Commissioning Involvement Group (CIG) – February 2017
CIG meeting held on 7th February 2017
Summary of meeting
The CIG discussions included:
Promoting Independence Policy
James Martin came along to talk to the group about the Promoting Independence Policy.
Nationally we are seeing an increase in people approaching Local Authorities. Promoting independence and prevention are emphasised as duties for Local Authorities in legislation on Children and Adult Services and in the role of Public Health.
Research showed that one of people’s biggest fears was losing independence. We have recently seen an increase in demand for services.
People are now living longer with more conditions which puts more demand and pressure on services meaning we have got to do things differently, this includes supporting people in a way that promotes their independence and reduces their dependency on adult social care. Research suggests that if you have long-term care at whatever level, this will only increase as you get older.
James asked the group whether the items in the presentation showed what they felt were the right elements of Promoting Independence. They were then asked what parts of the Promoting Independence Policy and of DCCs duties they thought were the most important and should be emphasised.
Comments included:
Social Isolation
More should be done about prevention
Family Care/support
People needing reassurance
Easy Read Version needed
Need for key messages on a wallet card or poster
Commissioning Replacement Care
Paul Collinge updated the group about plans in relation to Replacement Care or Respite. Which is the care that allows the informal family carer to take a break.
This type of replacement care or respite reduces stress and improves the outcomes for the carer. However, what it doesn’t tell us is if it delays admission in to care homes or long-term services.
We want to ensure that carers can access replacement care in several ways not just care homes, but including extra care housing, supported living and host family type care.
Paul recently took a paper to care homes recommissioning board, the view that came to be was that the ability to buy respite places should feature in the contract with care homes. A bed vacancy tool will be a requirement, which means care homes will have to provide us with their vacancy position regularly.
We are proposing a Select Supplier List of providers, entry onto the list is via a quality questionnaire. There would be one place to go to see the range of services and it would allow care managers carers and cared for people to make comparisons across models, based on prices and the range and quality of services offered.
The group discussed the reasons why respite services already available are not being used. The general opinion was that carers were not aware that they could use the services, or how the beds could be used.
There was an agreement by the board that we want to do more work about how we might pull together carers, service providers and commissioners to see if there is a way we can broker an arrangement with Individual Service Funds.