Cabinet Members Councillor W. Gareth Roberts
Councillor
Mair Rowlands
To receive the final report of the Scrutiny Investigation into Carers’ Provision.
(Copy enclosed)
Minutes:
Submitted - the final
report of the Scrutiny Investigation into carers' provision, and the Chair of
the Investigation, Councillor R.H. Wyn Williams, took the opportunity to thank
the following members and officers for their contribution to the comprehensive
report:
Cllr E. Selwyn Griffiths
Cllr Siân
Wyn Hughes
Cllr Linda Ann Wyn Jones
Cllr Eryl Jones-Williams
Cllr Ann Williams
Cllr Eirwyn Williams
Gareth James - Member
Support and Scrutiny Manager
Bethan Adams - Member
Support Officer
The Member Support and
Scrutiny Manager elaborated that the work that had been undertaken by the
Investigation was concise but, nevertheless, contained much useful information.
Attention was drawn to the fact that 227 individuals had responded to the detailed
questionnaire and that this helped give credibility to the findings of the
Investigation. It was noted that the contribution of approximately 20
individuals who were interviewed had been very valuable and that the
Investigation welcomed the opportunity to work with the Executive in terms of
developing a policy that would contribute towards improving the provision for
carers in the County.
In response, the Cabinet
Member for Children and Young People thanked the officers for the work that was
achieved by the Investigation and she noted the following main points:
(i)
It
was not completely clear whether all recommendations referred to two Cabinet
Members, namely the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People and the
Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Well-being.
(ii)
With
regards to recommendation 1, whilst agreeing that there was much work to be
achieved, she noted that work was being carried out in an attempt to identify
hidden carers.
(iii)
In
the context of recommendation 4, it was noted that a comment was needed in
terms of the wider picture, it was questioned whether commissioning the work
would achieve this. It was trusted that information could be shared / promoted
more effectively and that, through this, we would have better arrangements for
identifying the carers.
(iv)
In
terms of engaging with everyone, especially the parents of disabled children,
it was noted that more work needed to be done on this.
The additional points below
were highlighted by individual Members:
·
Although
the investigation had been completed in a short period, more investigations of
the same type were welcomed for the future.
·
There
was concern for the cuts to the vehicle service to transport individuals to
respite care, and an example was noted, namely Plas Pengwaith Residential Home, Llanberis.
·
Ensure
that the service was bilingual, and it was possibly appropriate for the
Council's Language Committee to carry out a further investigation to this end.
·
The
Department was thanked for the expenditure for the extension at Llys Cadfan, Tywyn
for day care and respite service.
·
Local
colleges should be collaborated with closely to promote careers in the field of
care.
·
Early
intervention was vital and agencies / authorities should be worked with in
partnership so that arguments could be presented jointly to the Government to
ensure that sufficient resources were available to respond to the
situations.
In response to some of the
above observations, the Head of Adults, Health and Well-being noted:
(a) That the Department had
looked at the effective use of the fleet vehicles and, by doing so, it was
discovered that continuing to use some of them was not sustainable. Consequently, arrangements were changed in
terms of vehicles, but it was hastened to note that the use of vehicles did not
disrupt the ability of individuals to receive respite care.
(b) In terms of the field of
children, everyone was reminded that a respite care centre was going to be
opened soon on the Ysgol Hafod Lon site, and it was
ensured that an invite for the official opening would be sent to the Members
following a confirmation of the registration.
The Head of Adults, Health
and Well-being noted:
·
From
the adults' perspective, much work was to be achieved and an investigation had
highlighted gaps that needed additional practical work or further research
work.
·
With
regards to capacity to work on the recommendations, the Department would
appreciate if there was an element of prioritising - but assurance was given
that the Department would give attention to all of the recommendations through
work that was already ongoing. He noted that the capacity speed to respond to
the recommendations was going to vary.
·
It
was trusted that IAA work of the Children and Young People Department would be
moving forward earlier than the work of the Adults, Health and Well-being
Department, and if the IAA procedure could be achieved correctly, it would make
such a difference not only to the users, but to the service also. We would have
to learn through trial and error and ensure that information was shared in
public locations so that individuals could self-service if possible, before
contacting the Department.
·
It
was acknowledged that the mental health provision needed attention and was
challenging, mainly due to a lack of clarity regarding the type of available
service by the Health Board and the local authority. The integrating elements
were not in place at present and that was a key step to be able to move
on.
To follow, a discussion
held place regarding the need to prioritise the recommendations and there was a
consensus of opinion amongst Members to approve and prioritise them as follows:
Recommendation 4
Recommendation 6
Recommendation 8
Also, it was noted that
recommendations 1 and 2 were important and were seen as a basis and a
development of how to engage with young carers and it was asked how to develop
methodology to connect with carers with whom contact had so far failed.
Resolved: (a) To accept and
approve all the recommendations but to ask the Cabinet Members to give priority
to developing the following first:
Recommendation 4
Recommendation 6
Recommendation 8
(b)
Monitor the developments of the recommendations.
Supporting documents: