Adults & Health Cabinet Member – Minutes – 19 October 2017

1 (1) ADULT SOCIAL CARE ANNUAL REPRESENTATIONS AND COMPLAINTS REPORT 2016-17 – The Director: Governance and Partnerships submitted a report seeking approval of the Annual Representations and Complaints Report for Adult Social Care 2016-17.

There was a statutory requirement to present an annual report on representations and complaints which had been addressed under The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009, Making Experiences Count.

These statutory procedures awarded service users, or representatives acting on their behalf, the right to make representations about social care services for older people; people with a physical disability and people with a learning disability.

There was a requirement that councils addressed these representations through a two stage procedure. The first stage of the process rested with the council and applied the principles of a local resolution based on “do it once, do it right”. The second stage was a referral to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

Resolved – That Adult Social Care Annual Representations and Complaints Report 2016-17 be received and approved.

The corresponding report of the following item (Minute 2 refers) contains exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

2  (2) JOB EVALUATION REGRADING OF APPROVED MENTAL HEALTH PRACTITIONER – The Director: Adults and Community Wellbeing Cabinet Member submitted a report seeking approval of the regrading of the post of Approved Mental Health Professional.

The council vision for vulnerable adults was that they were both supported and safe from the risk of abuse, and that lives were transformed through access to strong universal, targeted (informal and formal) and specialist services. The council aim was to provide help at the earliest point and at the lowest level of service provision. The council wanted to ensure as many people as possible were well, safe, prosperous and connected  and active in their communities for as long as possible.

Mental Health was one of the council’s key priorities transforming, to enable more people to have their needs met within their locality, to provide rapid short term skilled intervention to prevent deterioration and to enable individuals to recover their independence and live life to the full within their communities.

The Mental Health Act placed a statutory duty to provide a 24-hour Approved Mental Health Practitioner (AMHP) service. Councils were responsible for ensuring that sufficient AMHPs were available to carry out their roles under the Mental Health Act, including assessing people to decide whether an application for detention should be made under the act. The specialist Mental Health service had been reviewed for sustainability and competiveness.

Resolved – That the regrading of the role of Approved Mental Health Practitioner, as set out in the report, be approved.

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Where there is no report this is because it is exempt, as it contains information which is considered to be of a confidential nature, as detailed in the Local Government (Access to Information) Act.