Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest reported at the meeting.

RESOLVED – That the Notes of this Committee held on 21 December 2021, be approved as a correct record, and that the decisions reached at that meeting be formally agreed.

Assistant Director – Commissioning, Performance and Transformation

The Assistant Director - Adult Social Care provided a verbal update on the ongoing response to the Covid-19 pandemic, specifically in relation to care providers.

It was reported that cases of Covid in Darlington were reducing rapidly, and that the day rate was now 432 cases per 100,000 of the population, which represented a reduction of 38.8% on the previous week. It was noted that testing was also reducing with 868 tests reported  on the 19 February 2022, which demonstrated a 10.2% reduction when compared with the previous seven days.

Members were advised that Covid vaccination uptake continued to improve, with 85.5% of all eligible residents having received a first dose, 80.4% having received a second dose and 64% having received the ‘booster’.

It was reported that there were 92 hospital admissions with coronavirus between 7 February 2022 and 13 February 2022, which showed a decrease of 33.3% when compared with the previous seven days, and that the number of Covid in-patients on 21 February was 78 patients in hospitals across County Durham and Darlington, which represented a 20% reduction compared with 15th February 2022. There was a total of three patients with Covid in ICU across the County Durham and Darlington hospitals.

The Assistant Director - Adult Social Care informed Members that there had been three deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test between14 February 2022 and 20 February 2022 in Darlington. This demonstrated a decrease of 25.0% when compared to the previous seven days.

In terms of Care Homes, it was reported that 19 were in outbreak status, with six closed to all admissions and nine accepting admissions following a dynamic risk assessment. Four Care Homes were not currently in outbreak. Members were advised that occupancy levels were up to 83.01%, and that there were 108 beds available across settings.

It was reported that the level of infections in the Council’s two primary providers (Springfield and Careline) was easing significantly, especially amongst staff.

Members entered into discussion on the value of receiving continued verbal updates in light of the improving situation.

RESOLVED – That the content of the update be noted.

Report of the Assistant Director – Adult Services

The Assistant Director – Adult Social Care submitted a report (previously circulated) to provide Members with performance data against Key Performance Indicators for 2021-22.

The submitted report provided performance information in line with an indicator set and Scrutiny Committee distribution agreed by Monitoring and Coordination Group on 4 June 2018, and subsequently by Scrutiny Committee Chairs. The indicators scrutinised by this Scrutiny Committee are aligned with key priorities.

The submitted report highlighted that twelve indicators are reported to this Committee, ten on a six-monthly basis, and two annually. Of the ten indicators reported on a six-monthly basis, two indicators showed performance better or the same compared to this point last year (ASC019 and ASC046); three indicators showed a performance not as good as that recorded at this time last year (ASC002, ASC003 and ASC045), and will continue to be monitored and managed; two indicators showed a performance that was the same as the same time last year (ASC049 and ASC050); and three indicators were not comparable and were reviewed at a point in time (ASC208, ASC209 and ASC211).

Members entered into discussion on the reasons for the increase in the number of residents with no ongoing care needs following reablement, the reasoning behind the three indicators which showed that performance was not as good as that recorded at this time last year, and the capacity to address the anticipated increase in future cases of dementia.

Members were also interested to learn whether there had been an increase in the number of residents moving into Care Homes, whether residents were more comfortable to return to Care Homes after the public health situation of recent months, and whether it was anticipated that the performance indicators would return to previous expected levels after Covid.   

RESOLVED – That the performance information provided in the submitted report be noted.

Report of the Group Director of People

NOTE: This item was deferred until the next Ordinary Meeting of the Adults Scrutiny Committee on 26 April 2022, as the Chair of the Darlington Safeguarding Partnership was unable to attend the meeting.

Report of the Assistant Director Law and Governance

The Assistant Director Law and Governance submitted a report (previously circulated) requesting that Members gave consideration to the Work Programme items scheduled to be considered by this Scrutiny Committee during 2021/22, and to any additional areas that Members would like to be included.

IT WAS AGREED: That the content of the report be noted.