Issue - meetings

To consider the report.

To accept the report, and:

1.    Note concern about the waiting lists for domiciliary care in some areas of the County.

2.    Request data regarding waiting lists across the County in order to facilitate comparison between areas.

3.    Ask the Cabinet Member to update the Committee on the work of the Domiciliary Care Project to include information about reducing costs and improving the quality of data.

A report was presented by the Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Well-being, Head of Adults, Health and Well-being Department, Assistant Head - Supporting Communities, Health and Well-being and Assistant Head - Adults Services.

It was explained that a series of changes were currently under way within domiciliary care. Some issues had been acknowledged as needing to be addressed for some time but it was confirmed that they were now being implemented. It was explained that these modifications were now being introduced in line with the Ffordd Gwynedd review. It was noted that officers looked at the services from a citizen's perspective to assess whether or not services were effective.

It was declared that an agreement adopted with external providers, which had been adopted since November 2022, implemented a new way of working. It was noted that all providers collaborated effectively with the social workers and wider communities to offer users domiciliary care of the highest standard. This was compared to the previous working model where there was not as much collaboration and domiciliary care providers were required to work in a monotonous way to provide care at the same time of day without really considering adjustments to the user's schedule. It was emphasised that the current model allowed employees to build relationships with users and that solving any problem or need that needed to be addressed could be achieved more easily, with the support of partners.

However, it was recognised that adjusting working patterns between the above two models was challenging and it was confirmed that the department was currently still in that transition period. It was assured that employees believed that their terms of working had changed for the better in recent years and it was noted that starting to implement the new model of working had resulted in improved cooperation in community hubs deriving additional community value from the agreements. Examples were shared of how terms of working had been able to be modified such as changes in holidays and travel expenses and adjustments to shift patterns. It was acknowledged that some employees believed they were on their own and did not feel involved in relevant decisions and therefore it was ensured that the Department continued to find new ways of presenting ideas and communicating with employees to ensure input.

It was confirmed that all external agreements were now with third sector or small third sector families. It was emphasised that money was not being spent beyond the local area of the County.

In response to a query on modifications to ICT systems, the Assistant Head of Supporting Communities, Health and Well-being confirmed that four of the domiciliary care services systems needed to be modified due to the change in the working model. It was explained that the service's current systems followed the old working model and needed to be adapted to ensure that arrangements for care planning, scheduling staff hours and recording user mobility were formulated according to the new working model. Work to look into  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5