Report of the Executive Director of Adult Social Services

Better Outcomes, Better Lives is the adult social care transformation programme. It is a long-term programme of practice-led change, which aims to enable the people of Manchester to achieve better outcomes with the result of less dependence on formal care.

The report provides an update on progress and the impact of the programme since November 2021, when the committee last had an update. 

The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director of Adult Social Servicesthat provided an update on progress and the impact of the programme since November 2021, when the Committee last had an update. 

Key points and themes in the report included:

·         Providing an introduction and background to the programme;

·         Examples of the impact of this programme, including feedback from people it was working with and staff;

·         Noting that the impact of the work delivered had been shortlisted for an LCG award in recognition of the innovation in health and social care;

·         How the independence of our people through improving the social work practice was being achieved, including case studies;

·         Information on Community Practice, the weekly meetings that provided space for front line teams to come together, learn and reflect on their experiences of working in a strengths-based way;

·         Describing the My VIEWS engagement tool to support front line staff;

·         Information in relation to Strengths Based, Focused Reviews, designed to support review conversations to focus on independence and choice;

·         The approach to improving our short-term offer;

·         Better use of Technology Enabled Care;

·         Improvements to reablement;

·         An update on the testing of small scale pilots;

·         Improving how and what was commissioned, including how the Commissioning Plan would set out how the approach to commissioning would support integration between health and social care services in the coming year;

·         The approach to improving the use of data, noting this was a priority in Better Outcomes, Better Lives and this supports the understanding of the impact both in terms of the programme and as a service;

·         Early help;

·         Information on the Equality Impact Assessment of the programme; and

·         Conclusions.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were: -

·         An update on the Adaptations service was requested;

·         Would there be specific commissioned services for autistic women;

·         Any future update report should include the voice of the Citizen Commissioning Committee, with representatives invited to contribute to the meeting;

·         Welcoming the approach to commissioning;

·         Welcoming the front line workers who had attended the meeting to provide examples of this work in practice; and

·         What work was being done to support front line workers in the context of the Cost of Living Crisis.

The Committee then heard from front line staff who had been invited to speak of their experience of delivering services and the methods of working using this improved delivery model. They spoke of the benefits and improved outcomes for residents and the satisfaction from a professional perspective. The Committee welcomed the voice of the practitioner at the meeting.

The Executive Director of Adult Social Services opened her response by placing on record her continued appreciation to all her staff delivering services on behalf of Manchester residents. She stated that despite the challenges presented by COVID, the adult social care transformation programme had been launched successfully and that had resulted in improved outcomes for residents and better working practices for staff, making further reference to the shortlisting for an LCG award and the positive feedback from the staff satisfaction survey.

The Executive Director of Adult Social Services commented that the adaptions service had experienced challenges as a result of COVID and the recruitment of Occupational Therapists; however, work was underway to address these and she proposed an update report to that which was considered at the 22 June 2022 meeting be provided to the Committee for consideration at an appropriate time.

The Executive Director of Adult Social Services acknowledged the concerns expressed by the Committee regarding the impact of the Cost of Living Crisis on front line workers. She stated Management Teams were discussing this and how this could be mitigated, supplemented by regular supervision and communication with all staff.

The Head of Commissioning advised the Committee that the Autism service would be an inclusive service and the business case that had been used to secure the funding for this would be circulated for information.

The Executive Member for Healthy Manchester and Adult Social Care reiterated the importance of the staff delivering Adult Social Care and paid tribute to the positive relationships and culture that had been developed by the Executive Director of Adult Social Services within the Directorate. He further highlighted the positive impact the programme was achieving for Manchester residents, with particular reference to sections 3.1, 4.1, 5.7 and 6.3 of the report.

Decision

To note the report.