Agenda item

The Sub-Committee will receive details about Care Packages that are currently available and future provisions.

The Sub-Committee received a report detailing the Future of Care at Home.  The current framework arrangement had been in place for the last three years and was due to expire in March 2017.  Officers stated that work was commencing to review the services and to understand the needs of users and how the service could meet these needs.

Homecare was not always to the expectation of the residents and there was a need to change the way in which homecare in Havering was commissioned.  The Care Act 2014 introduced a range of additional duties for Local Authorities including: promoting and maintaining wellbeing; actively involving users in designing their support plan and remuneration for travel.  There was also the introduction of the new National Living Wage which needed to be considered in the commissioning.

Officers informed the Sub-Committee that there were a number of factors that needed to be addressed. These included the expectation of the user, the specification of care needed and what could be provided, capacity issues of the care workers, as well as the retention of staff.  It was noted that Havering was the fourth highest paying borough in Greater London with a rate of £14.94, despite this; home care providers in Havering state that they struggle to recruit and retain staff.  Another issue was the large geographical area of Havering which means that parts of the borough are difficult to reach.  Some areas of the borough were particularly challenging to place care packages due to their remote locations or lack of residents also requiring support nearby.

Members asked how care workers were tracked and monitored to ensure that the service was being provided.  Officers explained that it was often down to the user to provide this feedback, either directly to the service, or through their local councillor.  Often this can just be a one-off situation where a care worker has not arrived, and was simply a communication issue.  However where patterns emerged of care workers not providing the service, the Quality Team would investigate and follow up on any issues.

Members asked whether in the future there would be zoning for care packages.  Officers stated that this would be the preference however due to capacity of care workers; agencies often had difficulties in accepting care packages.

The Council wanted to take a co-production approach working with providers, user and other stakeholders, to inform and to shape a sustainable model.  ASC Commissioning had organising meetings with care providers to begin the discussions and contact had been made to determine what rates providers were paying their staff and whether they paid for travel times etc.

It was noted that rather than specifying exactly what the service should look like, it was more about defining the outcomes by working with providers and users to determine how to meet the needs.  ASC Commissioning was working closely with Economic Development to help develop the market of social care business in the borough.  Skills for Care and other stakeholders would be engaged with to help to up-skill the workforce and to ensure that all homecare staff had completed the new Care Certificate.  It was hoped to turn care into a career which was attractive to help resolve some of the recruitment and retention issues.

It was noted that the same issues were faced across all London borough, however the turnover of staff in Havering was higher than other boroughs. 

The Committee thanked officers for an informative report and asked that an update be given at a future meeting.