Agenda item

The Strategy and Partnership Manager, Sally Kitson, introduced a report on the Adult Social Care Local Account for 2017/18.

The Local Account provided details about performance, summarised the activities of Adult Social Care for the year to March 2018 and priorities for the future.  A new format had been adopted which was intended to make the document more accessible and it included several case studies.  It outlined the approach being taken to put people and communities at the centre of how social care services were delivered.  One of the key themes was the progress that had been made to promote the greater integration of social care with health and the development of a strength and asset based approach.  The report included the latest Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF) data and the key headlines were summarised.

The Panel welcomed the document and commented that it was both comprehensive and clear in providing an overview of priorities and performance in Slough.  Members asked questions and raised points on a variety of issues including:

·  Co-production – the Panel had previously noted that this was a key emerging area of work and it was commented that it could come through more strongly in the report.  It was responded that a great deal of work had taken place to promote co-production since the reporting period for this Local Account which was to the end of March 2018.  This would be reflected in next year’s report.

·  Inactivity – 34.8% of Slough’s population was estimated to be inactive, which was significantly higher than the national average of 22.7%.  Members asked whether residents were benefitting from the significant capital investment made in new and refurbished leisure facilities.  It was highlighted that most of the facilities were now open and programmes were being developed for key groups and individuals to promote their use and seek to increase levels of activity.  Access to facilities in communities, such as green gyms, had been improved, for example by providing wheelchair accessible paths to reach them.  There was lag in the timeliness of such data and it was recognised that it would take some time for the impact of leisure investment on levels of activity to be reflected in the data.

·  Care homes – £12.2m of the £32m adult social care budget was spent on care home provision and Members asked about the number of people using such services.  The approach was to support more people to live independently in their homes and therefore the number of placements into care homes was reducing.

·  Healthchecks – the Panel asked about the progress for the take up of Healthchecks.  It was noted that 2,598 had received free NHS check in 2017/18 which was an increase on the previous year.  However, take up both in Slough and nationally was relatively low.  A research project on Health Beliefs had recently been commissioned on one of the issues it would look into the reasons for take up so that messages could be refined and targeted to key groups.

At the conclusion of the discussion, the Panel noted the report.

Resolved –  That the Adult Social Care Local Account 2017/18 be noted.