Agenda item

Councillor Flora Willaimson introduced the Adult Social Care Annual Report and summarised key points to the Committee.

The following points were noted in the discussion:

• One of the highlights over the last 12 months was the launch of the Carers Strategy which was co-produced with local health and social care organisations from the Islington Borough Partnership and outlines commitments to improving carer outcomes and ensuring that carers receive the necessary support. The strategy highlighted the significant contribution of unpaid carers to society, emphasising their role in preventing the need for statutory services and supporting people to live independently at home.
• The Committee also noted that the Integrated Front Door Service in Islington was another highlight over the last year which launched in October 2024. This was a new health and care model that was developed jointly by Whittington Health and Adult Social Care. The service was designed to act as a single point of access for all Adult Social Care, urgent community health and hospital discharge referrals for Islington residents.
• In terms of the Challenges over the last 12 months, the Committee noted that the sustainability of the care market continued to be a challenge for the Council with providers increasing costs and expressing concerns about their financial sustainability. It was noted that this was a national issues. To mitigate these issues, significant improvements were made to the uplift process, there was a review of the structure of the Brokerage function, and a new Quality Assurance Framework was implemented.
• The Committee noted some of the priorities for the next 12 months, which included reviewing the CQC inspection findings and implementing any changes needed, working with the Islington Food Partnership to ensure that the Council was supporting the delivery of the food strategy, opportunities from the Labour Government’s with a renewed focus for delivering health care in the community, and a review of the future of Adult Social Care and developing the locality profiles and integrated ways of working, alongside the new NHS Neighbourhood Health for London model.
• In addition, another priority was capitalising on the opportunity presented in the government's legislation on Tobacco and Vapes to achieve a smokefree generation in Islington. The Committee stressed the importance of ensuring that people stopped smoking in their homes, particularly in flats and apartments.
• It was also noted that Public Health and Adult Social Care teams had been combined under one directorate with John Everson as the Corporate Director for Adult Social Care and Public Health together.
• A member of the Committee stated that in terms of ASCOF areas of success, the report mentioned 46% overall satisfaction for carers and if this should be classed as a success. In response to this it was mentioned that this was a positive outcome as the bench-marking figures for London was 33% and 37% for England.
• The Chair raised concerns that the aging population in the borough were not receiving adequate support and had suggested to negotiate funding for Adult Social Care.
• The Chair also asked about the progress with in-house domiciliary care and queried if this is being looked at. In response it was advised that there had been conversations about the in-house being an option and this was a part of the Council’s policy.

RESOLVED:

That the report to be noted.