Agenda item

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Communities which described the benchmarking process that had been set up in the North West region to inform the process of Sector Led Improvement and highlighted the performance in Adult Social Care in Halton over the last 12 months.

 

The Board was advised that the framework had now been developed and enhanced as a part of the SLI process in the North West; the first submission had been in September 2012 but had been backdated until the start of that financial year. The latest submission would therefore complete the first year of data collection in the new format.

 

The Board was further advised that Three tiers of information were now collected on a quarterly basis. These tiers consisted of:

 

• Key Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF) data;

 

• ADASS/AQuA whole system data, which was drawn down mainly from published health service data; and

 

• An additional suite of information which provided North West benchmarking.

 

It was reported that these tiers combined into Towards Excellence in Adult Social Care (TEASC).

 

Furthermore, it was reported that the TEASC overview analysis for 2012/13 had now been published.  It contained 80 items and was divided under the following sections:

 

1      Access to Services – 9 items;

2      Community Based Services – 14 items;

3      Residential and Nursing – 8 items;

4      Intensity of Home Care – 1 item;

5      Services for Carers – 2 items;

6      Quality of Life – 17 items;

7      Self Directed Support – 13 items;

8      Living Independently – 4 items;

9      Assisting Discharge – 3 items; and

10    Views of Users and Carers – 9 items.

 

        TEASC also provided comparators with:

 

a)         The North West;

b)         Unitary Authorities; and

c)         CIPFA comparators.

 

In conclusion, it was reported that Halton’s data had been submitted and showed exceptional performance and a sustained picture from previous years, which applied to at least 75% of submitted items.  It was also reported that regular update reports would be presented to the Board.

 

The following points arose from the discussion:-

 

·             Concern was raised that staff undertaking time with other local authorities to share good practice could result in them leaving to work for other authorities.  In response, it was reported that in this economic climate, other authorities had the same issues so there was no incentive for staff to move.  In addition, an agreement had been signed by all Local Authorities to share good practice so there was an obligation to do that.  However, it would be managed appropriately and only if there was sufficient capacity to do it.  In addition, if support was required, we could request it from another authority.  The Board noted that the Authority were meeting performance indicators and the budget and were a lead authority on good practices;

 

·             The importance of monitoring the service to ensure that the whole of the sector was improved; and

 

·             It was suggested that Halton was unique and could not be successfully compared to other Authorities.

 

RESOLVED: That

 

(1)        the report and comments raised be noted; and

 

(2)        regular update reports be presented to the Board.