To receive a verbal presentation on the work undertaken which allowed the revised work on Adult Social Care procurement and contracting to progress.

(Note: presented by the Associate Director of Operations, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust).

The Interim Associate Director of Operations, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust provided Members with an outline of the submitted report and an update on contract management improvements in Adult Social Care and Paris (case management recording IT system) replacement procurement.

Members were informed that initial Local Government Association (LGA) recommendations and action plans for Adult Social Care management improvement were complete and there were ongoing efforts to integrate revised processes into daily operations.  Embedding market and contract management practices would take some time given the Team’s recent formation and limited prior contract management activities.  Collaboration with procurement colleagues at both the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and the Council was ongoing with clarification of roles and responsibilities in the commissioning process.  The Strategic Team at Torbay Council and the Tactical Team at the Trust were working closely on the overall development and management of the social care market.  Next steps to progress included:

·         further improvements in individual market segments with clear deliverables in 2024/25;

·         to review the operational effectiveness of the Team;

·         utilisation of the new contract management toolkit;

·         further work around contract management for care homes;

·         ensuring value and risk prioritisation;

·         working closely with the Council to improve integrated working around business case approval processes related to commissioning and contracting processes; and

·         emphasis on co-production of the new Care Home Specification through the Care Home Engagement Project.

Members asked questions around what did improved contract management mean for residents and why a majority of care homes who had complaints from LGBT residents retained a good CQC rating?

In response, Members were informed that residents would benefit from improved contract management in terms of management of cost which was really important as a provider and particularly for those self-funding.  Quality would also be monitored alongside safety and good contract management would ensure a pro-active approach to improvements and to meet the communities’ expectation of appropriate management.  In terms of the LGBT question raised, the Director of Adult and Community Services explained that the Council’s Diversity and Inclusion Lead Officer was working with Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust with focus groups of people to better understand how they felt about their care.  The question around CQC rating and LGBT complaints could be included within that piece of work. 

It was recognised that care home engagement was a vital piece of work as well as hearing from families, advocates and residents of care homes.  This had allowed Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust to recognise that the care home specification needed re-writing to co-exist with the contract and it was currently being co-produced with both Strategic and Tactical Teams linking to community research.

Members also received an update on the Paris IT system replacement and were informed that an external delivery partner had been procured to support the options appraisal for the Adult Social Care IT system.  It was necessary to future proof the IT system and the current system had been identified as having inefficiencies and carried operational risks. Requirements for the future system would include supporting customer ownership over social care plans, enabling mobile working, facilitating strengths-based conversations with clients, providing data and reporting for informed decision making, flexibility to amend reports according to regulatory changes, ensuring interoperability with wider systems and to align with digital strategy and cloud-first principles.

Following a series of engagement workshops an Options Appraisal was prepared with input gathered from over forty stakeholders and demonstrations from three market-leading suppliers.  Results were presented to the Joint Steering Group for review and the option to replace both the Adult Social Care Management System and the Finance Module was agreed.  Next steps would include establishing the cost of implementation and maintenance, establishing a program to review systems and to define standard operating procedures and completion of the business case to progress for submission through Torbay Council’s decision making governance process. 

Members asked what the time line was for implementation of the new IT system and was the delay due to having to align systems?

In response, Members were informed that the replacement IT system would align with and enable transformational activities and allow for efficient management of current and new cases, ensuring public value for money, statutory compliance and provide an outcome-focussed approach.

It was anticipated that implementation of the replacement for the Paris IT system would be around 18 months.  It would be necessary to de-couple systems as part of risk management and to ensure that the appropriate procurement processes were followed and it was recognised that this represented a significant piece of work.

Resolved (unanimously):

That the Adult Social Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Board notes

the update provided by Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust in

relation to the contract management improvements in Adult Social Care and

the case management recording IT system replacement procurement and

recommends that:

1.         The Director of Adult and Community Services be requested to provide further updates regarding contract management improvements in Adult Social Care; and

2.         The Director of Adult and Community Services be requested to provide further updates on progress with the Case Management Recording IT system replacement procurement.