Agenda item

Report of the Strategic Director of Adult Care and Housing

Cabinet Member:     Councillor Roche (in advisory role)

Commissioner:         Myers

Recommendations:

1.    That approval be given to commence consultation on the reconfiguration of the Learning Disability services including options for the future of in-house services.

2.    That a further report be submitted on the outcome of the consultation with recommendations of the new Learning Disability offer.

Consideration was given to a report which detailed how the Council wished to consult with a range of stakeholders regarding the future Learning Disability offer to develop an approach that allowed people to exercise choice and maintain control of their lives.  The national context in relation to Adult Care and the future of service provision for adults with a Learning Disability was reflected in three key initiatives:-

·         Care Act, 2014

·         Shaping the Future of Care Together, 2015

·         Transforming Care for people with Learning Disabilities, 2015

Such initiatives confirmed the commitment to personalisation and shaping responses to individual circumstances, enabling people to exercise choice and maintain control over their own lives whilst promoting efficiency and value for money in the use of shrinking resources. The challenge at both national and local level was to develop robust, sustainable support which promoted prevention and early intervention.

Further to the approval of the report ‘Implementing a strategic approach to the commissioning and delivery of Learning Disability Services’ in May 2016 and Learning Disabilities - Shaping the Future Cabinet Report on 10^th October 2016, this report further built on the outlined direction of travel and set out the subsequent next steps and recommendations for consideration. The report recognised that this had to be a three year improvement and transformation journey to ensure that the approach was planned and implemented in a safe and equitable way across the whole of the Borough.

The proposal was to offer people accommodation and support which would promote independence and choice and enable them to live the life that they chose with the support when they actually needed it. The approach would be based on the fundamental principle of a ‘life journey’ from transition through to adulthood, supporting people with a Learning Disability to access services which were personalised and which captured the needs and wishes based on person centred planning by social care practitioners.

In real terms this would mean that people would have access to enablement services to ensure that independence was the primary driver and outcome, which would include employment opportunities, leisure and a real choice as to where and how they lived. There would be a focus on excellent advice and information and the delivery of improved outcomes for people in more cost effective ways with an emphasis on what people could do rather than what they were unable to do.  This was described as a strength based approach and would mean having a modern offer that met people’s needs and did not just rely on traditional building based care.

This new ‘offer’ meant that the current traditional in-house services needed to be incrementally modernised and transformed. The current building based offer of day care, respite and residential care restricted the independence, choice and control of current customers and was costly, although still recognised that such care remained appropriate in the short to medium term for a small cohort of people with extremely complex needs.  This was not sustainable, not cost effective and did not offer a safe solution for adults with a Learning Disability and their carers.

The proposed new service ‘offer’ had to be supported by proactive and innovative commissioning and this was outlined in the Cabinet Report of the 10^th October, 2016, which would shape the future service to ensure that there was a choice for people to access their support for community support in a different way. The proposed commissioning approach would ensure that the market responded to the needs of individuals now and in the future. This would be co-produced with people with a Learning Disability to facilitate the shaping of the market and in so doing inform the quality of support and the management of risk.    

Cabinet Members acknowledged that this was a difficult decision, but the driving factors were to develop a robust and sustainable level of support which promoted prevention and early intervention.  However, consultation on the reconfiguration of the Learning Disability Service should commence and that all service users should be engaged fully and their views sought.

Commissioner Myers agreed:-

1.         That approval be given to commence consultation on the reconfiguration of the Learning Disability services including options for the future of in-house services.

2.         That a further report be submitted on the outcome of the consultation with recommendations of the new Learning Disability offer.