NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCIL
12 November 2025
STATEMENT OF THE CHAIR OF CARE AND INDEPENDENCE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
The Care and Independence Committee last reported to Full Council on 21st May 2025. Since then the Committee has met twice, on 18 July 2025 and 20 October 2025
At the July meeting the Committee considered the following items of business:
· State of the Nation Annual Overview Presentation
· Adult Social Care Market Transformation Update
· Waiting Well Action Plan & Implementation
The committee received a state of nation presentation from the Corporate Director for Health and Adult Services on performance across the health and adult social care directorate, which drew attention to the HAS 2030 Manifesto and the planned direction of travel for the next five years. We noted the joint working arrangements with other NYC services, the NHS and external carer organisations, with a focus on improving practices, reducing waiting times and providing more choice through direct payments. We also discussed our concerns about hospital discharge processes, including inappropriate discharge times and coordination issues and requested a detailed update for our October meeting.
The care market update highlighted an increase in demand and complexity of needs. We noted the areas of risk associated with day services, domiciliary care, care homes, and specialist care, and received an overview of the projects underway to further develop the market. We also considered data on staff turnover and vacancies, and on initiatives to support recruitment, retention, and staff well-being.
In regard to the presentation on Waiting Well, we were pleased to note the steps being taken to support people to wait well and the ongoing work to improve triage to those coming into adult social care, prior to the completion of their assessment for appropriate services.
Finally, we welcomed the introduction of a number of new occupational therapy roles and the service changes introduced to ensure countywide coverage, thereby allowing the movement of staff to the areas where they were most needed.
At the October meeting the Committee considered the following items of business:
· Update on Adult Social Care Priorities
· Extra Care / Supported Housing Update
· Update on Hospital Discharges
· CQC Inspection - Update on Findings
As part of the update on ASC priorities, we received an overview of the positive progress made with carers as a result of the introduction of Living Well and were pleased to see a sustained increase in direct payments uptake. We were pleased to note the removal of Complex Care from the list of improvement priorities, and to see the progress made with the remaining six priority areas.
The supported housing update provided an overview of the ambitions for the new North Yorkshire delivery model, and an update on demand, finance, procurement and governance. We noted the findings from the Needs Assessments undertaken for Extra Care and LD/Autism Supported Housing, and the expected significant increase in demand and capacity requirements between 2025-2040. We were also pleased to note the benefits being generated through Extra Care.
The presentation on Hospital Discharges highlighted the pressures on reablement and the discharge hubs, and noted the actions identified to mitigate those pressures. We also welcomed the new Intermediate Care workforce model to be introduced in January 2026 and the steps planned to improve outcomes.
Finally, the expected timeline for receiving feedback on the CQC inspection was confirmed. The Committee will be receiving a formal update on the CQC findings at its next meeting on 27 January 2026.
COUNCILLOR KARIN SEDGWICK