Latest news with #CraigMacleod
Leader Live
25-06-2025
- Business
- Leader Live
Flintshire Social Services to bring children's care in-house by 2030
The plans are the authority's response to Welsh Government's policy of eliminating profit from the care of looked-after children by 2030. But a new report says that additional funding needs to be found for the council to achieve its target in time. According to the report from Social Services Chief Officer Craig Macleod, to bring all children in care under the full responsibility of Flintshire County Council under its 'Care Closer to Home' strategy, the authority needs 30 additional residential care beds, three additional respite beds and fostering provision for an extra 52 children to bring all profit-making care services in-house. Currently there are 270 children in the care system across Flintshire. Of those who have been put into care 86% are in the independent residential care while of those in foster care 41% are with independent fostering associations. Under the Welsh Government plans, any independent organisations that operate 'for profit' will no longer be able to offer care services for looked after children from 2030. Organisations that invest all surpluses back into care will remain unaffected. Flintshire's strategy is to invest more in family stability and support to reduce the number of children coming into the care and fostering system through early intervention. Nevertheless, some children will still require the safety net of the care system and that is where significant investment is required. 'Having established effective systems to support children and families on the edge of care our intention is to now focus on reducing the number of children who are supported though out of county arrangements,' said Mr Macleod's report. 'Our approach is to develop arrangements that better meet the needs of the child, secure improved outcomes are more cost effective and reduce the overall number of residential provisions that the local authority would need to develop to shift from reliance on the 'for profit' market. 'We have an established project through a partnership with a local company that provides specialist intensive therapeutic support to children to enable them to safely step down from high cost residential and foster placements. The focus of the project is to take a child-focused approach to transition children and young people from residential care to a family-based setting where their assessed need determines this as being appropriate and is in their best interests.' Flintshire currently has 50 children in residential care, mostly with independent providers. It's current in-house capacity is for just nine. Adding new capacity, such as residential homes for small numbers of children with sleep-in staff requires funding however. While Flintshire has set aside £2 million to develop in-house provision, it remains reliant on external funding to realise its ambitious vision. 'A revenue bid has been submitted by Welsh Government to seek funding from the Eliminating Profit and Radical Reform Grant Fund 2025/2026 -2027/2028. 'Whilst we await the outcome of the bid, if the children and young people standard spending assessment formula was applied we would expect to receive in the region of £760,000 in revenue for each of the next three years,' wrote Mr Macleod. 'A capital bid has also been prepared to the Housing with Care Fund and Integration and Rebalancing Capital Fund. In line with the funding requirements a business case has been developed and submitted to Welsh Government for consideration. 'Given our funding position our financial capacity to achieve this whole system change is limited. Additional funding is needed to deliver the eliminating profit agenda with the scale and pace necessary to comply with legislation and deliver a shared ambition to radically reform the current model to improve outcomes for children and young people.' Councillors will review the proposals in the Joint Education, Youth and Culture and Social and Health Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Thursday.
Leader Live
17-06-2025
- Health
- Leader Live
Flintshire Council warns hospital discharge support won't solve issues
Following an inquiry into patient flow at Welsh hospitals, local authorities across Wales are currently working on bids for a share of the fund to try to get patients out of hospital and back into their homes or community care faster. But Flintshire's Chief Officer for Social Services Craig Macleod told the authority's Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that the fund was not a silver bullet to cure the NHS of bed-blocking delays. "We have had formal notification that there will be a recurring grant to support timely hospital discharge from the Welsh Government, " he said. "We are currently working on a plan as to how we will use that funding. "We recommend that cabinet welcomes the grant as a step towards supporting discharge, however it will not resolve the issues relating to hospital discharge." One of the criticisms of the Welsh Government approach by Flintshire County Council was its inquiry focused on patient flow rather than patient outcomes. Deputy leader of Flintshire County Council Cllr Richard Jones said: "When you read the report from the ADSS (Association of the Director of Social Services Cymru) they say: 'We believe the terms of reference of the enquiry reflect an overly narrow perspective on the issue - one which prioritises hospital process over the fundamental goal of enabling individuals to live well within the community. "We believe there should be a greater emphasis on patient outcomes rather than just patient flow. That is the same approach we have towards care as an authority." Cabinet supported the work to capitalise on the additional funding and the review of the state of discharge services, which see residents continue to face significant challenges at all three general district hospitals serving Flintshire - Ysbyty Gwynedd, Wrexham Maelor and the Countess of Chester. "Hospital discharge delays should be viewed in terms of causes and context ensuring there is no loss of focus on the individual," said Cllr Christine Jones, Deputy Leader of Flintshire Council and Cabinet Member for Social Services and Wellbeing. "The reality is being in a hospital bed when there is no clinical need is not only contributing to the complex pressures within the NHS but it is also not in the best interests of the patient. "The regional partnership board will now take a lead role in producing a North Wales update to the original Audit Wales recommendations around hospital discharge. Flintshire will feed into that report in an effort to deliver improvements to discharge processes for all."
