People Directorate Complex and Inclusion Service The Ladies Walk Centre, Ladies Walk, Sedgley, Dudley, West Midlands. DY3 3UA Tel: (01384) 813252 Fax: (01384) 813502 www.dudley.gov.uk Minutes Meeting Title Learning Disability Partnership Board Date Monday 9th March 2015 at 1.30pm – 3.30pm Venue Insight House, Pearson Street, Brierley Hill, DY5 3BL Present Neil Davies (Chair), Brendan Clifford, Donna Patel, Sarah Offley, Tina Harrison, Diane Baker, Sharon Davies, Dave Buxton, Alex Burns, Madeleine Cowley, Mollie Berry, Maniza Begum, Gita Patel, Saleem Naz, In Attendance Nicola McGregor Claire Allen attending on behalf of Julie Cox. Susan Bradley Julie Cox, Viv Webb, Anne-Marie Carter, Paul Jaunzems, Jacqui Howells , Cllr David Vickers Minute Taker Apologies 1. Welcome Neil welcomed everyone to the meeting. 2. Apologies Apologies were given as indicated above. 3. Minutes of Last Meeting and Matters Arising The draft minutes dated Monday 12th January 2015 were discussed and agreed. An amendment to the minutes – page 3, Madeleine said that it was she and not Brendan who advised everyone to speak with the candidate to discuss their issues. Members agreed to the amendment. LDPB Minutes 09.03.2015 1 Matters Arising Page 6. Dave confirmed that he had received details of the Unicorn budget from Brendan. 4. Learning Disability Partnership Board Terms of Reference The Terms of Reference was circulated to the Board. Brendan went through the terms of reference and asked if the document requires any changes. Madeleine said that it did not refer to complex needs and thought it should be included in the document. Members agreed. The Sub groups of the Partnership Board are not listed within the document. Donna suggested inviting the Sub Groups on a rota basis to feedback to the Board. Sue to circulate the list of Sub Groups to the members of the Board. The Learning Disability Partnership Board feedback to the Health & Wellbeing Board, the chair is Cllr. Rachel Harris, and invitees are Dudley Council, Dudley CCG and voluntary organisations. Brendan said that we need to find new ways to engage people together and try and find out what other areas do. Sarah said that Dudley Voices for Choice has been invited to observe the Partnership Board in Solihull and suggested inviting them to our Board. Dave said that communication with carers is poor at the moment. In the past information regarding training, conferences and events was shared with carers through the day centres. Brendan said we will look at the resources for sharing information. Donna suggested inviting carers to sessions of working groups. Mollie said that she had been involved in a validation process which took place 3 years ago, a group of people visited Health and Social Care services around the West Midlands. Asked if further vailiation visits would be arranged. Brendan said that Peer Reviews have been arranged and LDPB Minutes 09.03.2015 2 suggested that the Board could develop a similar process. Madeleine said that some carers are not on the internet and do not engage with social media. More carers are isolated since the closure of day centres. Brendan said we need to find something to replace and benefit which carers felt the Day Centres provided. Amendments to be made to the terms of reference and to be agreed at the next Learning Disability Partnership Board meeting. 5. Feedback from Dudley Voices for Choice Feedback from Sharon. West Midlands Self Assessment Framework Reviews. Dudley Voices for Choice went to Birmingham to peer review the reports and were paired with Solihull. They had a lot of the same issues as Dudley. Solihull have invited Dudley Voices for Choice to visit their partnership board to see how it runs. Training Rachael has been training the local GPs, community nurses and social workers in what she thinks is good practice. Training Dudley Voices for Choice members have been training the student nurses and graduate nurses at Russell Hall hospital in how to communicate with a person with a learning disability. Dudley Voices for Choice are meeting with MP's James Morris and Ian Austin at Insight cafe on Friday 13th March this will give local people with learning disabilities the opportunity to ask MPs questions which are important to them. Dudley Voices for Choice were a part of the Shine event. It was a really good night and everyone who took part did themselves proud. Brendan said that links with Solihull will be very valuable, LDPB Minutes 09.03.2015 3 working together and sharing good practice. Brendan said that the Shine event was a good night and thanked everyone who supported the event. 6. Feedback from Carers Group Madeleine and Alex raised questions regarding the Independent Living Fund. Brendan said that information had been shared but understood how sometimes people may be anxious. Madeleine said that the assessments were promised last year which has not taken place. Donna said that the delay is due to the Care Act as the assessments will need to be Care Act compliant. Brendan said that information is available on the website. Local Authority will be assessing each person in Dudley during this year and letters will be going out at the end of this week explaining the process. Sue to send carers a copy of the letter. Madeleine said at the last meeting regarding the budget presentation it was difficult to understand regarding the figures and asked the percentage of savings for Adult Social Care since 2010, Brendan said it is about 25% but more savings are to be made, Madeleine said this is very concerning. Dave said that Independent Living Fund was discussed at the last Carers Forum and that people are now receiving an assessment. A number of carers are experiencing difficulties contacting the Duty team and messages are left on an answer machine not knowing if it is being actioned. Brendan said that the Day Duty team should return the call and suggested that carers to make a note of the person they speak to and the time of call as this will enable us to look into the matter and respond. People are on a waiting list and are notified by letter. Waiting lists are reviewed and prioritised accordingly each week by managers. LDPB Minutes 09.03.2015 4 Mollie said that a parent/carer had received a customer satisfaction form to complete and that only recently completed a form. The forms are not easy to complete. The form was tabled. Mollie asked who is requesting this information and what is it used for. Brendan said that it is Policy & Performance who request the information as we are obliged to report to the Government on specific matters. Sarah said that Dudley Voices for Choice hold consultation groups to view and assess the questions so that they are not too complex. Maniza said that Ehsas Carers are waiting for a meeting to be arranged with a Welfare Benefits Officer and also asked for a meeting with Brendan. Brendan will discuss this matter with them after the meeting. Alex said that EPlus have now helped 22 people into employment. The staffing are being reduced which is concerning. Brendan congratulated EPlus. It is not just Local Authority responsibility but other agencies in the community are also responsible to support people with disabilities into employment. We need to make better use of public money. Alex said that The Department of Work & Pensions and Job Centres have been invited to meetings but they do not attend. Donna said that Employment steering groups have been set up with multi agencies to see what services there are within the community and to encourage social workers to view all options available. This is a requirement within the Care Act. Carers are welcome to attend the steering group. 7. Feedback from Providers Forum Deferred - no provider representative. LDPB Minutes 09.03.2015 5 8. Carers Co-ordinator – Nicola McGregor Nicola started in December 2014. Nicola said that they provide information and signposting for carers and also have a Carers Network. They are looking at ways to improve communication with parents/carers, as many carers are isolated; they are reviewing the Carers Strategy and will be developing partnerships of carers groups. The Care Act will be implemented 1st April and will give carers new rights and the entitlement to receive an assessment. Letters will be sent to inform carers of a Care Act event which will take place on Friday 27th March regarding the many changes taking place with advocacy, advice and Carers assessments. A small grant, of £3000 for voluntary organisations is available. Closing date 1st April 2015. Application packs were launched at Insight on Wednesday 4th March and if anyone would like an application pack to contact Nicola. Advice Network is being launched from 1st April 2015, which will have two advisors available from Monday to Friday, 9am until 5pm. Telephone number 01384 818723, email address – Carers.Network@dudley.gov.uk Carers Network has no literature at the moment but is in the process of updating the fact sheets. Alex congratulated and thanked Nicola. He asked how many carers assessments have been received. Nicola said there were 25 last week, we have been working on all assessments prior to 31st March 2015 and currently the waiting time for completion is approximately 4 weeks. Brendan said that there are approximately 40,000 carers within Dudley. The carers newsletter is published three times a year, a brief newsletter will be published at the end of April updating information on the Care Act. LDPB Minutes 09.03.2015 6 Carers week will be taking place in June. 9. Self Assessment Framework Feedback – Donna Patel Donna discussed in detail the Self Assessment Framework feedback. The feedback links with the action plan. The feedback has been presented to the Health Sub group. Alex said that some statistics are not correct. Brendan said that there has been many changes within Adult Social Care, Health and CCG and this has made it difficult to obtain the correct data. Madeleine asked what the information is used for. Brendan said that learning disabilities is highly inspected and Government ask for a a lot of data which is used for forward planning. Claire said that LD Network have a new data base to collate information which will help in the completion of future Self Assessment Frameworks with the correct information. Not all GPs complete annual health checks. A GP event was held to increase awareness. Claire visits all GP practices within Dudley and have 47 practices registered for health checks, a further 7 new practices have recently applied. Practice Managers meet on a regular basis and Clarie is waiting confirmation to see if she can attend the meetings. 10.Health Sub Group Feedback – Donna Patel Defer to the next meeting. 11. Autism Self Assessment Framework – Donna Patel The Autism Self Assessment Framework will be submitted Monday 9th March 2015. Sue to circulate to the Board. LDPB Minutes 09.03.2015 7 12. Winterbourne View – Donna Patel/Julie Cox We do have an action plan which links to the concordat. Defer to the next meeting. 13. Care Quality Commission Public Engagement Strategy – Donna Patel Documents circulated to the Board. Inspections are taking place between April and June 2015 on health and social care services. Care Quality Commission are asking for public engagement and comments. Dudley has not been listed for an inspection. 10. Any Other Business Changing the meeting day of the Learning Disability Partnership Board – Donna Patel Members were asked if the Boards meeting day could be changed from a Monday to a Thursday. Board members agreed. Sue to send new meeting dates to members. 11. Date, Time and Venue of Next Meeting Thursday 14th May 2015, 1.30pm – 3.30pm at Insight House, Pearson Street, Brierley Hill, DY5 3BL Sender If any parties disagree with any of the above minutes please contact the sender. Susan Bradley Tel 01384 813291 Fax 01384 813502 E-mail Susan.Bradley@dudley.gov.uk LDPB Minutes 09.03.2015 8