To consider the report of the Safeguarding Senior Manager.
Minutes:
Documents:
· Report of the Contact and Safeguarding Manager
Discussion:
· The initial point of contact with the service had been subject to criticism by the CIW Inspection
· Powys People Direct has since been relaunched as Assist
· This service is key in promoting early intervention by providing timely and appropriate information to enable good decisions to be made
· Forms and systems have been implemented to complement the strengths based approach now being used by the service
· Information is captured consistently across the service
· Robust quality assurance is in place
· A Social Worker is screening referrals to ensure only appropriate referrals are assigned to the relevant ream
· An audit tool has been developed
· There had been an issue with call waiting times and abandoned calls but there had been a measurable improvement
· Contact Officers have been trained in the ‘what matters’ conversation and no longer make a presumption that a service is the answer
· The team are working closely with the Technology Enabled Care Team and Contact Officers can now prescribe low level TEC
· There has been an increase in the number of calls regarding assistive technology
· Funding has been identified to allow a Contact Officer to undertake Welsh language training which also addresses the Active Offer
· Members asked how performance of Assist was being measured – a monthly performance dashboard is maintained so that information can be supplied to Members. There was a significant improvement with 95% of calls being answered.
· Agile working could assist in recruiting a Welsh language speaking officer as they could be located at a site away from the centre. This role should also be flagged up at the next Careers Fair in February.
· Under the previous system too many calls had been routed to Social Workers. Calls are now dealt with by the most appropriate person freeing up social workers for more complex cases.
· A Community Connector is also located within the Assist Team. It may be that a person has a perceived social care need which could be due to social isolation. A care package may not be required but a quality conversation to determine the real need of the individual is required.
· A Member asked who was expected to respond to a call out on the Canary system. A point of reference should be listed, and that person be aware that they are a responder. The Home Support service can also be used. This service is being rolled out further. In the Ystradgynlais area, a domiciliary care response service is also being trialled.
· 3% of calls are not answered in 3 minutes. Abandoned calls have reduced significantly. Call waiting times are monitored but it is important that conversations are dealt with properly. Inevitably there will be fluctuations but generally the Team manage the calls well.
· The Portfolio Holder suggested that if a Member was aware of any difficulties contacting the Assist Team, they should report it to the service
· Although performance is improving, work is still ongoing to reduce abandoned calls further. New systems and digital options will be considered. TEC Training will continue for Community Connectors.
· Resilience has been built in to deal with additional winter demand with the routing of calls determined by the Corporate Plan
· A bespoke hospital team has also been set up to take referrals which will help in avoiding calls to Assist
· Funding from the Regional Partnership Board has been received to help with winter pressures
· The Committee questioned whether one social worker within the Team was enough. A prioritisation framework is in place and the social worker is covered by the Team Manager. The Team is able to cope under normal circumstances.
· During a monitoring visit, CIW spoke to a sample of service users and noted an overwhelmingly positive response
· The Committee asked when the evidence from the audit tool would be available – this was currently in development and would be reported back to the Committee
· Members had started a programme of financial training with CIPFA and suggested that reports should always include details of costs or savings. Whilst this was accepted in principal, consideration would need to be given to how this was presented. For example, the cost of Assist would need to be offset against the savings of a reducing number of care packages.
Outcomes:
· Further details of abandoned calls would be provided
· The committee would the provided with further information on the quality audit tool
Supporting documents: