Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Limited Liability Partnership - Strategic Governance Group.

DECISION

NOTED.

Minute of the Meeting of the Limited Liability Partnership Strategic Governance Group held on 22 September 2016 to be approved and signed by the Chairman. (Copy attached).

There had been circulated copies of the Minute of the meeting of 22 September 2016. 

DECISION

APPROVED the Minute for signature by the Chairman.

Consider reports on the performance of SB Cares:

            With reference to paragraph 4 of the Minute of 22 September 2016, there had been circulated copies of a report by the Finance and Commercial Director of SB Cares, informing Members of the financial position based on the actual income and expenditure at 30 September 2016.  Members noted that a contribution of £46k had been achieved for the first six months of the financial year and that the target contribution for the whole year was £747k.  The Senior Management Team had developed a programme of projects which, when fully implemented, would deliver full year savings of £704k.  SB Cares Senior Management Team had further identified a one-off opportunity to meet the contribution for the current year and was now forecasting that a contribution of £747k would be paid in 2016/17.  A breakdown of how this contribution would be funded for 2016/17 was detailed in the report along with the target figures for a contribution of £778k in 2017/18.  Discussion followed regarding the stock valuation and the resultant opportunity for the one-off contribution mentioned previously and it was agreed that further information would be provided to Members as work progressed.  Members also noted that the External Auditor’s opinion was awaited in respect of SB Cares and this would be presented to the Executive Committee on 15 November 2016 if available by that date.

DECISION

NOTED:-

(a)        SB Cares financial position as at 30 September 2016;

(b)       the progress being made to deliver the target contribution of £747k for 2016/17; and

(c)       that the information would be shared with Scottish Borders Council to inform the revenue monitoring position.

Consider report by the Finance & Commercial Director. (To follow).

4.1       With reference to paragraph 5 of the Minute of 22 September 2016, there had been circulated copies of a report by the Financial and Commercial Director of SB Cares updating Members on the performance of SB Cares through its strategic Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and the progress on the continuing development of the agreed performance monitoring for the business.  Following approval of the strategic KPIs by Members in September 2016, Ms Collins advised of performance in three areas, namely: 86% of services delivered had met Care Inspectorate National Standards of “Good” or above; 99.9% of Home Care delivered within contract parameter and 100% in all other services; 100% of financial targets forecast to be met.  Development work was ongoing for the remaining two KPIs.  Members noted that that an update report would be presented in February 2017 and that SB Cares were working toward presenting future Performance Monitoring reports being presented in a similar format to that used across Council departments.

4.2       There were a number of requests for clarification and officers provided additional information as requested.  In particular, Members referred to the number of missed visits (39) recorded in the first six months of 2016/17.  Ms Crombie explained in detail the reasons for this and discussion followed in respect of hospital discharge policy which, on occasion, allowed patients to be discharged late at night or over weekends.  Problems arose when notification was not received by the Home Care Service resulting in no home visit being carried out.  Issues relating to discharges at these times would be referred to NHS Borders for consideration and Ms Hamilton would report back to Members as appropriate.  Members were advised that an analysis of all missed visits was undertaken and a formal review would be carried out whenever missed visit resulted in harm to a client.  It was noted that there were currently issues relating to how Self-Directed Support was managed and how families made use of this process.  Ms Crombie advised that work was ongoing to establish Best Practice in this area and this would consider care packages required for discharge from home and care packages put in place to prevent hospital admissions in the first place.  It was agreed that detailed information on delayed discharges and missed visits be collated in order that recurring issues could be identified and improvements made.

            DECISION

            NOTED:-

            (a)     the performance of SBC Cares for the first six months of 2016/17 against the agreed available strategic KPIs; and

            (b)     the further progress being made to develop the monitoring of SB Cares performance.

Update by the Operations Director on SB Cares Services with the Care Inspectorate on:

(a)        Inspections by Care Inspectorate (Copy attached).

5.1       With reference to paragraph 6 of the Minute of 22 September 2016, there had been circulated copies of a report by the Operations Director of SB Cares giving the updated position on the inspection of SB Care services by the Care Inspectorate.  Ms Crombie advised that since the last report to LLP SGG, the final inspection report for St Ronan’s Care Home had been received, noting that there were no changes and that grade 5 had been awarded for both Quality of Environment and Quality of Staffing.  Oakview Day Service was in receipt of its draft report, receiving grade 4 for three out of the four Quality Themes inspected and Quality of Environment graded at 3. Further information was detailed in Appendix 1 to this report.

5.2     The draft report for Hawick Community Support Service had been received.  The grades awarded were: grade 5 for Quality of Staffing; Quality of Care and Support; and grade 4 for Quality of Management and Leadership.  The draft inspection report for Tweeddale Day Services was currently awaited and a further two inspections were currently being carried out, namely Deanfield Care Home and Lanark Lodge Learning Disability Day Services.  An application to register the South Area Home Care Service had been submitted in July of this year and an updated status on registration would be provided in due course.  Ms Crombie clarified some of wider implications resulting from environment issues and in terms of the increasing dependency levels of residents in care homes.

5.3     Following discussion, it was agreed that action plans would be included in future reports for each recommendation made by the Care Inspectorate.

            DECISION

            NOTED:-

(a)     St Ronan's improved Care Inspectorate grades from 4 to 5 for both themes;

(b)     Hawick Community Support Service improved grades for two themes from 4 to 5;

(c)     the application to register the South Area Care at Home service was still in progress;

(d)     the percentage of services achieving grades 4 and above; and

(e)     that the Equalities & Diversity section was included in Care Home information pack at section 6.

The next meeting of the LLP SGG was scheduled to take place on 7 February 2017.

DECISION

NOTED.

Members discussed their availability in terms of visits to other establishments/

services within the Scottish Borders and it was agreed that they would confirm their preferences directly to Ms Crombie who would then make arrangements for the visits to take place.

            DECISION

            NOTED.

Before proceeding with the private business, the following motion should be approved:-

“That under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 6 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A to the aforementioned Act.”

DECISION

            AGREED under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the business contained in the following items on the ground that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 6 and 8 of the part 1 of Schedule 7A to the Act.

SUMMARY OF PRIVATE BUSINESS

Private section of the Minute of the Meeting of the Limited Liability Partnership Strategic Governance Group held on 22 September 2016 to be approved and signed by the Chairman. (Copy attached).

Members approved the Private Section of the Minute of 22 September 2016.

Update by the Managing Director.

(a)        Update on delivery of SB Cares Business Plan. (Copy attached).

Members considered the Business Plan for SB Cares for the period 2016/17.