Agenda item

To pre-scrutinise proposal for closure of Orchard Close Respite Service (Hayling Island), prior to decision of the Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Health at her decision day on Wednesday 27 February at 2:00pm.

Representatives of Adults Health and Care provided a report and supporting

presentation regarding findings from the consultation and recommendations on respite services at Orchard Close, Hayling Island, due for consideration by the Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Health at her 27 February 2019 Decision Day. (see Item 5 in the Minute Book). The Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee was invited to scrutinise the proposals prior to the Executive Member’s decision, and provide recommendations to the Executive Member about the proposals.

Members heard that:

·         It was proposed to close the respite service at Orchard Close, Hayling Island. Orchard Close is a 13 bed respite unit, primarily for adults with learning disabilities on Hayling Island?.

·         The proposals related to the provision of the service from the building, and not the building itself which is subject to a charitable trust

·         According to the proposals, carers and service users currently using Orchard Close would receive the same amount of respite they currently did. Analysis showed there is sufficient capacity available to accommodate their needs in the County Council’s other respite services. The other sites were purpose built modern facilities

• That there were three HCC respite facilities in addition to Orchard Close and all of them provided better access for people with more severe needs. Severe needs would include people with learning disabilities who needed support with epilepsy, personal care, people with challenging behaviour and other needs in comparison to Orchard Close which was restricted due to its layout and design.

·         Consultation had been undertaken on the proposals, and the responses to the consultation and the concerns raised were acknowledged.

·         The proposals had been amended in response to the feedback received, including the proposal to put in extra support for service users and carers to assist with their transition to alternative services

·         It was proposed that the unit not be closed until January 2020 to allow time for transition to alternative services

·         Modelling had been done to assess capacity in the remaining units to accommodate the demand currently fulfilled at Orchard Close. This had shown that it was possible to accommodate this demand, including to provide all service users one week of respite provision over the summer period

·         It was explained that the alternative ways to make savings suggested through the consultation had either already been explored or were not viable

·         It was the view of the officers managing this service area that making this saving from other parts of the learning disability budget would have a more negative impact on service users than the impact of the proposed closure

·         The Council’s agreed budget strategy was to distribute savings proportionally based on expenditure

In response to questions, Members further heard that:

·         The statutory responsibility was to provide respite, there was no statutory responsibility to provide holidays for these service users

·         The cost of updating Orchard Close to provide services suitable for complex needs was prohibitive compared to building the other sites

·         Options for use of the building if the service ceased would be a separate decision for the Executive Member for Policy & Resources

·         Service users and carers had commented on the value of activities provided at Orchard Close. Officers gave assurance that other respite services would also offer activities for service users during their stay

·         Every budget area had been assessed to explore opportunities to make savings

·         These savings proposals formed part of the ‘Transformation to 2019’ programme, that needed to deliver reductions in the budget by April 2019 (unless an extension to this timescale had been agreed). Financial forecasting showed that further savings would be required to balance the budget in future years. Options for finding these further savings would be considered over the coming year, to input to the next ‘Transformation to 2021’ programme

·         It was proposed that the unit would not close until alternative placements that met eligible needs had been found

·         It was required to find recurring savings against the revenue budget, therefore using reserves to fund the service would only put off the requirement to make the saving in future financial years

The Chairman moved to debate and the following points were made by Members:

·         It was hard to justify going ahead with closing the service when 96% of consultation responses were opposed to it

·         The budgets for these type of services should be protected and savings be made in other budgets instead. The Chairman highlighted that this would be counter to current County Council policy.

·         Closing this service would have a significant impact on the service users, who were a particularly vulnerable client group due to learning disabilities. Service users with learning disabilities found change and unfamiliar surroundings particularly challenging, so transition to other services would be difficult for them

·         Closing this service would restrict choice of respite opportunities for carers, as Orchard Close has features not offered by the alternatives e.g. coastal location

Following the debate, the Chairman proposed the recommendation as given in the report to the Select Committee, that the Select Committee ‘Support the recommendations being proposed to the Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Health in section 1 of the report.’, however this did not receive support from the Members of the Select Committee. The Chairman then took the recommendations to the Executive Member in turn, to narrow down if the Select Committee supported some but not others.

In addition to providing a view to the Executive Member regarding whether the Select Committee supported the recommendations in the draft decision day report, Councillor Carpenter proposed an alternative recommendation, which other Members of the Committee indicated support for. This alternative recommendation was put to the vote and agreed unanimously by the Select Committee. Therefore, the Select Committee agreed as follows:

RESOLVED:

a) That the following recommendations in the report ‘Findings from the consultation and recommendations on respite services at Orchard Close, Hayling Island’ under section 1 are endorsed to the Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Health for decision: 1.1, 1.4 with addition of wording at the end ‘if that capacity is proven necessary’, 1.5

b) The Committee did not support the recommendations at 1.2, 1.3 and 1.6

Recommended to the Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Health:

c) The Committee are unconvinced that closure is the best way forward for Orchard Close, nor that alternative provision is adequate for users going forward. Orchard Close is a too highly valued, unique, tranquil, high quality service to be lost. The Committee asks the Executive Member to either look for other ways to make the savings or alternative ways to fund Orchard Close, and to strongly lobby Government for extra funding for Social Care in Hampshire.