To receive a presentation on the above titled item.

Mark Sanders, Healthwatch WAM gave a presentation on the above titled item. It was highlighted that approximately 85% of individuals self-fund care. Members were informed that most individuals did not know what they were entitled to receive and have had no formal contact with Adult Social Care, CVS organisations or domiciliary care agencies. It was noted that most of these individuals had at some point come into contact with health care services or providers. As part of the piece of work carried out by Healthwatch WAM it was highlighted that the service had been in operation since 2012 however awareness in the borough had remained low and there had been a limited number of existing community contacts passed on by providers. The Board were told that it was important to identify and record future predicted use of care homes, providing supportive services and this in turn would reduce social isolation and support carers to care for people in their homes for longer periods of time. There had been some issues with unregistered providers charging a disproportionate amount for “care related” services which had resulted in non affordable tariffs being charged and no signposting of action that could be taken. 

It had been estimated that the total cost of unpaid care by the nation was worth an estimated £132bn per year which amounts to more than total NHS spending. At the end of the presentation, Members were asked how self-funding individuals and carers could be recorded and helped to gain access to relevant services across the borough. Councillor Airey suggested that there should a blacklist of agencies who have been known to take advantage of vulnerable users and self-funders and that a log of registered providers should be provided on the RBWM website. It was also suggested that an article be provided for the borough newsletter to highlight things to look out for when choosing a provider of care services. Kevin McDaniel suggested that previous work from the LCSB- Football authority’s crackdown of abuse of young persons in football be looked at and the questions that were created as a part of that work which included information on signposting and services available. Fiona Slevin Brown highlighted that simply logging the providers was not a permanent solution and that feedback was needed to discuss the matter further. Hilary Hall suggested that this would be best looked at with smaller pieces of work, such as communications campaigns on social media, NHS partnership work, training for frontline practitioners

A member of the public asked whether there was a single place where individuals could access information from. It was confirmed that at present information existed in different places on the local authority and CCG related websites and that work was taking place to ensure clear connections to different websites for relevant information on services. Councillor Coppinger highlighted that there had been close partnership working with HWB chairs and that this had been an item of discussion at the joint meeting of HWB Chairs. A member of the public queried whether having all information online was the easiest access point for information and whether a telephone access point could be considered.

ACTION- Hilary Hall and Fiona Slevin Brown to consider recommendations for common access points of information for self-funders and carers.

Teresa Salami Oru highlighted that asset mapping had been undertaken at the recent JSNA event and that information would be shared with and uploaded along with data from the stakeholder event. It was noted that the Healthy Ageing Lead had put together a pack of information and this was something that could also be shared to the wider network and residents in due course.

ACTION- Add this item as a progress update for the next meeting. Fiona Slevin Brown, Hilary Hall and Teresa Salami Oru to present.