Herts County Council Performance Review - Some Points that have Cropped Up

Herts County Council, like other councils, reviews its performance against key indicators every quarter.

Rather randomly some points are mentioned below:-

Bed Blocking

After a peak last year its good to see that there has been a reduction in Delayed Transfers of Care Attributal to Social Services. This means "bed blocking" where the county social services have not prepared a Care Package in time and so the patient has to remain in hospital.

However in 44% of the cases West Herts Hospital Trust itself had contributed to the delay. Other reasons for the delays were:
* lack of homecare availability (51%)
* lack of nursing care (22%)
* lack of residential care (17%)

The county is trying to recruit more Care Package Assessors.

Independent Foster Placements

Both nationally and in hertfordshire there is a shortage of foster carers, especially for children with complex behaviour. The biggest shortage is for foster parents able to look after teenagers with challenging and complex behaviour.

General Health Issues

• Excess Weight in 10 - 11 year olds. A continued slow rise.
• Teenage Pregnancy (under 18). This is historically high in the UK compared to other similar countries. It has been falling for decades and has also fallen steadily in Hertfordshire, which is now significantly below the England average.
• Chlamidia Screening. Not performing well. In Herts screening is nearly 20% down and consequently an increased proportion of infections are being missed.
• Smoking at Age 15. Good progress with a 15% reduction.
• Waste Disposal. Total waste per household remains disappointingly steady, but the percentage recycled and composted has increased to 52.2% and the percentage ending up in landfill has dropped to 11.1%

Highway Accidents

Bad news - despite a national fall in "Killed or Seriously Injured" (KSA) road accidents, the number in Herts has risen by 4% to 483. Also the number of children in the KSA total has increased - to 49.

This seems to add to the popular perception that people "seem to be driving faster these days". Could you drive just a bit slower?