Decision details

The Director of Adult Social Services approved the following recommendations:

The waiver of Contracts Procedure Rules 9.1 and 9.2 using the authority set out in CPR 1.3, to enter into a contract with the Alzheimers Society for the provision of a day opportunities and an outreach service for younger people with dementia. The duration of this contract is proposed as 6 months from 1st October 2016 - 30th March 2017; with options for two three-month extensions, potentially taking the contract to 30th September 2017. The contract has an annual value of £292,500, of which £180,500 is Council funding, with the addition of £112,000 transferred to the Council via a s256 agreement from NHS. Provisions are available within the agreed budgets.

That Leeds City Council commences engagement with younger people with dementia, families & carers and other partners on an outline proposal for the future of specific services for younger people with dementia. This should seek to ‘co-design’ a service specification for future procurement of day services for younger people with dementia, and understand the impact of proposed changes from the current services. Following this exercise, a further report should be prepared with recommendations for the procurement of services and managing the impact of any changes to current provision.

The outline service model, to be proposed for engagement and co-design, to be based upon:
a. The continuation of structured, building-based day care provision for those younger people living with dementia, as a targeted provision for people who are eg. unsafe or distressed alone at home and / or whose carers need a break (including to stay in paid work). This would require eligible care needs (which could include carer needs) and come under the charging policy for adult social care.
b. A preventive service offer, which could be accessed directly and would not come under eligibility or charging policy. This to include the facilitation of peer support, and help with job retention, volunteering, maintaining family roles and social networks, and access to community facilities. This could make use of the building base as a ‘meeting place’, as well as using a range of other facilities and venues.
c. Discontinuing the ‘outreach’ element of the block contract for provision of 1:1 support, for which a personal budget is proposed as a better approach in future. This would enable people with eligible needs to access an appropriate level of support, rather than a fixed offer of a single half-day session.
d. Appropriate steps to manage the impact of introducing eligibility and charging for people and carers already using the service.

That the £20K element of the contract funding which supports the Dementia Advisor post is removed from the new contract, and the provision of a Dementia Advisor is thereby decommissioned, noting that the Memory Support Worker service is now in place.

That discussions continue with the Alzheimers Society regarding the future location of their Leeds office. Consideration should be given to measures to enable the Society to maintain its base in Leeds, ideally at a location which is well-known and accessible.

The Integrated Commissioning and Transformation Manager (Dementia) is responsible for ensuring that these recommendations are implemented, and that the service design and procurement process is completed within the timescales referred to above.