Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Penny-Anne O’Donnell (WCC), Pam Redford (Warwick District Council) and Sandra Smith (North Warwickshire Borough Council).

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Up to 30 minutes of the meeting is available for members of the Committee to put questions to the Portfolio Holder: Councillor Margaret Bell (Adult Social Care and Health) on any matters relevant to the remit of this Committee.

Councillor Tracey Drew asked the following question to Councillor Margaret Bell, Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care and Health:

The NHS ?has a positive public profile, but relatively scant public attention is paid to Social Care services. Yet as we know social care support and systems play a vital role in caring for residents both preventing admissions to and speeding up discharges from in-patient stays.

How can we, locally, raise the public profile of social care and its vital role?

Councillor Bell agreed, paying tribute to the commitment, dedication, and hard work of social care staff, both within WCC and from the provider market. She noted that they did not get the same recognition and national press as NHS colleagues.

In today’s climate of a shortage of carers, their value was even more evident. To start to rectify this imbalance, that had become more acute during the pandemic, it would be helpful to plan some communications activity, to help local citizens understand their often understated role in supporting the most vulnerable. 

This would fit in with the living well campaign from the marketing and communications team, to raise awareness of the support on offer to adults and older people. A key strand of the campaign would be raising the profile of social care and all the work taking place in the local authority and in partnership with health.

The Council could play its part in the national recruitment drive to attract people into this much needed and valued area of work. She agreed to work with the WCC communications team to raise the profile of social care accordingly.

Councillor Chris Mills asked the following question to Councillor Margaret Bell:

As we are generally an aging population, I understand there is a lack of placements and care packages which delay discharge from hospital. I know of one patient at the rehabilitation unit in Leamington who has been waiting over two months for a placement now, despite being fit for discharge.

How can we as a Council/ Committee help in this situation as I'm sure there are many cases like this one? 

Councillor Bell responded that this was a very timely question and outlined contributing factors of capacity for both social care and NHS professionals. The system was under pressure and gaps were being identified. She had met with key officers recently to identify solutions. Many of the issues were systemic and required a joint approach.  She remained passionate that care at home was best, where it was appropriate. However, at the moment a more pragmatic approach was needed, to get the most value from staff by gathering people together in appropriate settings, to ensure they received the care and therapy they required. An update had been provided at the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWBB) and she offered to circulate a briefing note to the committee with further information.

A presentation will be provided by Danielle Oum (Chair) and Phil Johns (Chief Executive designate) on the Integrated Care System. This will be followed by questions from members.

A presentation was provided to the Committee by Danielle Oum (Chair) and Phil Johns (Chef Executive Designate) of the Warwickshire Integrated Care System (ICS). Danielle Oum commenced the presentation which covered the following areas:

• The next steps for health and care in Coventry and Warwickshire
  • National move to bring health and care organisations together into an ICS
  • Legislative proposals by the Government for a new Health and Care Bill, building on recommendations in the NHS Long Term Plan
    • This would establish a statutory ICS in each ICS footprint
    • Continuing progress through parliament – currently at committee stage in the House of Lords
  • Already working closely together as a Health and Care Partnership – this was a development of what was believed best for Coventry and Warwickshire
  • The earliest this would become a statutory ICS was July 2022
• What is different about an Integrated Care System?
  • Break down the barriers between organisations
  • Join up health and care more effectively to make a difference to people’s lives
• The aims of the ICS
  • Improve outcomes in population health and healthcare
  • Tackle inequalities in outcomes, experience and access
  • Enhance productivity and value for money
  • Help the NHS support broader social and economic development
• Our Vision – ‘We will enable people across Coventry and Warwickshire to start well, live well and age well, promote independence, and put people at the heart of everything we do’. This was supported by five key strands around enabling everyone to keep well, working together to tackle underlying causes of illness, providing the best possible care, use of technology and valuing staff.
• Danielle also spoke of empowering citizens to be involved in influencing priorities, a shift of focus from treating ill people to move towards health prevention, in a collaborative way with key partners and communities. An aim to extend both life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, promoting ownership and involvement. Further points about being an ‘anchor institution’, employment links and the opportunity to work together with aligned objectives.

Phil Johns spoke to the following slides:

• System, Place and Neighbourhood – a graphic showing the three layers and areas of responsibility. A number of examples were provided to ‘bring to life’ the work that was taking place and show the vision in practice.
• For the ‘system’ an example of improving access to services through the elective accelerator programme, an increase in appointments and new ways of delivering care.
• In the Warwickshire North Place, an example of using technology to improve health and care through remote monitoring. This included care home staff monitoring residents and where changes were identified, reporting this to GPs for intervention. This pilot was being rolled out across Coventry and Warwickshire and for certain conditions in residents’ homes.
• An example from the Rugby place was enabling everyone to keep well, working with communities to address local needs. Story Circles was an initiative for group discussions, building on communities and shared experiences / support. It built on the compassionate communities’ approach and was targeted to young people with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.