Councillor Tudor Evans OBE (Leader) proposed an amendment to recommendation two of the report so that it now read:

Give permission for the procurement of new contracts to proceed during 2025, with the award of contracts delegated to the Strategic Director for Adults, Health and Communities in consultation with Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care, where they would not already have authority to award within the scheme of delegation.

This amendment was agreed by Cabinet.

Cabinet agreed to:

1. Approve the Business Case to extend the current care home contract over a period of 1 year from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025;

2. Give permission for the procurement of new contracts to proceed during 2025, with the award of contracts delegated to the Strategic Director for Adults, Health and Communities in consultation with Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care, where they would not already have authority to award within the scheme of delegation

Councillor Mary Aspinall (Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care) introduced the item and highlighted the following:

a)     Good quality residential care allowed people to be well looked after in a warm and safe home, with the opportunity to socialise and stay in touch with their families;

b)    There were 89 care homes within Plymouth supporting people of a range of ages and needs;

c)     The annual spend on residential and nursing care for adults was £50 million;

d)    It was important to have a good range of high quality providers and homes to work with to give vulnerable adults, and their families, a choice of residential care;

e)     With an ageing population, demands for residential care, particularly dementia care, were likely to rise, so it was important to plan for the homes that would be needed in the future;

f)      The existing contract for residential care homes was due to expire at the end of December 2023, and the commissioning team had been working with providers to understand what was needed and how this could be achieved, and they wanted to get it right, and so were asking for an extension.

Emma Crowther (Service Director for Integrated Commissioning) and Caroline Paterson (Strategic Commissioning Manager) added:

g)     A lot had changed for residential care providers in recent years with the COVID19 pandemic, rising cost of living, and having to adapt to care for more complex needs;

h)    The existing contracts did not reflect the needs of residential care for both the present and future;

i)      The extension had been requested so that all of the learning from engagement work could be used to inform future contracts, and procurement was planned for 2025;

j)      Care home providers had been very supportive and engaging with the aim of developing a model that would support adults with complex care needs and this included:

                         i.         The varying size of care homes from one bed, up to 64 beds;

                       ii.         Some buildings were old and no longer fit for purpose;

                      iii.         The funding model for meeting the care requirements of people with complex needs required improvement;

                      iv.         Need for more staff training;

k)     Over the next 12 months, the team would work with partners to develop the work further and build stronger relationships;

l)      An X-ray car would launch in September 2024 which would be able to provide X-rays and scans within care homes, reducing the need to get residents to the hospital;

m)   The HIVE training programme would be launched to improve training an resources for providers;

n)    The team wanted to get feedback from service users;

o)    It was important to get the procurement process done well.

Councillor Tudor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) proposed an amendment to recommendation two of the report so that it read:

p)    Give permission for the procurement of new contracts to proceed during 2025, with the award of contracts delegated to the Strategic Director for Adults, Health and Communities in consultation with Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care, where they would not already have authority to award within the scheme of delegation.

This amendment was agreed by Cabinet.

q)    It was discussed that the findings of the survey could be suggested to the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Panel or Health and Wellbeing Board as a future agenda item.

Cabinet agreed to:

1.     Approve the Business Case to extend the current care home contract over a period of 1 year from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025;

2.     Give permission for the procurement of new contracts to proceed during 2025, with the award of contracts delegated to the Strategic Director for Adults, Health and Communities in consultation with Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care, where they would not already have authority to award within the scheme of delegation.