Agenda item

The Committee received an overview report from the Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council (SBC) Adults, Health and Wellbeing directorate which provided details of key achievements and challenges in 2025-2026 for the Adult Social Care and Strategy & Transformation departments, as well as any emerging issues within these areas of Council activity.

Prior to the report being presented, some context around this item was outlined.  In 2025, to facilitate the important overview function of scrutiny committees and provide the opportunity to hold SBC Cabinet Members and services to account, a decision was made to resume overview and performance reporting to the Council’s Select Committees (it was noted that the Adult Social Care and Health Select Committee last considered an overview report in July 2023).  It was agreed that this should take place twice-yearly.

Although the reporting of performance measures would not commence until September / October 2026, officers from the SBC Strategic Planning Team were in attendance to briefly outline how future performance information would be presented.  With work ongoing in relation to finalising key performance indicators (KPIs) linked to the Stockton-on-Tees Plan, reporting would involve the relaying of ‘tier 1’ (Council outcomes) measures bi-annually to Cabinet and annually to the Executive Scrutiny Committee and Full Council, with ‘tier 2’ (service outcomes and progress update, including data that supports SBC strategies / plans) measures being submitted bi-annually to the five Select Committees.

Regarding the referenced SBC strategies / plans, the Committee asked if Members could have access to these in paper format (e.g. copies provided within political group offices) – officers agreed to take this up with the SBC Head of Policy, Development and Public Affairs after the meeting.  The Committee also encouraged the retention of a consistent colour scheme for the proposed ‘progress quadrant’ when future performance-related information was provided.

The overview-only report that had been prepared for this meeting (supplemented by presentation slides) was then summarised by the SBC Director of Adults, Health and Wellbeing (supported by the SBC Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care and the SBC Assistant Director – Adult Social Care who were also in attendance).  Headline information included:

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

·       Care Quality Commission (CQC) ‘Good’ rating (awarded in October 2025 for SBC adult social care services)

·       15% increase in people coming to the front door

·       10,840 care assessments completed

·       844 direct payments delivered

·       855 carers assessments completed

·       91% care homes rated as ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’

·       72% of domiciliary care rated as ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’

With regards the stated ambition of achieving ‘Outstanding’ in the next CQC inspection of SBC adult social care services, the Committee sought clarity on comments in relation to the Council ‘waiting on indications from the baseline exercise which is nationally complete to understand what the future programmes look like’ (paragraph 1).  It was explained that, like other Local Authorities, SBC was awaiting the outcome of several CQC reports reflecting on the adult social care inspection process thus far, and that further national guidance was anticipated.  Members looked forward to seeing adult social care data at future meetings, as well as being able to shape what performance information was provided to the Committee for scrutiny.

In terms of the quality of wider adult social care provision (paragraph 7), the Committee was informed that a significant number of settings across the Borough still needed to be inspected by the CQC – this was likely to be aided by its recent move to a more localised inspection team.

CHALLENGES

·       Increase in demand for mental health and learning disability placements

·       Support for working age adults is increasing up 59% in the Borough

·       We have more work to do on our front door – we want to simplify and streamline, improving access

·       People accessing reablement is up by 10% and we need to continue to ensure we have a strong reablement offer

·       Getting people ‘Home First’ is a priority – we want more people being safely discharged home

·       Partner restructure and pressures remain a system challenge – we need to maintain strong partnerships for residents

·       Cost of living, financial pressures, global events

SBC was trying to ascertain the reasons for the increase in mental health and learning disability service demand (paragraph 10), and felt there was a clear need to be more ‘preventative’ around how the population was supported.  The Committee questioned if the raising of the pensionable age was a factor in more requests for care from working age adults being received – officers acknowledged that this may be a reason, though also pointed to life expectancy going down, the legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic, and people living longer with co-morbidities (Barnet Council’s ‘graph of doom’, illustrating how rising statutory care costs and constrained Council income could eliminate funding for discretionary services, was also referenced).

Regarding the local reablement offer (paragraph 12), this had been broadened so more people could benefit, though this had impacted upon performance (more individuals still required assistance after the reablement period had concluded).  That said, the service was still very strong and effective, with efforts being made to integrate the offer more closely with health partners.

Discussion turned to hospital discharge (paragraph 13), with officers noting that the Borough performed well in comparison to the wider region, but that there was a desire to get closer to national levels in terms of the number of people being discharged to their own homes (where possible) rather than into bed-based support.  Members recognised that this was a crucial area of focus and encouraged the provision of numbers as well as percentages when submitting performance data.

Continuing the theme of coming out of hospital, the Committee queried why the region seemingly had a greater tendency to place individuals in beds (instead of back home) when they were deemed fit to leave hospital.  Several possible reasons were relayed, including organisational risk-aversion, a greater proportion of poorly people within the North East area, the NHS still being prescriptive (work was needed around the conversations professionals were having with patients), and that it was generally cheaper to use care services locally / regionally than in other parts of the country.

In relation to the new requirement to publish a supported housing strategy in 2027 (paragraph 18), the Committee expressed hope that this would link in with the emerging Stockton-on-Tees Local Plan.  Members were subsequently assured that a SBC Strategic Housing Officer would engage with the Committee regarding the development of this now statutory strategy.

EMERGING ISSUES

·       Neighbourhood Health

·       New Adult Social Care Strategy

·       Developing All-Age Carer Strategy

·       New Legislation Changes

·       Co-production – we need to do more!

·       Finances remain challenging

·       Casey Commission

Further to the stated ambition for co-production at all levels within the Local Authority (paragraph 23), the Committee asked whether there was a greater role for the Making It Real Board (MIRB) in this regard.  In response, whilst acknowledging the positive impact of the MIRB, officers felt this pursuit went beyond the involvement of a single group, with increased community engagement required across all areas of Council activity to understand a greater range of public views (in particular, those voices that were seldom heard).

Bringing this item to a close, the Committee gave thanks for the information provided and looked forward to the next update (inclusive of performance data) later in 2026, a key part of which should highlight developments in relation to the ‘neighbourhood health’ initiative.

AGREED that the Overview Report: SBC Adults, Health and Wellbeing be noted.