Wrthi'n llwytho
Y penderfyniadau fel y mae cofnodion y cyngor yn eu cofnodi. Bydd crynodeb mewn iaith glir yn dilyn pan fydd wedi'i ysgrifennu.
Resolved: subject to the observations provided - (i) to confirm it had read, understood and taken account of the contents of the report; and (ii) congratulated the Service on the excellent inspection report received which evidenced the quality of domiciliary care services provided to service-users across Denbighshire.
Resolved: subject to the above observations - (i) confirmed it had read, understood and taken account of the contents of the report; and (ii) congratulated the Service on the excellent inspection report received which emphasised the quality of services delivered at Dolwen to both residents and their families, along with the benefits and wider interactions with the local community.
Resolved: subject to the inclusion of the Transformation Programme Projects agreed by the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group, to approve its programme of future work as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.
Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Kelly Clewett and from the Corporate Director: Social Services and Education. The Corporate Director: Governance and Business/Monitoring Officer was in attendance to provide Corporate Executive Team (CET) support to the Committee.
No interests of a personal, or personal and prejudicial nature were declared in any of the business item listed for discussion.
As the Chair was attending the meeting remotely the Scrutiny Coordinator presided over the election of the Vice-Chair and invited nominations for the position of Vice-Chair of Partnerships Scrutiny Committee for the 2026/27 municipal year. Councillor Brian Jones nominated Councillor Peter Scott for the role of Vice-Chair, Councillor Merfyn Parry seconded Councillor Scott’s nomination. No other nominations were received and the Committee: Resolved: that Councillor Peter Scott be elected as Vice-Chair of Partnerships Scrutiny Committee for the 2026/27 municipal year. Councillor Scott thanked the Committee for entrusting him with the role and proceeded to chair the remainder of the meeting.
No items of an urgent nature had been drawn to the Chair’s attention prior to the commencement of the meeting.
The minutes of the following meetings were submitted: (i) Informal Joint Scrutiny Meeting for the Conwy and Denbighshire Youth Justice Service held on 9 March 2026. The Committee: Resolved: that the minutes of the Informal Joint Scrutiny Meeting for the Conwy and Denbighshire Youth Justice Service held on 9 March 2026 be approved as a true and accurate record of the proceedings. No matters were raised in relation to the contents of the minutes. (ii) Partnerships Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 26 March 2026. The Committee: Resolved: that the minutes of the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 26 March 2026 be approved as a true and accurate record of the proceedings.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
Resolved: subject to the observations provided - (i) to confirm it had read, understood and taken account of the contents of the report; and (ii) congratulated the Service on the excellent inspection report received which evidenced the quality of domiciliary care services provided to service-users across Denbighshire.
The Lead Member for Health and Social Care introduced the report (previously circulated) and stated that it was an excellent report with no areas identified for improvement. The key highlights of the report were noted, including that Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) recognised staff consistently went above and beyond for residents. This was reflected in the positive outcomes achieved, as well as the success of the service in prioritising reablement, supporting independence, enabling people to return to work, and helping them regain relationships. In response to the questions raised by members, the Lead Member and officers explained: · The number of registered places was recorded as zero for the service, as domiciliary care was delivered in people’s own homes. · Reassurance was given that, had CIW identified any areas for improvement within the service, these would have been highlighted in the report. · The service provided electric vehicles for staff carrying out rural service deliveries. Routes were carefully planned to minimise travel where possible. All domiciliary care was not delivered directly by the service, as some was provided by external providers. In cases of bad weather, continuity plans were in place and assessed on an individual, day-by-day basis depending on conditions. Weather warning updates were also provided by the Highways Team. Travel time had also been factored into staff members’ contracts. · The Head of Adult Social Care and Homelessness reassured members that the service was aware of staff turnover and recognised that, due to the nature of the service, it had an ageing workforce. As a result, some staff members had left due to retirement or ill health. However, staff numbers had increased over the previous twelve months, rising from 519 to 536 employees. It was noted that there were opportunities for progression within the service; although there had been 66 leavers, only 32 had left Denbighshire County Council, while the remaining 34 had moved internally as a result of career progression. Consequently, turnover had been viewed positively. The service offered competitive rates of pay, although it only provided contracted hours and did not offer overtime, unlike the independent sector. In terms of recruitment, a range of campaigns, including promotional branding on vehicles, open days, and workshops had been undertaken to encourage people to work within the care sector, which had also led to an increase in applications. · Apprenticeships had been explored, with the most success rate through Working Denbighshire, where individuals had undertaken paid work experience placements lasting between 8 and 12 weeks. This had provided people with insight into working within the care service and, as a result, the service had successfully recruited a number of excellent carers. · The service had 2% of the market share and was exploring opportunities to increase this to circa 25%; however, it was recognised that achieving this growth would take time. There was currently no waiting lists for domiciliary care as the Council and its independent providers were currently in a position where they could meet demand. It was mentioned that a reablement approach had been introduced, whereby a team would support individuals in their own homes and encourage them to become more independent for a period of up to six weeks. It would become evident after about three weeks of reablement provision if the individual would become fully independent by the end of the six-week period or if a care package would need to be put in place. This approach was being piloted in the south of the county and was due to be rolled out in the north during the current financial year. · The service provided a robust induction process, which included training in areas such as manual handling and health and safety. In addition, there was a workforce development team responsible for upskilling the social care workforce across Denbighshire as part of its statutory responsibilities. Both internal staff and external providers had benefited from this, as external providers were also able to access the training. All staff were registered with Social Care Wales and were required to hold relevant qualifications, which were regularly reviewed and maintained. · Within the service, a variety of contracts were offered to staff with differing hours, as efforts had been made to provide as much flexibility as possible in order to recruit the right people. When recruiting, contracts had been reviewed where there had been no applicants, and amendments to hours had been made where appropriate to attract more people. It was emphasised that providing care was not an occupation that would suit everyone, it was more of a ‘calling’. Those employed in the provision of care tended to do it for job satisfaction purposes as much as anything else. Members enquired whether an updated report on domiciliary care was to be brought back to a future scrutiny meeting. It was confirmed that the ‘rebalancing of social care service delivery model for domiciliary care’ which formed part of the Council’s Transformation Programme was scheduled to be presented to the Communities Scrutiny Committee in October 2026. At the conclusion of an in-depth discussion the Committee: Resolved: subject to the observations provided - (i) to confirm it had read, understood and taken account of the contents of the report; and (ii) congratulated the Service on the excellent inspection report received which evidenced the quality of domiciliary care services provided to service-users across Denbighshire.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
Resolved: subject to the above observations - (i) confirmed it had read, understood and taken account of the contents of the report; and (ii) congratulated the Service on the excellent inspection report received which emphasised the quality of services delivered at Dolwen to both residents and their families, along with the benefits and wider interactions with the local community.
The Lead Member for Health and Social Care introduced the report (previously circulated) and stated that the Inspection’s findings were very positive. Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) had rated Dolwen as good across all four categories, with no areas for improvement identified and no priority action notices issued. In response to the questions raised by members, the Lead Member and officers explained: · The service had been developing business cases to expand Dolwen’s capacity and improve its facilities. In relation to pandemics and outbreaks, there was continuous review of its infection prevention and control measures, with lessons learned during COVID-19 still being implemented and applied. Dolwen also had the ability to cohort residents due to its separate wings, which helped residents to gather in small groups during periods of infection outbreaks. · The process for installing en-suites was currently being worked through. It was noted that adding en-suites at that time would have required the loss of rooms, and this could not be accommodated due to the high demand for residential care. As a result, the installation would need to wait until Dolwen was expanded. The timeframe depended on capital funding being secured. It was noted that Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) had not placed any pressure on the service to upgrade the facilities at that time. CIW’s focus was on the quality of the care provided. · The expectation for the new Quality and Performance Officer role was that they would be involved in data management, including compliance and ensuring the service was standardised, as well as monitoring performance indicators. The role would also support consistency in paperwork, processes, and procedures, and enable a more streamlined approach to managing workload. It would also release care managers and care staff to provide car instead of completing administrative tasks The post was time-lined and would be reviewed and monitored to ensure it was enhancing the service. · Residents at Dolwen tended to remain there longer than they might in other care provisions, where individuals may have been moved on to a nursing home. However, residents were well supported, which was seen as a testament to the staff. The service had come a long way in recognising that an internal service could be just as competitive as an external provider, with a focus on delivering care effectively within the resources available. The Welsh Government had supported the rebalancing agenda, which aimed to balance the delivery of care between the local authority and independent sectors. Improvements to the service had been attributed to increased resources, the uplift in the National Living Wage, and Denbighshire’s more favourable terms and conditions, all of which had made the service more competitive. It was noted that the service had benefited from the support of the community and councillors, which had helped to deliver a good service. · Dolwen was very much a part of the local community, similar to Cysgod y Gaer in Corwen. Both were supported by local GPs and District Nursing teams. Local school children visited to interact with residents which helped break down inter-generational barriers. At the conclusion of a comprehensive discussion the Committee: Resolved: subject to the above observations - (i) confirmed it had read, understood and taken account of the contents of the report; and (ii) congratulated the Service on the excellent inspection report received which emphasised the quality of services delivered at Dolwen to both residents and their families, along with the benefits and wider interactions with the local community.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
Resolved: subject to the inclusion of the Transformation Programme Projects agreed by the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group, to approve its programme of future work as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.
The Scrutiny Coordinator introduced the report and its appendices (previously circulated), which sought the Committee to review its programme of future work. The next meeting of the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee would be held on 9 July 2026. At the time of publication of the current meeting’s agenda pack two reports were listed for presentation these being: 1. Annual Report on Adult Safeguarding 2. Annual Report on North Wales Economic Ambition Board However, the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group (SCVCG) had met the previous week and had allocated all projects which featured in the Council’s Transformation Programme to each scrutiny committee for examination, as they were keen for these to be considered prior to the elections the following year. It was confirmed that in total five transformation projects had been allocated to Partnerships Scrutiny Committee for examination and these were now listed on the Committee’s forward work programme. Reports on two of these projects which related to Social Services were listed for presentation to the Committee at its July meeting, namely: · Adults (Older People) Service Review; and · Complex Disabilities Service Review The Scrutiny Coordinator reminded members to complete the Scrutiny Proposal Form attached at Appendix 2 to the report if there were any topics which they felt merited being scrutinised. Any requests would be considered by the SCVCG at their next meeting on 10 July 2026. The Cabinet forward work programme was also attached to the report as Appendix 3 for information, and Appendix 4 to the report contained an update on the Committee’s recommendations from its last meeting. The Committee: Resolved: subject to the inclusion of the Transformation Programme Projects agreed by the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group, to approve its programme of future work as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.
None. Meeting concluded at 11.15am.
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