Decision details

Brief Description

The Director of Adults and Health will be asked to consider:

-  the development of twelve specialist dementia beds at Dolphin Manor, Rothwell; and

-  sustaining the provision of ten specialist dementia beds at the Council’s RecoveryHub@South. 

The purpose of these services is to provide out-of-hospital care options for people with psychological, behavioural, and other more complex needs in dementia. Both the funding, and the service provision, involve close partnership working with NHS colleagues.

Impact On Wards

The Dolphin Manor development of specialist dementia care will be a provision serving the whole of Leeds, and some local residents may benefit from having this service provision, or the additional employment opportunities, nearby.

A potential adverse impact is that the specialist service will be developed by re-purposing existing residential (non-specialist) care beds. No-one already living at Dolphin Manor will be required to move, but future non-specialist capacity will be reduced. 

There is no impact anticipated from sustaining ‘The Willows’ at RecoveryHub@South; this proposal is to maintain existing provision.

Financial and procurement implications

·  The Council would invest in additional staffing to develop specialist dementia provision on one wing of Dolphin Manor, Rothwell. This would cost £435Kpa., and the minimum period for the specialist service development is proposed as three years. 

·  Sustaining the provision of ten specialist dementia beds at The Willows would renew the funding, staffing and procurement arrangements described in decision D52312[1], again for a proposed minimum of three years.  As follows: 

·  Income from the local NHS pooled in the local Better Care Fund arrangements[2], c. £0.9m pa., invested in:

·  c. £0.4m pa. expenditure on additional care staff, directly employed by the Council.

·  c. £0.5m pa. expenditure to sub-contract with Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust for nursing and physiotherapy services.

·  Proposed use of the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a notice under Regulation 32 (2) (b) (ii) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, to award the sub-contract to Leeds Community Healthcare Trust.

Full details and specific sums to be described in the decision report, including impact of NHS tariff uplifts since 2020.

Partnership working

The funding of the service at The Willows, and the proposed new service at Dolphin Manor, are joint commissioning arrangements with the NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, Leeds office (ICB). 

The ICB has already taken the decision to invest in the specialist clinical cover for the Dolphin Manor service development.

Both services are also partnership arrangements on the provider side.  The main parties are the Council; Leeds and York NHS Partnerships. Foundation Trust (LYPFT); and Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust (LCH).  This is set out in a Memorandum of Understanding for The Willows, to be developed further for Dolphin Manor.

The partnership working also includes the level of cover from the relevant local GP practices and the LCH Neighbourhood Team at Middleton, which covers the Rothwell area.