Brighton and Hove Council; Improving flow, process and waiting times

This project is funded in whole or in part by grant funding provided by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to the Improvement and Development Agency for Local Government (IDeA). The award of this contract and any payments under it are conditional upon IDeA finalising and maintaining in force a Grant Funding Agreement with DHSC covering the relevant Funding Period.

In the event that: • the Grant Funding Agreement is not executed, • funding is reduced, withheld, suspended, or terminated, or • IDeA is required by DHSC to vary or terminate delivery of the relevant Funded Activities. IDeA reserves the right to vary, suspend or terminate this contract on written notice without liability beyond payment for services properly delivered up to the date of termination.

In order to deal with the significant delays in accessing assessments and reviews, identified by CQC, the council have requested support from PCH to ensure their present practices and processes are robust. The IDeA as Partners in Care and Health (PCH) are working with the Social Care institute for Excellence and other well-respected organisations to support the delivery of sector led improvement for adult social care.

PCH helps councils to improve the way they deliver adult social care and public health services and helps Government understand the challenges faced by the sector. The programme is a trusted network for developing and sharing best practice, developing tools and techniques, providing support, and building connections.

It is offered to councils without charge. In order to deal with the significant delays in accessing assessments and reviews, identified by CQC, the council have requested support from PCH to ensure their present practices and processes are robust.

Brighton and Hove have recently introduced new assessment tools and are trying to build a culture of proportionality in practice. The contractor is asked to consider whether the implementation is robust and enables consistency and flags unnecessary full re assessment.

In order to do this, as an evidence base for this work, the contractor will undertake a case and practice audit • Identify inconsistencies in proportionate approaches • Highlight training needs and workflow blockages • Consider any ‘cultural’ challenges of practice approaches In addition, the contractor will review and select appropriate risk ranking tools (e.g. traffic-light systems) and identify best practice caseload management approaches used by high performing councils. From all of the above, the contractor will draw together a report with recommendations for improving flow, consistency and waiting times.