Southwark Council Children S Services

Southwark Council Children’s Services

Contract Monitoring and Performance Procedure

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Version / 3 / June2012
Author / Karen Sanderson
Approved by / Kerry Crichlow
Review date / June 2013

1.Introduction

The following procedure sets out how contracting monitoring visits should be planned and undertaken during the review period 2013-2014. This procedure will be reviewed annually to make sure that it is still relevant and up to date.

The only services which will follow this procedure are services that are not monitored by any other body i.e. Ofsted. If a Provider has received an Ofsted ‘Satisfactory’ grading these services will be visited and their improvement plans checked for progress.

Service areas not currently checked by Ofsted or any other body are: Semi-Independent, B&B, and 18+.

For B&B accommodation the Premises Check Form (Appendix 3) will be the method of monitoring alongside an accommodation quality check form which is to be sent out at the beginning of the placement by the Placement Team. The Contract & Performance Improvement Officers will only go out to visit if there are specific problems which have been reported and need quality checking.

2.What is a contracting monitoring visit?

Contract monitoring visits are not statutory inspections and instead provide a ‘check’ on whether providers achieve the standards that they have been contracted to deliver.

The contracting monitoring visit is part of both the periodic review process and also the ongoing contract monitoring process. The visit is intended to provide a ‘reality check’ of how the service is operating, the experiences of Service Users and any service improvements that may be needed. The reports and data gathered at the visits will be used to both catalogue the Quality and performance of the service commissioned and to inform Commissioning of strategies for the future.

The range of services quality assessed will be limited to those services which are NOT monitored by any other regulatory authority (except Ofsted ‘Satisfactory’ rated). We will carry out contract management on all services we commission but will carry out a light touch approach for ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Good’ rated services by Ofsted. All ‘Satisfactory’ rated services will receive a visit to ensure safeguarding and quality is assured for our young people.

3.A contracting monitoring visit will be carried out in the following circumstances:

As part of a periodic service review if concerns have been highlighted
As part of the annual schedule for monitoring visits
As part of a Service Review to support Commissioning/Procurement intentions/strategies
To validate a providers regulatory assessments
To validate an action plan following an inspection rated as ‘Satisfactory’ by Ofsted
Where performance concerns have been highlighted by the Social Teams and or the Placement team
Where there have been complaints/Incidents which cause concern about a provider and/or an individual service
In agreement with the provider for other reasons

4.Planning the contracting monitoring visit

Scheduled visits

There will be a yearly timetable for visits within the Providers Database(Appendix 1) The schedule of visits will be determined each year in March based on the previous year’s incidents/complaints and feedback received from all stakeholders about the service/provider.

Non scheduled

We reserve the right to carry out additional visits that are not scheduled in the timetable. We will undertake these visits when specific concerns are identified, i.e. via complaints from Service Users or stakeholders, high level of reported safeguarding incidents and concerns about performance following contract monitoring and concerns received from the Service Managers, raised by a Social Worker. We also reserve the right to carry out non scheduled visits where there are concerns regarding Safeguarding or there are other serious concerns.

5.Carrying out contracting monitoring visits: Pre-Visit

Scheduled visits:

The CPMO will gather all intelligence regarding the service prior to the visit. This will include sending out the Feedback Form (Appendix 2) which will be used to gather comments from stakeholders with regard to their relationship with the provider and overall quality perception. The CPMO will interrogate Care First Reports via Business Objects, SAP, the Placements database and Incidents/complaints and compliments Log and collate this information into an outline of ‘AS IS’ evidence of performance.

Providers will be given written notice of the month of the visit at least 1 month in advance. The contracting monitoring visit toolsshould be made available to the provider to help them to prepare for the visit. Notification should be recorded on the Provider database - Contract & Performance Monitoring Officer (CPMO) to complete.

Providers should be notified by telephone at least 4 weeks in advance of the date of the visit. This should be recorded in the Master Timetable database and confirmed in writing. The CPMO should summarise the itinerary of the day and advise the provider of the information they should provide in advance. If possible the visit should take place on the day of a house meeting or similar activity; to enable CPMO’s to observe Service User and Carer interactions - CPMO to complete.

Non-scheduled:

Contract monitoring: The CPMO will alert the Commissioning Officer if there is a serious or persistent contract monitoring issue highlighted or identified via the monitoring procedure.Officers should check with the Contract Management & Performance Improvement Manager if a visit is appropriate. The Commissioning Officer will inform the provider that there is an issue of concern and that a visit is necessary. The provider should be contacted via the telephone and the contact recorded on the Master timetable database. The visit will be scheduled as soon as possible. Please note that the Contract Management team reserve the right to carry out visits without notice where there are serious concerns

Complaints: The officer dealing with the complaint will inform the Contract and Performance Manager/ Complaints Manager and the lead officer that there is an issue. The lead officer will then decide whether a visit is necessary. The Commissioning Officer will inform the provider that there is an issue and that a visit is necessary. The provider should be contacted via the phone and the contact recorded on the database. The visit will be scheduled as soon as possible

6.Carrying out the Contracting monitoring visit:

6.1Scheduled visits

Officers should never go in service user rooms without permission or alone and should be aware of their surroundings at all times. Officers should ask the provider Manager if there are any health and safety considerations at the start of each visit.

At the start of the visit the CPMO should summarise what will happen during the day and confirm the schedule

The visit will include the following:

Tour of the building and a service users room if permission is gained to assess the living environment

Observation of Carer/service user interactions

Discussions with Carer (If necessary)

Discussions with service users

Spot checks of documents

Tour of building: The officers should have a tour of the building. If possible this should be undertaken with a Service User. Officers should complete theLiving Environment Tooland discuss and note down any issues. Officers should ask to look in any empty rooms or an occupied room with Service User’s permission. The Premises check form should be completed at this stage (Appendix 3)

Observation of Support Worker/service users: Officers should observe Carer and Service User interactions. During this process officers should specifically note the following:

Does theSupport Worker ask permission to enter rooms
Does theSupport Worker speak to Service User’s appropriately
Does the Support Worker listen to the Service User’s views
Does theCarer seem to treat Service User’s with respect and dignity

There will be three types of review, full, partial and light review

The full review will cover all of the areas in the table below and will tend to be for High Risk Providers
The partial review will normally cover outcomes and plans for continual improvement plus any other areas which have been identified as a risk in the risk assessment. Also, any areas that a Provider specifically requests to be covered will be included in the review. A partial review will tend to be for Medium Risk Providers
The light touch review will focus on outcomes, plans for continuous improvement and the sharing of good practice. Also, any areas that the provider specifically requests will be included in the review. The light touch review will tend to be for Low Risk Providers.

Discussions with Support Worker- Officers should explain the background to the visit, why theCareris taking part in discussions, confidentiality and what will happen after the visit.

The Contract Monitoring visit questions can be used as a reference

Discussions with Service Users - Officers should explain the background to the visit, why service users are being included in discussions, confidentiality and what will happen after the visit. Discussions with service users should be informal. Support Worker should not be allowed in the room while discussions are taking place unless service users want Support Worker present. If possible discussions should be held at an existing meeting or event. Officers should give service users a choice of whether they wish to participate in a group or individually.

Service User questionnaires/Telephone surveys will be sent/carried out prior to the visit (If appropriate). All completed questionnaires should be handed to the CPMO on the day of the visit. Please note that service user involvement in reviews may be expanded upon in the future to include service user peer reviewers.

Officers may wish to adapt the set questions on the contract monitoring visit questions. Case studies can be used to illustrate points. Officers should consider using aides such as flip chart paper or scenarios to illustrate points. Service users should be given time to talk about issues that concern them, and officers should feed this back to providers where appropriate. Officers should take notes using the service user involvement pro forma. Officers should explain to service users what feedback they will receive following the visit.

Spot checks of documents- Spot checks of documents should be carried out to validate the provider’sregulatory inspections. Officers may also check documents that were identified as in need of improvement at the previous review or at any other inspection. Officers should discuss and take notes using the Contract Monitoring visit question sheet (Appendix 4)

6.2Non- scheduled visits

These visits should follow the same procedure as scheduled visits. However, it may not be appropriate or necessary to cover all the same issues during the visit, for example if there is a performance issue relating to quarterly returns it may not be necessary to have a tour of the building.

The following may take place on a non-scheduled visit. This is not a definitive list, the visit may include:

Tour of the building
Observation of Support Worker/Service User interactions
Discussions with service users
Spot checks of documents or sources of information
Specialist input- Social worker/audit/stakeholders/housing standards officers/Fire Brigade/Police

Spot checks of documents or sources of information - Officers may ask to look at sources of information which are relevant to the visit, for example where there is poor occupancy at a service.

Specialist input - Where the Contracts Management team think it is appropriate, specialist input may be required on a non-scheduled visit. The Contracts Management team will invite a colleague to a visit with specialist knowledge and skills, for example if there is an issue with the building an enforcement officer may attend with the team. Providers will be advised beforehand if this is going to be the case.

Desktop Reviews

For all services which have received excellent reports on previous reviews, and have low numbers of children/young people placed in them a desktop review and annual self assessment will be carried out. All information will be gathered from the provider, feedback sought from all stakeholders, the final report will be in the same format as site visits and sent out. The Desktop Review Question sheet will be completed (Appendix 5)

7.Concluding the visit

Once the visit is complete the CMO should explain the next stage to the provider and give a brief overview of the findings and any outstanding issues. The feedback may include observations/comments and suggestions.

8.Contract monitoring visit reports

All providers will receive a written report following any contract monitoring visit (scheduled or non scheduled).Report Template (Appendix 6)

The written reports should be completed within 5 working days of a visit. If there is going to be a delay in completing the report providers should always be contacted. The reports can be sent by email but a hard copy should also be sent

The written reports should always follow the same format.

The report may include observations/comments/suggestions from the peer reviewers.

All reports should be saved in the individual provider files in the shared Drive R:\CommissShare\Contract Monitoring & Performance 2011-12\Providers Reports 2011-2012

The reports will then be sent to the Provider and a meeting arranged to discuss the findings.

Grading of the Provider will be in line with Ofsted’s grading system to ensure parity with the regulatory Inspection process

Targets will be agreed with the Provider before agreeing a new contract. (TBC during Procurement process) Specifications to be drafted, including agreed quality performance measures, and included within all specifications and contracts.

The following action/targets will be set in relation to improvement in the quality of services: -

:Where a provider achieves ...... , targets to achieve over an agreed period of time, will be set

:Where a provider achieves...... , this will be monitored to ensure the standard is maintained and good practice shared with other providers.

Performance Indicator /

Target

2013-14 /

GreenRange

AmberRange

Red

Range

The outcomes that we set out in Essential standards of quality and safety are the same for all types of provider. However, the way different providers demonstrate that they are achieving these outcomes may vary. For example, the evidence a provider uses may be influenced by:

The size of a service.

The range and complexity of the services provided.

The needs and number of people who use a service.

The arrangements in place to identify and manage risks.

The arrangements in place to collect and monitor information about safeguarding, quality and Health & Safety.

9.Providers graded as ‘Fail’

Providers that are failed as a result of an inspection will not receive new placements until such times that they have rectified the fault(s) outlined in the report. This decision will be shared with all stakeholders i.e. Placement Team, Commissioning Team, Heads of Service. If Southwark young people are still in place these will remain, providing there is no safeguarding issue, they are content to remain, there is positive feedback from social workers and/or their managers and an improvement plan is in place for the provider which will be constantly monitored. If no young people are in place placements will not be made until further notice.

Providers Database – latest version(Appendix 1)

Feedback Form (Appendix 2)

Premises Check Form (Appendix 3)

Contract Monitoring visit question sheet (Appendix 4)

Desktop review Question sheet (Appendix 5)

Report Template (Appendix 6)

Annual Self Assessment Return (Appendix 7)