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Democratic Services
Items
No. |
Item |
1. |
Apologies
Minutes:
No apologies were received.
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2. |
Declaration of Interests
To receive declarations of interest from
Members.
Minutes:
There were no declarations of interest.
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3. |
Questions and Deputations
To answer any questions, if any asked by any
resident of the Borough pursuant to Standing Orders.
Minutes:
There were no
questions and deputations.
A statement was
read out on behalf of Birmingham and Solihull Clinical
Commissioning Group (BSol CCG) which
provided information on the local roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Councillor Sexton read out a number of questions which she
requested was passed to BSol CCG for a
response.
The Board requested
that the local vaccination campaign would be considered as a future
item on the work programme.
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4. |
Minutes PDF 234 KB
To receive the
minutes of the previous meeting held on 23rd November
2020.
Minutes:
The minutes of the
meeting held on 23rd November 2020 were presented for
approval.
A Member commented
on Item 3 that Councillor Tim Hodgson had not been updated by
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust. It was
requested this was followed up.
RESOLVED
The minutes of the
meeting held on 23rd November 2020 were approved
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5. |
Arrangements for Safe and Timely Discharges from Hospital PDF 263 KB
As a result of the
Covid-19 pandemic and introduction of the National Hospital
Discharge Guidance, hospital discharge processes have changed
significantly for people with care and support needs. This paper is
intended to inform Scrutiny Board of these changes and the current
position.
Minutes:
The Chief Officer,
Out of Hospital Services, University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB)
provided an overview of the changes to hospital discharges as a
result of COVID-19. This included:
- The Trust
currently had similar numbers of COVID-19 cases as during the first
wave of the pandemic. Solihull Hospital had opened one ward for
COVID-19 patients, while elective work continued. This position
would be dependent on case numbers over the next 7-10 days.
- Although UHB were
in a difficult position, they continued to pursue the positive work
that was highlighted in the report. A number of discharges still
took place outside of hospitals.
The Assistant
Director for Adult Care and Health updated Members on the work that
had taken place to enable safe and timely discharges to protect
hospital capacity. Steps that had been taken in the COVID-19
pandemic included:
- The implementation
of the national discharge guidance.
- Introduction of a
home discharge service (care at home service with intensive
support).
- Improvements to
other discharge pathways.
- Development of an
integrated hub which was a single team of health and social care
professionals who would make multidisciplinary decisions to ensure
individuals received holistic support and remained as independent
as possible.
The following
comments and questions were raised:
- A Member
referenced a residents whose father had been discharged without
prior notice and asked whether this type of incident would
increase. The Chief Officer explained he would investigate the
case.
- Members enquired
whether residents who received a six week package would have it
reviewed before it stopped, and if there were adequate sites to
support these people. The Assistant Director for Adult Care and
Support confirmed that they would reassess during the 6 weeks to
identify if the care would need to be altered, or if further long
term care was required. There were a number of sites which could
support people on discharge which included a designated setting for
COVID-19 positive residents.
- A Member enquired
about what follow up visits which would take place after discharge,
and the impact of COVID-19. The Assistant Director explained that
they would contact residents who were discharged with a period of
care to identify what support was required. During COVID-19, they
aimed to do this primarily virtually to prevent an infection risk,
however there remained the option of face-to-face
appointments.
- A Member asked
whether the reintroduction of the Care Act Easements had been
considered as a result of staffing pressures. The Director for
Adult Care and Support confirmed that staff absence rates were
lower than the first wave, and additional services were in place.
They would be kept under review.
- A Member commented
on the importance of the option to work in the office to enable
staff to have support with colleagues. The Director for Adult Care
and Support stated that staff would still visit residents but it
was very important to work as safely as possible. The Assistant
Director added that a number of steps had been taken to engage with
staff virtually.
- A Member asked if
there was ...
view the full minutes text for item 5.
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6. |
Budget Strategy Report 2021/22 – 2023/24 PDF 202 KB
To seek comments on
the budget proposals identified for 2021/22 to 2023/24 within the
Adult Social Care and Health cabinet portfolio, to go forward to
the Resources and Delivering Value Scrutiny Board and the Full
Cabinet in February 2021.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Director for
Adult Care and Support presented the report and outlined that the
focus of the budget strategy as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic
had been on reset and recovery, which meant that portfolios had not
been asked to propose savings. They highlighted the following
points in relation to the Adult Care and Support Directorate:
- The current net
budget for adult social care and support was £57.143 million,
which included a significant amount of one-off funding.
- The Directorate
had been required to make £8 million of recurrent savings as
part of the MTFS plans over recent years. The last reported
financial year position for Period 6 was a £2.143m adverse
variance as a result of COVID-19, which highlighted they would
otherwise be in a balanced position.
- The two key areas
of pressure that had been identified were the increase in wage
inflation and younger adults demographic pressures. The mitigation
proposals against these relate to grants, inflation assumptions and
reserves to cover these pressures.
- There were some
potential pressures which had not been incorporated into the MTFS
proposals, as new information continued to become available on the
longer term impact of COVID-19. This included the increased social
care demand as a result of the increased support needed by older
people and the rise of unpaid carers.
The Director for
Public Health presented the Public Health Directorate MTFS update
and highlighted the following points:
- Public Health was
mainly grant funded through a ring fenced grant from the Department
for Health and Social Care. They were unsure if the 2021-22 grant
would have inflation applied to this.
- A substantial
proportion of the grant would fund NHS services, and there were
pressures in relation to salary uplifts within this organisation.
This covered services such as drug and alcohol services, sexual
health services, health visiting and school nurses.
- The significant
issue for the Directorate was to understand the impact of COVID-19
on future demand for services, as this was not currently clear.
There may be increased demand as some people have not accessed the
service during the crisis.
- The Directorate
was responsible for domestic violence services, and awaited
confirmation on the continued funding allocation to support the
requirements of the new domestic abuse bill.
- The Directorate
also had to establish a longer term financial footing for the
employment and skills service to support people back to work.
- There had been
significant amounts of funding for the COVID-19 testing, contact
tracing and wider measures, but there was uncertainty about whether
there would be funding to enable the long term continuation of
these measures. Conversations would continue to take place with
central government and other partners.
The Head of
Financial Operations provided a verbal update on the provisional
settlement that had been received just before Christmas. This
included that a further Social Care Grant had been announced for
2021/22 which provided £600,000 of additional funding and
announced that the Council had the opportunity to raise a further
1% in terms of the Adult Social Care ...
view the full minutes text for item 6.
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