NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCIL

21 FEBRUARY 2024

STATEMENT OF COUNCILLOR MICHAEL HARRISON

Health Determinants Research Collaborative Funding Award

I am delighted to announce that North Yorkshire Council led by our Public Health team has been awarded £5 million National Institute of Health (NIHR) funding over a 5-year period to develop a Health Determinants Research Collaborative (HDRC) starting from 1 January this year.

This will enable the council, in partnership with Hull York Medical School, the University of Hull and the University of York, to boost research capacity and the skills of its workforce to help identify and address the issues affecting the health of the people of North Yorkshire. It will also provide an opportunity to evaluate and inform aspects of the Council’s transformation and savings programme over the next few years.

Extra Care

We hosted a very successful national event attended by over 150 delegates including 36 local authorities as well as several former senior officers and members who have been part of our extra care programme. A range of local and national speakers showcasing the success of the North Yorkshire Programme and the growth of extra care nationally.  It highlighted that North Yorkshire remains at the forefront of extra care delivery. As a result, we are also one of the launch partners for a new national forum for councils providing extra care housing, alongside 50 other authorities.

Separately, along with Richard Webb, we have visited all 28 extra care schemes in the county since the autumn.  We have learnt a great deal about works well, and what could be improved, and the knowledge gleaned will help shape the next generation of schemes.

Older People’s Housing Task Force

The Government’s Older People’s Housing Taskforce visited North Yorkshire in November, visiting 2 extra care schemes, meeting residents and spending time with HAS officers.  The taskforce will shape policy in older people’s housing and they were highly impressed with how well-advanced North Yorkshire is in the delivery of extra care.

We made a number of proposals for reform including funding arrangements, regulatory models, recruitment and career pathways to grow extra care and other specialist housing in the future, and we expect full findings and recommendations to be published later in the year.

Health and Adult Services Awards

In December, I was pleased to welcome frontline staff and managers to the re-launch of the HAS Awards. There were 14 categories, over 140 nominees and 20 winners and we were delighted to be joined by Joanita Musisi from BBC Radio York who hosted the event and featured some of the nominees on her daily show. Congratulations to everyone who was nominated and to those who won.

Health and Wellbeing Strategy

We are currently consulting on a refreshed joint health and wellbeing strategy with the NHS, which sets out how we will seek to improve the health of the population and reduce health inequalities – with a focus on People, Place and Prevention.

The closing date for the consultation is 31^st March, and there are a variety of ways to contribute: Survey (+ easy read), online events, drop-in sessions at local libraries with a Photo Voice exhibition, attending citizen voice meetings and other partnership meetings as well as community conversations.

Adult Social Care Assurance

The new adult social care assurance framework is now live, and the outcome of 5 pilot local authority inspections were reported in December (Suffolk CC, N Lincs, Birmingham, Lincolnshire CC and Notts City).  All were rated ‘good’ apart from Notts, which ‘required improvement’.

The following themes were identified from the pilots:

• Integrated working has enabled pilot LAs to address challenges in hospital discharge.

• Waiting lists for assessments existed mainly due to lack of capacity in the social work assessment workforce, but LAs were managing this by prioritising risk.

• Partnership working was key for improving outcomes for people.

• Transition pathways from children to adult services did not always work well.

• More work is needed for LAs to understand how to reach people whose voices are seldom heard.

• Social care workforce capacity issues persist, and LAs are using a range of incentives to address recruitment and retention issues, as well as supporting the professional development of the workforce to meet local needs.

• Overall, LAs had developed learning cultures to help them identify where things were not working well and take steps to improve.

We have been completing detailed preparations for our own inspection with desktop reviews, focus groups with staff, partners, people with lived experience, and detailed case file tracking.  In addition, an independent body will be commissioned to undertake a review of customer experiences.

Local authorities are notified in advance of their inspection, with the government wanting to have completed 20 inspections by Easter.

Hospital to home bridging services

The Council has procured two new services as part of its contribution to addressing NHS/community winter pressures, funded from urgent and emergency care funding.

• The Home First Bridging Service is a fast response service, providing personal care at home for a period of up to two weeks, until reablement capacity becomes available or a long-term package of care can be sourced within the local care market.
• The Live-In Care Service is a fast response service, with a carer living in the person’s home on a 24 hour basis, to provide support which may include personal care or practical support, for up to a maximum of 4 weeks, whilst a full assessment of their longer-term care needs is completed

The Live-In Care Service is for people being discharged from hospital who are thought to have the potential to be supported at home, but for whom, should this service not exist, would have received a short-term placement within a care home setting.

Living well carers service

Our living well teams are now offering assessments for unpaid carers.  In the first 3 months 36 carers assessments were fully completed, with more in-progress.  Some examples of successful outcomes are:

· A carer was supported to access a £500 grant via warm & well to fill their oil tank to ensure their home was heated over the winter to reduce carer strain / the financial impact of caring.

· A carer was supported to access Supported Employment to enable them to transition back into employment.

· A carer was supported to access “playlist for life” to support their loved one with dementia and reduce stress within the home for them both.

Feedback has been positive, with key themes being around time spent, depth of knowledge, and outcomes making a real impact on their caring role.

Colleague retirement

At the end of December, the council said farewell to Cath McCarty, Head of Human Resources for Health and Adult Services, who retired after 39 years in local government, of which 33 years were spent in North Yorkshire.  I would like to thank Cath for her contribution to the council and, in particular, to adult social care and public health.

COUNCILLOR MICHAEL HARRISON