Issue - meetings

To report to Cabinet the results of the recent consultation on the future of the Council’s Careline service; and seek its decision as to how it wishes to proceed in light of these consultation results and other updated information.

This report recommends, as a variance to the Cabinet’s currently adopted preferred option, that the Council explores further the response received from Colchester City Council as part of the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance to create a combined telecare service that aligns with the Alliance’s aims and objectives for an integrated health-system approach.

RESOLVED that Cabinet -

(a)   notes the outcome of, and feedback from, the recent customer, resident and stakeholder consultation on the future of Tendring Careline – that was based upon balancing best value principles with the needs of our existing customers, who now have a wider range of options available on the open market, at more comparable rates than the Council can continue supplying the service for;

(b)   notes the decision to terminate the third-party contract with AE Partners Ltd (YourStride) which, irrespective of the Cabinet’s resolution in respect of (d) below, will reduce the pressure on the capacity of Tendring Careline – which, for some months, has been dealing with a growing and increasingly unmanageable volume of calls from residents outside of Tendring; and bring about a cost saving to the Council;

(c)   authorises the Director of Planning and Communities, in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships, to review and if necessary, vary or terminate other third-party contracts at suitable timely junctures as part of the move towards the fulfilment of any final preferred approach;

(d)   confirms that, having considered the contents of this report, it still wishes to continue, in principle, with the preferred option (Option 2) of ceasing the telecare and lifting/response provision of the Careline Service, in its entirety, including service delivery under third-party contracts with remaining service provision solely relating to the Council’s Out-of-Hours and CCTV service – albeit subject to (e) below;

(e)   authorises the Director of Planning and Community, in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships, to explore further the third-party proposals that were submitted to the Council through the consultation;

(f)   subject to (e) above, requests that third parties be invited to put forward a formal detailed proposal for further exploration within one month of this decision (i.e. by close of business on Monday 16th December 2024) as the starting point for Tendring District Council’s consideration;   

(g)   requests that the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships reports to Cabinet in February 2025 to provide an update on the opportunity explored in line with (e) above in respect of the third-party proposals, as well as an updated recommendation for a final Cabinet decision on the future of Careline informed by updated financial analysis and with a detailed transition plan;

(h)   subject to (g) above, acknowledges that there may be additional costs arising from the change in timescales set out in this report, and requests that the financial impact is included within the report to Cabinet in February 2025; and

(i)    authorises the Director of Planning and Community in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships, to assess different options for the continued provision of the Out-of-Hours and CCTV service and to implement any necessary changes, as necessary, following the Cabinet’s final decision on the future of Careline.

Earlier on in the meeting as reported under Minute 71 above:-

(i)     Councillor Scott had declared an Other Registrable Interest in relation this item insofar he was the Chairman of the Autumn Centre and many of the clients at the Autumn Centre were also clients of Careline. Councillor Scott therefore withdrew from the meeting and left the room whilst the Cabinet deliberated on this matter and made its decision.

(ii)    Councillor Chapman BEM had declared an Other Registrable Interest in relation to this matter insofar as her Mother was a customer of Careline.

(iii)   Councillor P B Honeywood had declared an Other Registrable Interest in relation to this matter insofar as a member of his family was a customer of Careline.

(iv)   In response to a question raised by Councillor Honeywood, the Monitoring Officer (Lisa Hastings) had stated that, as Councillors Chapman BEM and Honeywood were not Decision Makers on this matter, she was prepared to grant them both a Dispensation in order to allow them to remain in the meeting for this item.

Cabinet considered a detailed report of the Partnerships Portfolio Holder (A.11), which reported to Cabinet the results of the recent consultation on the future of the Council’s Careline service; and which sought its decision as to how it wished to proceed in the light of those consultation results and other updated information. The report also recommended, as a variance to the Cabinet’s currently adopted preferred option, that the Council explored further the response received from Colchester City Council as part of the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance as to whether to create a combined telecare service that aligned with the Alliance’s aims and objectives for an integrated health-system approach.

Members recalled that the Careline service had been established in 1987 and provided monitoring and response/lifting for approximately 1,859 service users in Tendring, including sheltered housing residents. Continuing the core Careline service required significant investment, creating cost pressures amid budget constraints. The findings of a 12-month review of the service had been reported to Cabinet on 26 July 2024 along with five potential options for the future of Careline, including information on their financial, equality and other implications.

Those options were summarised as follows:

·      Option 1 – Maintain current position (remain in the market, which would require on-going financial support);

·      Option 2 – Provide an Out-of-Hours Council service only (leave the market, focussing on the Council’s core business and ceasing telecare and response/lifting);

·      Option 3 – Reduce shift pattern to 6 hourly shifts (remain in the market, staffing changes required, which would require on-going, additional financial support);

·      Option 4 – Remove the responder/lifting service (remain in the market, removal of one element of the service, which would require on-going, additional financial support); and

·      Option 5 – Termination of third-party contracts (remain in the market and service Tendring District Council residents only via the Careline scheme, which would require on-going, additional financial support  ...  view the full minutes text for item 86