the financial costs involved in adult social care, the Director of Adult Social Care explained that, per annum, the average cost of a placement was £37,000 and £19,000 for a Domiciliary Care Package. It was hoped that there would be £750,000 savings made through the revised service by 2021/2022 and a further £750,000 by 2022/2023. Members were told that these savings would be achieved through a combination of means, these being prevention and early intervention work, the improved digital offer and enhancements made in partnership working with the new GP Primary Care Networks

Members’ questions were primarily concerned with the quality of service that future users would receive and how the Council could ensure that the community and voluntary offers would be of good quality. The Director for Adult Social Care explained that the early intervention process would be provided via a blend of different services, both Council based and community and voluntary based. The long-standing partners in the voluntary sector that the Council have, along with the careful work of the Commissioning team, would ensure good  quality responses were provided within the community when aiming for early intervention.

A member questioned how the early intervention process would work. The Committee were informed that there would be a reliance on partnerships with other service areas, for example Primary Care. The close partnership and strong links with General Practitioners (GPs), would be one way that potential future users could be identified and early interventionmeasures put in place to assist.

When asked about the timeframes, the Committee was told that the single front door service would go live in April 2021 and that the digital offer and integration with Primary Care would be developed throughout 2022/2023. Assurances were made that the service would not be exclusively digital, but that it was hoped greater levels of contact would be made digitally. The Director for Adult Social Care Services explained that the overall budget was being developed and explained that there was high confidence in there being no additional cost to the service area .The new model would work on the basis of a highly professional service being delivered in order to enable people to have their needs met at the earliest stage and to prevent or delay the need for care and support and this would facilitate the savings of £2.5 million over 3 years.

The Portfolio Holder for Health and Adults informed the Committee that she had great confidence in the proposals, reiterating the significance in working to prevent the need for formal packages of care and engage early with users. Members heard from the Portfolio Holder that the process would be gradual, and that monitoring the progress would be key.

RESOLVED that:- the Committee agreed to note the report and requested that a progress update be presented at a future Committee meeting during the final quarter of 2020/2021.