Issue - meetings

The Chair welcomed Sue Lott, Head of Service Adult Social Care Health, Sumaiya Sufi, Quality Improvement and Safety Specialist and Abdul Razaq, Consultant in Public Health to the meeting. The Lancashire County Council staff were invited to present a report detailing the support that had been provided to adult social care providers and the Adult Social Care Winter Plan.  Lynsey Davies-Coward from Willowbrook Homecare and Martin Layton from Caritas Care were also in attendance to provide feedback to the committee on their experience of county council support during the initial stages of the pandemic.

The following information was highlighted with regard to support provided to adult social care providers:

·  Support had been given to (in the region of) 600 adult social care providers including care homes, home care agencies and supported living providers. The support included welfare calls to check they had the information required, along with sufficient food and medication supplies. Providers were also offered access to a financial assistance scheme for COVID-19 related costs. In addition, a not for profit organisation was commissioned to offer a package of emotional and wellbeing support.

·  As the information, advice and guidance from central government was changing rapidly, it had been necessary to provide regular timely communication and this was disseminated via a weekly webinar, attended by the council's infection control team and a newsletter. Bespoke webinars responding to requests from providers were also arranged. All information and webinars were uploaded to a custom-made website, along with education tools to enable providers to train staff. This support continued to help providers manage new outbreaks.

·  Challenges faced included courier collection of tests and delays receiving test results and this had been escalated to establish a resolution. Repeat testing was in place – weekly for staff and every 28 days for residents.

·  A council managed temporary staffing agency was available for providers encountering staff shortages due to self-isolating and sickness absence.

·  The council also sourced personal protective equipment when needed and the service had received feedback stating that this support had helped providers to manage the pandemic and remain confident that provision of services could continue. The team continued to work with the Lancashire Resilience Forum to ensure personal protective equipment needs could be met.

·  As lockdown restrictions eased, some care homes had been reluctant to change the constraints in place regarding visiting. Lancashire County Council had worked with care homes to provide guidance and resources regarding how to make visiting safe to support infection control.

The private social care providers in attendance made the following comments:

·  Lancashire County Council had been instrumental in allowing providers to sustain vital services during this challenging time. Particularly in the areas of training, personal protective equipment provision, communication and financial support.

·  Government guidance had centred on care homes, therefore the Lancashire County Council portal had been an invaluable single point of access for providers of domiciliary care. It was emphasised that multi-disciplinary teams were available to support outbreaks in assisted living settings. In addition, domiciliary care providers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6