Agenda item

The Director of Adult Social Services (DASS) and the Commissioning Manager: Prevention and Wellbeing introduced and presented the report. The main points were as follows:

·       The Adult Social Care (ACS) service were in the process of reviewing the Pan-Dorset strategic vision across the county, with the relevant partners.

·       This process and vision was to reflect the challenges that carer’s face in BCP, for example 11% of all carers are unpaid.

·       The process had included workshops, surveys, meetings with the BCP Carer Reference Group and the Pan-Dorset steering group. Along with the Carer’s Rights Day, held in Kinson, that was attended by three BCP Councillors.

·       The new Carers Strategy survey had been written up and completed and was now ready to be sent out.

·       The Committee were recommended to request an update on the progress of this at a future meeting.

The Committee asked several questions following the report. Answers were provided by the Director of Adult Social Services and the Commissioning Manager: Prevention and Wellbeing:

·       The Committee heard that it was difficult to identify every unpaid carer in the BCP area, because many do not consider themselves to be an unpaid carer. This was something that the ASC service were working on with their Pan-Dorset and strategic partners to address in order to better reach and inform the unpaid carers in BCP.

·       Members were informed that the ASC service would be asking carers for their feedback on terminology relating to care, including the use of the term ‘unpaid carer’ itself.

·       The Committee heard, following a question on self-directed funding for carers in BCP, that the ASC service provide a lot of different ways of supporting carers, but this must be a key focus area of the strategy. It was heard that the ASC service commission a lot of services on behalf of carers, for example the ‘sitting service’, whereas some authorities pass a direct payment to the individual to purchase this themselves. BCP carers had told the ASC service that they like the Council to commission this service for them. This would lower the amount of people that receive self-directed support.

·       Members were told that BCP as a conurbation contains a large cohort of what is considered ‘elderly’ carers. In comparison to Dorset, BCP has a different client base, in some ways due to the contrast of the urban / rural areas. The Committee heard that BCP do commission some joint areas alongside Dorset, however this strategy would allow for a focus on BCP residents.

·       A member asked about the 22% dissatisfaction rate in regard to support that carer’s had received from local GPs. The Committee heard that it the specific reasons for this were unknown, but it was a signal that the ASC should work more closely with GPs. This was particularly important because a lot of people and carers use their GP as a first port of call. Members were told that if an individual registers as a carer that it will make services available for them via their GPs.

·       On the issue of input from younger carers, the Committee were told that the ASC had met with the MyTime young carer’s charity. A workshop was held and good feedback was provided on their carer website. The feedback specifically from young carers was that they wanted short, informative videos to be made available on platforms that young people use, such as TikTok. This media must target what they as young carers are looking for and signpost where they should look for it. Members were informed that the ASC service social media presence had changed and was now more suitable for all age. Furthermore, ASC were specifically looking at their communications and how to get messages out there for the adult carers of the future. The ASC service were also working with their Children’s services counterparts in order to make a smooth transition between services for young carers and those who may receive care.

·       On the matter of the Carers Action Day, members heard that there was great feedback received on the day itself, insofar as it was a good opportunity to meet up with others in the same community. Future service planning would focus on how the ASC service can replicate events next year and maybe hold them more often.

·       The Committee were told about the single point of information, otherwise known as the ‘CRISP newsletter’ that carers can sign up to. This information also gets posted in GP practices, libraries, chemists and other places as a means to signpost individuals to additional, informative publications. The Committee acknowledged that the CRISP newsletter sounded a helpful resource but that perhaps more needed to be done to promote this as widely as possible.

·       The Committee heard that the ASC service were trying to get informative resources in additional forums, such as the Health Village in Bournemouth town centre, to tap into areas that could benefit from this.

·       On the issue of the ‘what we plan to do’ objectives, members heard that this was a strategic vision that was being worked on jointly with Dorset. The exercise was currently at the midway stage to review each of the 9 objectives. 2 workshops had taken place, but broader views were desired. The outcomes of this work would feature in the next stage of the vision and would be completed by mid-next year. This would be included in the next update to Committee if the pan Dorset vision was ready at same time as BCP Council’s.

RESOLVED that the Committee noted the report.

Voting: Unanimous