Cornwall Partners in Care News

Cornwall Partners in Care hold weekly briefings with Cornwall Council and Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation trust. These meetings involve Jonathan Price (Joint Director Adult Care and Health for Cornwall Council and NHS Kernow) and occasionally colleagues from the Council, David Smith (CPIC Chairman), and representatives from the CPIC Committee.

Daily update - 11th June 2021

Mary, Christine, Phil and myself met with Jonathon, Val and Kate Alcock. We discussed the following;

1/ Recruitment difficulties were getting more acute with a large percentage of the workforce still furloughed. The difficulties are not just limited to the social care sector as Hospitality Companies are offering "golden handshakes" and higher rates of pay. Christine stated that short term ad hoc measures are unsustainable and could result in business failures. Mary stated that "kickstart" recruits are not always appropriate. It was agreed that Val would pull these issues together in a report. Val confirmed that recent bids for workforce funding had not been successful.

2/ Linked to the above, accommodation is a key issue,and will not be resolved until social care staff are recognised as being key workers. Phil and Mary asked if the rules surrounding the use of static caravans could be relaxed, and Kate agreed to discuss this with housing colleagues.

3/ Kate stated that Amy Claridge was in the process of preparing a paper on the risk factors facing the Care at Home market. Christine and Phil asked to be involved with this. Phil stated that he had experienced some success with re recruiting retired staff. He also expressed his concerns that some of the block contract arrangements were being " unravelled" and Jonathon agreed to look into this. Phil also stated that a proportion of his staff were furloughed as they were unable to wear material facecoverings. It was suggested Public Health be approached to assess possible alternatives, and to seek the approval of Service Users with these arrangements. Val also agreed to look at this as  an action. It was noted that while the emphasis will be on Homecare, the "no jab no job " policy could have implications for Care Homes. Mary commented on delays  with potential drivers getting driving lessons and driving tests and it was noted that the use of car clubs with community vehicle and/or driver will form part of the report.

4/ G7 arrangements for rapid discharges had highlighted a number of problems Karen Kay was drawing up D2A discharge arrangements for implementation by September. Jonathon expressed his thanks for the concerted efforts with Providers to make the G7 Summit a success.

5/ Phil expressed his disappointment with the Steering Group arrangements. Jonathon outlined his intention to utilise the Locality Model to produce local solutions, but acknowledged that there was a need for County wide strategic discussions. Kate stated that she would set out these strategic issues in a paper which would then be subject to wider consultation. Christine suggested that these issues could be discussed at future CPIC Forums, and Kate agreed to liaise with Richard to arrange this.