The Chair welcomed Simon Mitchell (Assistant Director Adult Social Care Commissioning (ASCC) and Mel Anthony (Commissioning Manager, ASCC) to the meeting.

The Assistant Director (ASCC) and Commissioning Manager (ASCC) gave a presentation based on the following themes:  What did the operational Adult Social Care Housing (ASCH) team look like in Swale?; what help was there for Swale residents? – Connect to Support; what help was there for Swale residents? Commissioned Services summary; Making a Difference Every Day – our strategy for Adult Social Care in Kent; Commissioning Intentions; Accommodation Strategy; Priority threads; and Our improvement plan ambition.

The Chair invited questions from Members, and points raised included:

·         Would Faversham have the same service as Sittingbourne and the Isle of Sheppey?;

·         did the Community Trust Occupational Therapists (OTs) and National Health OTs communicate with each other?;

·         how would this work feed into the Local Plan process and planning applications in particular with regard to wheelchair accessibility on new developments?;

·         communication links between the Council and hospitals needed to be improved in terms of ensuring adults leaving hospitals received the necessary care in their home;

·         welcomed the provision of individual care packages;

·         were charities able to provide assistance?;

·         what communication was there with families?;

·         there should be a quicker ‘pathway’ back home from hospitals;

·         welcomed the idea of people leaving hospital and staying in their own homes if it was sensible and safe;

·         supported accommodation on the Isle of Sheppey was appalling, there was no provision;

·         how many beds would be available at Ocean Heights, Minster?;

·         private landlords were not being able to undertake the relevant heating safety checks without the relevant engineers and social workers being present, this needed to be looked at as it was adding to delays for people being discharged from hospital;

·         delays in terminating tenancies were causing backlogs to the housing register and the longer properties remained empty the quicker they fell into disrepair;

·         properties could not be adapted during the warranty period which also caused delays;

·         the relevant website page for completing Disabled Facilities Grant applications kept being moved.  It needed to be obvious and clear where and how people could access the form;

·         improved working with Housing Associations, Police etc. was needed to improve social care;

·         experienced two residents who were discharged from Medway Hospital only for the Kent Enablement Team to advise they should not have been and gone back to hospitals as failed discharges;

·         the waiting list for improvements to properties to allow residents back to their own homes was two years, that was not good enough;

·         had witnessed big failures from the home care service who did not always visit the homes themselves to carry out assessments;

·         considered that the staying-put team at Swale Borough Council (SBC) did a great job;

·         important that the direct payments system had the relevant safeguarding controls in place;

·         the loss of bungalows for the elderly was a big issue particularly on the Isle of Sheppey;

·         there were not enough suitable available properties for the elderly;

·         some residents were being discharged to properties that were not suitable and that was having a detrimental impact on their quality of life;

·         Kiln Court, Faversham used to provide respite care but had been closed;

·         stressed the importance of succession planning to ensure the elderly/sick were able to improve their quality of life and those around them; and

·         the direct payments system needed to be simplified and highlighted to users how easy it was to use, to encourage take-up of the service.

In response the Commissioning Manager (ASCC) confirmed that the services applied to the Faversham area, as well as Sittingbourne and the Isle of Sheppey.  She confirmed that the community teams did have close alliances with the ASCC OTs and the hospital OTs, and the discharge pathway being developed would improve those links and connections further.  The Assistant Director (ASCC) explained that with regard to hospital discharge, ‘joint brokerage’ referred to bringing health and social care together, so one team dealt with placements into care homes.  He agreed to find out the data in respect of response times for ‘Crossroads’ and their crises service.

The Assistant Director explained that where appropriate they responded to planning applications in respect of wheelchair accessibility, room sizes etc., but ultimately it was down to developers as to whether their points were taken on-board.   The Commissioning Manager added that development of the Accommodation Strategy for Adult Social Care, as a well-researched document, was an important tool in highlighting to developers what was required and necessary in Kent.    She explained the importance of ensuring it aligned with the Kent and Medway Housing Strategy.

The Assistant Director said their Frontline Social Work Practitioners liaised with families and where support was identified were then referred to the Arranging Support Team.  A review was being carried out regarding the ‘pathways’ out of hospital available to people, and that they had been working with health colleagues to make it ‘smoother’.  He spoke about a project being trialled in East Kent called the Home First model, to help people back to their own homes and ensure the relevant support was provided by the Kent Enablement at Home service.  The Commissioning Manager said that the conversations the social work team had with people in terms of support, were very positive and about helping people to achieve the things they wanted to.  They had Community Catalysts out in the community feeding back community representatives/organisations and were exploring how to enable people to access those services. 

The Managing Director agreed to find out how the Kent teams linked in with Medway Hospital and were part of the discharge discussions.  The Commissioning Manager said they would also check how well staff at Medway Hospital understood the new Kent and Medway discharge pathway.  She spoke about the closure of Blackburn Lodge, Sheerness which had been considered at a meeting of the Adult Social Care Committee (KCC) in September 2024, and agreed to share the link to that meeting with Members.  She also referred to the new care home in Minster, Ocean Heights, and confirmed that they had taken some bed space.  She spoke about the newly formed Quality Team which would support the market to improve quality in all settings, not just care homes.  In response to a question from a Member, the Commissioning Manager agreed to confirm how many Kent County Council (KCC) funded beds would be available at Ocean Heights.  The Assistant Director explained that as a new home Ocean Heights was not on the KCC Contract, and they might decide to take private clients.  He explained that their contract allowed them to block book beds, but most placements were individually negotiated within homes.

In response to a question from a Member, the Commissioning Manager agreed to provide a map for Members clarifying the social care areas in Swale.  She confirmed that they worked closely with registered providers around development of supported housing.  With regard to ending tenancies and self-referral pathways she explained they would discuss this with practitioner leads to have a better understanding about any issues.  The Assistant Director understood concerns raised about poor communication between the different care teams and hoped that with the new system things would improve.

The Commissioning Manager reported that they had recruited some Engagement and Involvement Officers whose work included going out into communities and speaking to people about how they envisioned there elderly life would look like, and they were helping to develop the refresh of the strategy.  She said the relevant safeguards were in place with regard to direct payments.  Providers were put through an accreditation process to ensure they were a fit and proper business, and people accessing the service were also informed about the tax situation.

The Chair thanked the Commissioning Manager and Managing Director for their presentation.