Agenda item

Councillor Evans, Chair, to present

The Chair presented the main findings and recommendations from the cross-party spotlight Scrutiny Review of Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Services for Adults.

A spotlight review had been undertaken to ensure that the Service, which would be operating within a reduced budget, would provide a quality safe service under the new contract from April 2018.

The detailed overview of substance misuse in Rotherham had been received noting that the majority of Service users were male and white British.  Although numbers in Service were declining over time, there were a number of older long term drug users many of whom now had associated physical health issues.

The bringing together of various aspects of the Service together under a single contract, including having treatment and recovery services available in one location, may facilitate a more personalised and holistic approach to treatment and recovery.

The members of the Review Group were thanked for their work on the Select Commission’s behalf on this issue.

The Review’s eight recommendations were as follows:-

1.            That Public Health and Change, Grow, Live (CGL) present an overview of how the new service is progressing, including a summary of progress on the key performance indicators, to the Health Select Commission in Autumn 2018.

2.            That Public Health ensure robust performance management is in place for the new contract from the outset in 2018, including exception reporting and a mid-contract review (to report back to the Health Select Commission).

3.            That the Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Group revisit the suicide prevention awareness raising work in Wentworth Valley in 2018-19 and roll it out more widely through sharing resources and learning, particularly in hotspot areas identified through the National Drug Treatment Monitoring Service.

4.            That Public Health consider strengthening the messages under Making Every Contact Count around safe alcohol consumption and where to go for help, when it is refreshed.

5.            That future commissioning of services by RMBC that exceed the Official Journal of the EU threshold, especially Public Health and Social Care Services, includes soft market testing with providers/potential providers in advance of going out to tender to ensure a successful process first time.

6.            That drug and alcohol pathways and signposting, including protocols for links to other processes such as the Vulnerable Adults Risk Management process, are reviewed by RMBC and partners in 2018, to minimise any risk of people not being able to access support.

7.            That in their initial assessments and reassessments with service users CGL include the additional risk factors identified from the RDaSH analysis into suicides from April 2018.

8.            That Public Health and CGL continue to take a proactive approach to safety concerns in the service, including incorporating any lessons learned from elsewhere and the findings of any Serious Case Reviews when published.

Councillor Roche, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health, expressed concern with regard to recommendation No.3.  Wentworth Valley Area Assembly had funded the good work that had been delivered.  All Members had been sent a letter regarding rolling out the work to all Wards but they would have to provide funding.  However, no Members had responded to the request.

It was suggested that once the geographical data was analysed that might trigger some specific work and lead to discussion on communications and an operational structure.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the Review findings be endorsed and the recommendations set out in Section 6 of the Review report at Appendix 1 be approved.

(2)  That the report be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board for consideration prior to submission to the Cabinet/Commissioners’ Decision Making Meeting.

(3)  That the response from the Cabinet/Commissioners’ Decision Making Meeting be reported back to the Select Commission.