Decision details

(Councillors Leaver and Whitton attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item).

The Cabinet considered the Report of the Director of Public Health and Communities (PH/25/1) on developing Joint Protocols with NHS Devon for individual commissioning arrangements for Children and Young People, circulated prior to the meeting in accordance with regulation 7(4) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.

The Report outlined the general recognition and agreement between NHS Devon and the Council that there was not in place jointly agreed protocols for agreeing packages of care and organisational routes to agree funding responsibilities for children and young people (up to 18 years).  This was not the case for adults where joint agreements were in place. 

This absence of agreed, individual commissioning arrangements meant that there was a lack of timely, transparent and consistent decision making, which resulted in some needs of children and young people not being met.

Whilst there were some areas of good practice between NHS Devon and the Council, this was often informal, therefore there was a need to formalise these working practices and agree and formulate information sharing protocols between organisations and escalation procedures. 

There were numerous cohorts of children where needs could not be met through commissioned services and required collaboration between the NHS and local authorities to agree additional support needs. 

The proposal was to develop an agreed suite of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) providing clear and consistent operational guidance to ensure effective, efficient and equitable delivery of care.  These would provide a clear decision making framework, clarifying roles and responsibilities amongst stakeholders, where and how funding decisions were made and ultimately improve outcomes.  The expectation was to complete this task within six months. To embed good practice it was crucial that the SOPs were developed collaboratively.

Initial work had been undertaken and it was proposed to establish an Oversight Group with senior representation from both NHS Devon and the Council to produce an overarching joint working framework, including information sharing protocols, training expectations, organisational funding arrangements and escalation processes.

The Cabinet noted that not having such joint protocols in place meant a risk that organisations were paying for health and care which should be funded from other organisations. 

The matter having been debated and the options and alternatives and other relevant factors (e.g. financial, sustainability and carbon impact, risk management, equality and legal considerations and alignment with the Council’s Strategic Plan) set out in the Director’s Report having been considered:

it was MOVED by Councillor Leadbetter, SECONDED by Councillor McInnes, and

RESOLVED

(a) that an oversight group be created, tasked with producing an operating framework for NHS Devon and Devon County Council; and

(b) that a number of specific task and finish groups be established, with responsibility for producing joint Standard Operating Procedures.