Agenda item

To consider a report of the Head of Strategic Commissioning and Safeguarding.

The Committee considered a report of the Head of Strategic Commissioning and Safeguarding on the implications of the proposed closure of Riseley Street and The Willows, in Macclesfield and the Tatton Ward, Knutsford Community Hospital.

The report outlined that Riseley Street provided short break accommodation for adults with a learning disability and their carers.  The Willows provided support to adults experiencing mental ill health during the day through providing meaningful activities that assist in stabilising mental health and well being.

The proposal to close Riseley Street meant there would be no health respite provision in Cheshire East borough as current users would access health respite at Crook Lane, Winsford.  The proposals were currently in the middle of a consultation period and joint reviews were being undertaken of service users to establish health and social care needs, including a Carers Assessment if required.  It was recognised that the building was not suitable.  It was proposed that a joint review with the Primary Care Trust should be undertaken to investigate the potential for providing respite provision jointly with step up and step down support included, and taking into account anticipated numbers of people requiring building based services as opposed to opting for a personal budget.

The Willows focused on enabling people to recover from mental ill health and engage in the community.  Individual reviews of current users would be undertaken and until these were completed the impact on social care would be difficult to assess.  These reviews would have an impact on the Community Mental Health Teams who would have to ensure capacity to undertake such reviews within their workload.

In relation to the Tatton Ward, the Committee was advised that the ward provided intermediate care beds for Older People who required a health input.  The Committee had been advised at its previous meeting that the East Cheshire Hospital Trust had taken the decision to temporarily close the Tatton Ward on 6 September for a period of four months.  This would impact on Bexton Court as the two facilities were linked and therefore Members had requested a report to this meeting on the implications for social care provision at Bexton Court following the temporary closure of the Tatton Ward.

At the meeting, Members were advised that the Cabinet, on 18 October, had approved the temporary closure of Bexton Court.  It was emphasised that this decision was for a temporary closure only and there could not be any permanent closure without a full consultation being undertaken.  The future reopening would be in consultation with the East Cheshire Hospital Trust and linked to the reopening of the Tatton Ward. 

The report to the Committee outlined that rent of £173k per annum was paid to the Council by the Hospital Trust in relation to the leasing of the wing of Bexton Court known as the Tatton Ward; at the moment a reduced amount of rent was being received.  There was also impact on staff who provided catering and domestic facilities and were having to be temporarily redeployed.

 The report outlined the alternative arrangements being made to accommodate service users who would be affected by the temporary closure of Bexton Court.  There were vacancies in other Community Support Centres in Crewe, Macclesfield and Congleton, which were being adapted as a priority to offer dementia respite support for people locally.  There were specialist day services in Handforth and Macclesfield, and Mountview Community Support Centre would also be able to offer dementia day care.  Each service user affected would have an individual review to find alternative provision and dedicated social workers had been allocated to support this process.  The Council had a statutory duty to meet assessed social care needs and was meeting these needs despite great pressure on the social care budget.  All the Council’s services had been rated by the Care Quality Commission as good or excellent.

During discussion of the item the following points were raised:

• That both the health and social care provision in Knutsford were valued services which were well used;
• It was important that officers from both social care and health were involved in discussions around service provision so that a strategic view could be taken;
• The GP consortia were involved in discussions about future provision;
• That there was a Task/Finish Group already established which had been looking at future healthcare provision in Knutsford.

RESOLVED:  That the report be received and the position regarding the temporary closure of Bexton Court, Knutsford be noted.