Agenda item

Summary of how services have been affected during the Covid-19 pandemic and what has been learnt.

John Everson introduced this item, noting that the report covered issues including the approach to service delivery since the lockdown, some of which had been discussed earlier in the meeting. In particular, he highlighted the commitment and drive of staff and in partner organisations to respond to a huge change in the way that services had to be delivered in terms of the restrictions that were in place and the additional demands on the system.

John Everson then responded to questions from the Panel:

• Cllr Hakata noted that the Connected Communities programme had worked well and asked how it could work together with mutual aid groups. John Everson said that Connected Communities had been a very powerful and effective stream of work that had increased the capacity of the Council to respond to the pandemic and the ability to rebuild afterwards. Beverley Tarka said that the impact of the pandemic had disproportionately affected some sections of the community and that the mutual aid groups had been an important part of the response, adding that these connections would be sustained going forward. Cllr James added that the local mutual aid groups were invited and sometimes attended the meetings of the Community Enablement Group which brings together organisations from the community and voluntary sector. Cllr Connor said that it would be useful to receive a future update on the Community Enablement Group and how it is working with community organisations. (ACTION)
• In response to a point from Cllr da Costa about supporting mutual aid groups with safeguarding concerns, John Everson said that a sub-group of the Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) had been set up to look at the nuances that Covid presented and to flag risks. The SAB aims to ensure that all partners, including mutual aid groups, have sufficient access and support to understand safeguarding principles and procedures. There had also recently been an increase in people highlighting safeguarding concerns which was, in a way, reassuring as it demonstrated that people were actively using referral processes and thereby enabling appropriate investigations to take place. Asked by Cllr Connor whether there were sufficient staff to investigate these referrals, John Everson said that his team monitors safeguarding activity, had increased staffing capacity to manage that and had put in place triaging approaches to improve ways of working.
• Asked by Helena Kania how often people in the shielded group were contacted, given that their situations may change, John Everson said that after the initial contacts, shielded people were triaged to appropriate Council services or connected to voluntary and community support services. Additional information was provided to people so that they could call back at a later time if required. Beverley Tarka added that the approach is not simply one-off crisis management because the data on shielded people had helped the Council to better understand which people have short-term needs, medium-terms needs and more complex support needs with people then directed to the appropriate pathways. Asked by Cllr da Costa for data on shielding people who had said that they didn’t feel that their care needs were being met, John Everson said that he could look into this and report back to the Panel. (ACTION)
• Asked by Helena Kania about the impact on adult social care assessments, John Everson said that statutory assessments continued where they could be conducted safely and appropriately, including over the phone or other remote means. Where this couldn’t be done, assessments were carried out with appropriate PPE in place. The overall number of assessments being carried out within 28 days had improved, possibly because staff working from home were better able to manage their workload.
• Asked by Cllr Opoku about digital inclusion, John Everson said that the Council is clear with the people that they provide services to and their families how they wish to be communicated with. If they don’t have the ability to access online options then telephone communication is used. If this is not possible then a team provides one-to-one support which was currently being done with risk assessments and PPE equipment.
• Asked by Cllr Opoku about staff wellbeing, John Everson said that a comprehensive range of support options was in place for staff including access to support to manage wellbeing, opportunities to come together virtually and arrangements for people to work in the office in cases where home working was difficult.

Cllr Connor raised the “Living Through Lockdown” report by the Joint Partnership Board and said that the Scrutiny Panel would support the recommendations of the report being followed up and acted upon. She recommended that the response from officers to the report should be made first to the Joint Partnership Board and then later to the Adults & Health scrutiny panel. (ACTION) Helena Kania welcomed this comment, noted that she co-chairs the Joint Partnership Board and that it includes a lot of the vulnerable groups in Haringey including autism, learning difficulties, older people and carers. Beverley Tarka put on record her thanks to the Joint Partnership Board for their excellent and useful report which would help to improve understanding of the perspective of people that the Council supports. (NOTE: The “Living Through Lockdown” report is available to view at: https://www.healthwatchharingey.org.uk/report/2020-08-19/living-through-lockdown)

Cllr Connor noted that finances were a particularly important item at present, with concerns about the overspend in the current circumstances with uncertainty about how much money would be coming back from the Government and whether savings proposed in the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) could still be met.

RESOLVED: The Panel recommended that Council officers should provide a response to the recommendations of the ‘Living Through Lockdown’ report, firstly to the Joint Partnership Board and then to the Adults & Health scrutiny panel.