Agenda item

Progress report for the previously completed Reablement Service review.

Consideration was given to the assessments of progress on the implementation of the recommendations from the Committee’s previously completed review of Reablement Service.

Presented by the Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council (SBC) Service Manager – Strategic Commissioning, this was the first progress update following the Committee’s agreement of the action plan in February 2026.  Developments regarding those actions linked to the Committee’s recommendations deemed ‘fully achieved’ were highlighted as follows:

·       Recommendation 2 (North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust (NTHFT) reviews its discharge processes to ensure that eligible individuals who are ready to leave hospital are made fully aware of local reablement provision and are referred to it upon discharge from hospital): A review (with representation from SBC and NTHFT) of Pathway 1 (Reablement) was completed on 5 February 2026, with the pathway (from admission to discharge) mapped out and agreed by all parties.  All eligible individuals who were ready to leave hospital were made fully aware of local reablement provision and were referred to it upon discharge from hospital.  All eligible patients requiring reablement were given the current leaflet from the Trust by volunteers.  Daily discharge meetings between SBC and NTHFT continued.

·       Recommendation 5 (Regarding the future local reablement offer, SBC:

a)    provides a summary of any differences in the findings of the Peopletoo review and reablement-related commentary from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following its late-2024 inspection of SBC adult social care services): A summary was discussed at the Steering Group in June 2026 and scheduled again for September 2026 (alongside preparation for the CQC inspection and sign-off of benefits tracker).

b)    confirms further planned changes to existing service delivery (structures, workforce) and the funding required to support this, and provides assurance on appropriate training uptake for new and existing staff): A report on the proposed new structure for reablement was developed and agreed at Adult Social Care Senior Management Team on 21 May 2026, alongside changes to the way the Trusted Assessors would work in hospital to ensure people were directed to the most appropriate route.

c)     explores whether any of its existing social care workforce outside the current SBC Reablement Service structure (e.g. Community Support Workers) can be utilised to increase staffing capacity for reablement provision): A working group had looked at the options for internal capacity for reablement and had identified that:

o   For people with a learning disability, autism and mental health, delivering enablement within the teams using community support workers was the most effective option.  This was consistent with the discussions with Peopletoo (external consultants) who believed, from experience in other Local Authorities, this may be an option but were unable to provide evidence for SBC at the time.  A pilot was currently underway to test the model.

o   For overnight support, to give people the opportunity to be discharged to / maintained at home rather than to / within a residential care setting, the contract for Care at Home had been used to commission a care provider to deliver out-of-hours support alongside SBC OneCall – this would go live in late-September 2026.

It was noted that the agreed actions in relation to the remaining six Committee recommendations were either still ‘on track’ (recommendations 1, 3, 6 and 8) or had ‘slipped’ (recommendations 4 and 7), with evidence provided on the progress to date.

Thanking officers for the action undertaken thus far, the Committee expressed some frustration over delays in progressing some of its recommendations, though acknowledged that this was, in part, due to recent changes in the SBC ‘front door’ arrangements.  On this note, Members felt it would be useful to receive further feedback on how the front door review had led to recommendations 4 and 7 not being achieved by the agreed due date.  In response, SBC officers stated that the Council’s new front door arrangements were always scheduled to go live in October 2026, and that the reablement offer was a constantly evolving service which was being continually monitored (internally) on a weekly basis.

With regards recommendation 5, Members welcomed developments, though requested that further detail be shared with the Committee to understand what information had been considered by SBC to shape the present / future offer, as well as provide assurance that the workforce could meet demand.  The importance of continuing to seek feedback from service-users was also stressed.

AGREED that:

1)    the Reablement Service progress update be noted, the assessments for progress be confirmed as stated, and further information be provided as identified.

2)    a further update on progress of outstanding actions be provided in approximately six months (prior to the end of the current four-year Council term in May 2027).