Agenda item

To provide an overview of the performance and key metrics for the Adult Social Care and Public Health services for Quarter 3 of 2024-25, including a narrative on 29 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), 9 of which are reported to Cabinet as part of the quarterly Borough Plan performance update.

Councillor Nerva, as Lead Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Public Health and Leisure, introduced the report, which provided an overview of the performance and key metrics for Adult Social Care (ASC) and Public Health services for Quarter 3 (Q3) of 2024-25. Dr Melanie Smith (Director of Public Health, Brent Council) added that the report provided a succinct and clear account of the corporate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that the Council measured performance by. She clarified that these areas were not the only things that were measured, for example, in the Council’s contracted services there was a suite of KPIs to hold contractors to account for, but the KPIs presented had been selected to give an overview of the most relevant areas of performance.

The Chair thanked presenters for their introduction and invited comments and questions from the Committee, with the following issues raised:

The Committee felt that, whilst there was a comprehensive set of information about performance included in the report, there had been no explanations, context, comparisons or detailed solutions for improving performance outlined in the report. Officers explained that the report aimed to follow the template that the Corporate Performance Team provided to Cabinet on a quarterly basis, and some of the information had been covered in the previous two items, although it was acknowledged that this document could be read as a standalone item separately from the agenda. There was benchmarking information available as well as a visual performance dashboard which officers agreed to share with the Committee.

The Committee highlighted that there were several KPIs not reaching their target, and asked how confident officers were that the Improvement Plan and Transformation Programme considered in the previous two agenda items would improve performance and bring those KPIs into target. Rachel Crossley (Corporate Director Community Health and Wellbeing, Brent Council) advised members that she felt confident around a number of KPIs relating to timeliness and satisfaction, but she had less confidence in relation to improving the number of people with a mental health condition or Learning Disability being supported into employment. She understood this was not a solely ASC issue but about how officers engaged businesses to find the right type of work, and she felt there was more work that could be done across the Council with partners in the employment space to improve that. Claudia Brown (Director of Adult Social Care, Brent Council) added that there were plans to redesign Day Opportunities, which included supporting those with Learning Disabilities and mental health issues into employment.

In relation to the amber KPI outlined in section 3.2.21 on health checks, the Committee asked whether officers had identified the reason for missing the target and any mitigations in place for that. Dr Melanie Smith explained that health checks were commissioned by Public Health from GPs and Public Health then reported on the overall performance, but did not report publicly on performance by individual GP practice, although it did hold that data. As such, Public Health would be able to do targeted work with those practices who were below target in quarter 4 to make further efforts to reach out to people to encourage them to attend their health checks which could translate into an overall increase in performance. She added that she was confident that, by year end, the target for NHS health checks would have been reached.

Some Committee members shared some of the cases they had been involved in with residents in their ward relating to ASC. A resident had contacted the member about an elderly couple and was worried about self-neglect and safeguarding issues because the elderly man’s partner had been in hospital, and the resident had been unclear who to contact or whether there was a care package in place. When the member brought this case to the attention of ASC they had found the response to be excellent, but the member queried how ASC could become aware of those cases and where this would appear in KPIs. Claudia Brown highlighted that cases like that were difficult because unless ASC knew about the individual then they would be unable to help. She felt this was why there was a need to work closely with the London Ambulance Service and other partners, so that if someone’s carer had been taken into hospital ASC were informed and could pick up that case. ASC was working with partners to ensure everyone knew about how to contact ASC in cases of emergency. This included working more closely with GPs, so ASC was doing more outreach in neighbourhoods, such as through the Community Assessment Days, to ensure people knew about services available to them. Sometimes other organisations may know about someone but had not informed ASC, so making those referral pathways and access points clearer so that ASC knew about those individuals as soon as they were at risk was seen to be essential. ASC was also updating the information provided on the website and ensuring information was going out into the community about ASC, and was working with Brent Customer Services to devise a way of identifying what happened to those individuals when they were signposted.

The Committee asked how the Community Health and Wellbeing Directorate was working in collaboration with health partners. Claudia Brown advised members that the department was working closer with Brent Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) / Brent Borough Based Partnership. For example, ASC was working with Brent ICP to ensure they were a part of a new frailty pathway being introduced, and with hospitals to ensure that if someone went into hospital the ambulance highlighted whether there was someone remaining at home requiring support. She felt that ASC did a lot of work with partners to ensure that, whatever avenue a person entered the care system, ASC were made aware of any other vulnerable adults or children in the household.

The Chair thanked those present for their contributions and drew the item to a close. He invited members to make recommendations with the following RESOLVED:

i)               For ASC to include comparative measures, including from previous performance and other similar boroughs, in future reports.

As well as recommendations, the Committee made an information request during the discussion, recorded as follows:

i)               To share benchmarking information and the visual dashboard.