Joint Engagment Forum (JEF) – 7th January 2020

JEF meeting held on 7^TH January 2020

Summary

This quarter the JEF discussions included:

DCC Adult Social Care Annual Report presentation and discussion – Damian Furniss

Annual Report presentation context – JEF members were informed that they were getting a preview of the draft Annual Report which will be published in February after it has been to the DCC Scrutiny Committee. It will then also be sent to the government as Devon’s overview of the authority’s performance in this area. Today’s presentation was therefore being given in confidence and is a chance for JEF members to reflect on how this report matches with their own experiences and thoughts on adult social care in Devon.

Damian explained how DCC fits into the national picture which we are taking steps to understand and improve. He then went on to explain other parts of the report including:

• How many people do we serve?
• Achievements
• The trend in people receiving services
• Funding and spending
• Future national funding
• Service user and Carer satisfaction
• Social contact

JEF members were given the opportunity to ask questions throughout the presentation.

NHS/CCG update from new Joint Engagement Officer – Jean Almond and Equality Lead Sally Parker

Jean has been working with Living Options Devon (LOD) and members of the DCC Involvement and Equality team to send out a survey to GPs to gauge their autism awareness. LOD set up the survey and it was emailed to GPs by the CCG communications team.

Sally talked about her Equality Diversity and Inclusion work within the CCG. Which included an extensive workplan around the national NHS Equality Delivery Standard. There is lots of work in the pipeline which will the JEF will be updated on throughout the year, as part of the ongoing NHS and CCG updates that Sally and Jean will deliver together in their regular agenda item.

 Local Engagement Round-up

Carers Involvement Update

 The report was first sent to the Carers Strategic Partnership Forum, where Carer Ambassadors (CAs) regularly highlight carers issues from the perspective of lived experience. It included ongoing developments and activities such as:

• Closer working relationships with Devon Carers Support Officers
• CAs find attending locally based meetings very useful for making contacts
• Participation on the Dementia Advisory Project was positive
• Representing CAs on the Commissioning Involvement Group and being involved in the Co-Production development, including the session for DCC staff in December
• Sitting on the CCG’s NHS Participation Patient & Public Engagement Panel
• Shadowing the Devon Carers Help Desk and seeing the vast improvement in the work that they do.

 Devon Safeguarding Adults Board (DSAB) Community Reference Group update

 The Safeguarding Community Reference Group met in October 2019 and was briefed further on the business priorities which the Board will want to engage on. As a result, the Community Reference Group is running a Task & Finish Group so people with lived experience can influence the campaign being planned to raise public awareness of adults safeguarding.

Helping Overcome Problems Effectively (HOPE)

Latest updates included:

• When and where courses will be running
• Funding available to continue the programmes
• Working with Coventry University to design bespoke courses include one for people with autism
• A HOPE celebration is planned for March 2020

Autism Involvement Group Update

• Autism awareness survey devised for GPs by AIG to test the effectiveness of the CCG’s Autism Awareness tool kit
• Dimensions for Autism have updated their Yellow Brick Guide to Services across Devon and Torbay, which can be found on their website.
• Involvement in Development of HOPE courses for people who are on the autism spectrum, proposing three different workshops.

Equality Reference Group (ERG)

• The Market Positioning Statement – It was interesting to find out how DCC tries to influence the wide adult social care market and the planning of the independent providers it contracts with.
• The developing new Adult Social Care Practice Model – A means of ensuring strength-based assessment to empower people to take control over their own lives and make best use of existing support networks.

Learning Disability Partnership Board (LDPB) Update

Topics discussed at the Last LDPB were:

• The General Election, how to vote and register.
• Learning from the Atlas Safeguarding Review.
• How the new market and contracts team would improve the way that commissioned services are monitored.
• Understanding Human Rights

Technology Enabled Care & Support (TECS)

The update included:

• Work on promotion of TECS which can help people live more independently.
• Open house days, run for people to try out the technology available, which is supplied by Millbrook, Suppliers of the Joint Equipment Service to DCC and NHS, and the Independent Living Centre (ILC).

It was agreed to invite someone from the ILC to attend the JEF in the future.

Work has also been done on TECS I-statements. There were focus groups set up to decide on the statements which sat in four themes. JEF members will be given a draft of these to look at.

DCC Community Insight Survey

Living Options Devon (LOD) was commissioned by DCC Equalities Officer, to get more diverse participants in the latest Community Insight Survey – the last one was carried out in 2015 and it helps DCC to prioritise its work. One very important question in the survey was ‘Do you feel safe?’ So, answers to this question will be noted with great interest

Commissioning Involvement Group (CIG) and Co Production Group

• Replacement care, presented by Paul Collinge, he explained how the new web-based platform will work, shared the difficulties of setting up this project, and future.
• Members explored how the CIG group will run in the future and decided that the next meeting will be used to bring all the members up to date with the principles of Co-production, so that they can be used to run the CIG.
• In December the CIG’s Co-Production Working Group ran a successful Co-Production Workshop for Adult Social Care Services Staff. Feedback was very positive, and the next workshop will take place 23^rd April 2020.

Paul asked how the Co- Production is ethos received by CIG members overall. Kath replied that most people on CIG embrace the concept, but a few still find it challenging to be without as many formal structures as before.

Health and Wellbeing Board – Simon Chant

The last Health & Wellbeing Board meeting took place in October 2019. And the Health & Wellbeing Strategy, ‘Happy and Healthy communities 2020 – 2025’ priorities were discussed, with some changes made to the draft.

The strategic vision is to improve health outcomes, by working with communities and organisations. Priorities are:

• To create opportunities for everyone, especially for those who are disadvantaged.
• Community safety, supporting local communities, achieving good mental health in communities, more help for all, detecting problems at an early stage

The consultation on the strategy ran from July to October 2019 and there were 135 responses to the survey on the Strategy run by LOD, with many responses from ‘hard to reach’ groups.

The Board received the reports on:

• Devon CCG update
• DSAB update
• Child poverty
• Supporting the homeless, a collaboration agreement looking at how the Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP), the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWBB) and others will work together.
• The action plan to prevent mental health problems and improve the general mental health of the population.

JEF members were given opportunity for questions and further discussion.