SUSPENSION OF COUNCIL PROCEDURE RULE NO.
5 – ORDER OF BUSINESS
AGREED that, in accordance with Council Procedure Rule No. 5, the
remaining agenda items would be considered in the following order: 5, 4, 6, 7,
8 and 9.
INTEGRATION OF HEALTH AND
SOCIAL CARE – VERBAL UPDATE
The Director of Adult Social Care and Health
Integration provided Members with an update regarding the integration of Health
and Social Care; the following points were made:
- Reference was made to
the demands of the pandemic, rising infection numbers and the focus of the
NHS’ efforts being towards managing this.
- With regards to the
North East Integrated Care System (ICS), a Chief Executive had now been
appointed to the role. It was
explained that following a Government announcement, implementation of the
Integrated Care Boards and the wider ICS had been delayed from 1 April
2022 to July 2022, which was felt to be reflective of the challenges
currently facing the NHS.
- Details regarding the
work that had been taking place in response to the pandemic were provided
to Members; activities had included:
-
Maintaining flow in respect of hospital discharge, which had become
increasingly difficult, yet undertaken with few exceptions to date.
-
Providing additional home care in the run-up to Christmas, which owing
to staff challenges had been more expensive.
-
Responding to outbreaks of Covid within care
homes. It was indicated that care home
residents had largely been fully vaccinated (first two doses plus booster
vaccination), but where there had been outbreaks, homes were temporarily closed
to admissions. At present, half of the
Council’s care homes (15) were closed to admissions. It was explained that homes were closed on a
rolling-basis for a period of 28 days before they could be reopened, however,
discussions would be taking place regionally to determine whether this could be
reduced to 14 days. This situation was
not unique to Middlesbrough and was occurring both regionally and nationally.
-
Reviewing additional capacity within extra care to free up hospital
beds.
-
Reviewing designated settings to allow for Covid-positive
individuals to be discharged from hospital; a designated setting may be
required in the future (location to be confirmed accordingly). It was indicated that one provider was able
to offer two units of 15 beds per unit if required, although this would need to
be authorised by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and commissioned by the
Hospital Trust.
-
The Director concluded by highlighting the dynamic nature of the current
situation, which was being monitored on a daily basis.
During the discussion that followed, Members asked
a number of queries of the Director. In
response, the following information was provided:
- With regards to people
being allowed to visit their relatives in care homes at the present time,
it was indicated that this would depend upon the respective care home,
e.g. whether there was currently an outbreak; whether visits could be
facilitated, etc. Reference was
made to the first lockdown period and the additional resources that had
been allocated to assist with this during that time. It was explained that the priority at
the moment was trying to ensure that admissions could continue, whilst
keeping outbreaks down. Mention was
made of several regional hospitals that had taken the decision to reduce
visiting at the current time.
- Regarding hospital
admissions and the availability of ambulances, the panel heard that in the
days preceding Christmas and New Year, in-patient Covid
figures had doubled, although increases in critical patient numbers were
not being seen (potentially due to the effectiveness of the vaccination
programme, or the Omicron variant affecting people differently). Conversely however, the full impact of
socialising over the festive period had yet to be seen, and there were
unvaccinated individuals in Middlesbrough.
Reference was made to staffing issues currently being experienced
as a consequence of isolation requirements, which had impacted service
continuity.
- In relation to a shortage
of lateral flow tests and the impact that this had had on care homes,
Members heard that the Council was providing as much assistance with this
as possible. It was indicated that
Public Health had received a blanket allocation of test kits several months ago for working with
vulnerable groups. A small stock of
these were still available and currently being provided to care homes and
domiciliary care providers to help ensure that work could continue.
- In terms of mandatory
vaccinations for care home staff, it was explained that two vaccinations
were mandatory; some staff had left the sector as a consequence of
this. Consideration was now being
given towards coverage of the booster for staff, with work continuing to
take place this week.
- Regarding designated
settings, it was explained that certain prescribed staffing levels were
necessary in order for these to operate, with assessment and sign-off by
the CQC. Staffing would be a
combination of care home and agency staff; ongoing monitoring would be undertaken.
The Chair thanked the Director for the information
presented.
NOTED