Issue - meetings

A report was presented from the Strategic Director – People, which highlighted the key issues with respect to quality in local Care Homes and Domiciliary Care Services.

The report provided commentary with regards to the Council’s priority to ensure the provision of a range of good quality services to support adults requiring commissioned care in the Borough; in line with the Care Act 2014.  It was noted that Halton had 25 registered care homes with a total of 757 beds, operated by 14 providers.  With regards to domiciliary care, this was commissioned by one lead provider who worked closely with the Council to transform provision using a Re-ablement First model. 

The responsibilities of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and its assessment processes for all registered providers were described in the report.  Further, the work of the Council’s Quality Assurance Team was outlined.  The quarter 2 ratings given to care homes by the CQC and the Quality Assurance Team were presented in the report.  It was noted that the rating for the domiciliary care provider was not available for quarter 2, as the development of a range of performance metrics by the Quality Assurance Team was still in progress and the CQC had not yet rated the provider.

Members were referred to the North West ADASS Monthly CQC Data Update (October 2018 Edition), which was appended to the report.  With reference to this, Members highlighted that the ‘safe’ and ‘well-led’ elements of the care home ratings were poor in many cases.  It was suggested that this could be due to underfunding.  Officers advised that Halton had developed a care home working group which would include the monitoring of these ratings as part of their role.  It was also commented that registered managers were crucial to the success of a care home; the Council was planning to do some work around this to professionalise the role, so it was more recognised within the care home field.

RESOLVED:  That the Board notes the report.