Agenda item

To obtain assurance that suitable provision is available to all who need the service.

To accept the report and to thank everyone who works in the Short Breaks Service, and express hope that the funding will be available to continue to offer the service for everyone who needs it as time goes by.

 

Submitted - the report of the Cabinet Member for Children and Families on the Short Breaks service (Derwen Integrated Team). The committee was invited to scrutinise the content of the report to have assurance that suitable provision was available for everyone who needed the service.

 

The Cabinet Member set out the context and thanked the staff for their tireless work and their enthusiasm and love whilst working with the most vulnerable children in Gwynedd. The Assistant Head of Resources - Children and Supporting Families expanded on the content of the report and members were given the opportunity to ask questions and offer observations. 

 

It was noted that the report and the presentation highlighted the huge demand for the short breaks service, and it was clear that excellent and vital work was being done.

 

Attention was given to the demand for a short breaks service for adults too, but it was explained that this item only discussed the provision for children. 

 

Concern was expressed from understanding that the number of volunteers had reduced from 20 before the Covid period to 3 by now. It was enquired what was being done to try and recruit more volunteers, and it was requested whether it was possible to use the current volunteers in an effort to try and attract more. In response, it was noted that:-

 

·         As it was not possible to continue with the short breaks plan over the lockdown periods, many volunteers were lost as people moved on.

·         The Short Breaks Officer met regularly with Bangor University, which was the main contact in terms of recruitment campaigns.

·         They agreed with the observation regarding using current volunteers, but all they could do was highlight that the opportunities existed and be as proactive as possible in terms of responding to any enquiries.

·         Five prospective volunteers were currently going through the DBS process and it was hoped that these individuals would soon be available for the service in order to make a difference.

·         It was possible that the cost-of-living crisis impacted people's desire to put themselves forward to volunteer, but the Service would definitely persevere to try and increase the number.

 

It was enquired what service was offered to families of children with less intense needs as well as what were the projections for the future, considering that the demand increased year on year. It was also requested whether they could be confident that we could meet the intense needs, without mentioning the other needs, in the face of the Council's financial situation for the next few years. In response, it was noted that:-

 

·         The questions reflected the challenges that the Service faced and clearly discussed them in terms of development etc., and how to adapt the service to meet the needs that arose.

·         The current provision addressed a variety of needs, not only the higher needs, with the higher needs tended to be short breaks in Hafan y Sêr and perhaps more supportive hours than the lower needs.

·         A range of needs were provided in the supportive hours and that trying to analyse some of them was a part of work that they might not have managed to undertake for this report, but it was possible to do it with some effort.

·         The volunteer service's activities were specifically for the lower needs levels, with less dependency, perhaps, on a social worker assessment to provide that, whilst the care and support assessment from social workers was an integral part of the need in connection with the overnight services and the more intense support services.

·         Addressing the needs for the future would be challenging, especially considering the Council's financial situation, and if there were assessments that showed the demand, then there would be a responsibility on the Service to somehow provide that. This was the challenge faced in terms of planning services and it was not possible to answer with any assurance in terms of how the increase in the demand would change again.

 

It was asked whether there was a waiting list to go to Hafan y Sêr, and if there was, how long were individuals on that waiting list. It was also enquired if Hafan y Sêr was now full following Covid. In response, it was noted that:-

 

·         Although the Hafan y Sêr manager tried to maximise the numbers that could stay in the unit every night, it was challenging to always fill the six beds in the unit, but that was not because of staffing reasons. The unit's staffing had always been fairly stable, and in addition to the staff on fixed contracts, there was also a bank of reserve staff for individual situations.

·         There was a need to vary staff to correspond with the children's needs, e.g. some children did not sleep throughout the night and some children needed two staff members, and this was all a part of the planning work when accepting a child into the unit.

·         This was the factor that sometimes led to the fact that a child had to wait for room in the unit, because there was a need to consider what other children would be staying in the unit at the same time as that child, and what were the needs of all children and whether those needs blended together.

·         It was possible that some children had rather challenging needs that could destabilise other children, and that was all in the hands of the manager in terms of the preparation work.

·         The waiting list for room overnight at the unit could take approximately three months, but that included introducing the children gradually to the unit during the period.

·         In terms of the children's ages that were generally open to Derwen, more young children currently came in than older children leaving. It was believed that the same was true about Hafan y Sêr, and this would have an impact on the capacity and the turnover and waiting lists in the end. This was also a daily challenge in terms of planning adjustments, that were planned months in advance.

·         The Service was very happy with the provision in Hafan y Sêr, but more of this type of provision was needed to meet the need.

·         The benefit that families had from their child spending a night or two in the unit was huge, and kept families together.

·         In terms of general capacity and the waiting lists, families could go through a period of crisis where changes happened and the child's behaviour was possibly more challenging than usual, and the unit tried their best to respond to such situations by offering and adapting the stays.

 

In her closing comments, the Cabinet Member noted that:-

·         She had a conversation with Bangor University's Volunteer Officer regarding this matter and there had been discussions to support the fantastic work of the Short Breaks Officer who tried to recruit more volunteers.

·         The Cabinet had protected the funding of this type of provision for the most vulnerable children until now, but the Council faced completely unprecedented challenges over the coming years. Therefore, she would appreciate the committee's support to ensure that these children would not lose a penny of this provision and she would do everything in her ability to ensure that the provision did not face cuts, considering the context.

 

RESOLVED to accept the report and to thank everyone who worked in the Short Breaks Service, and expressed hope that the funding would be available to continue to offer the service for everyone who needed it as time went on.