The frequent use of agency staff at a council respite centre has been criticised ahead of plans to remodel the service.
Southampton City Council leaders and senior officers were challenged on the staffing arrangements for the Kentish Road provision.
A long-running reliance on agency staff was labelled “inexcusable” and a “waste of money” by one councillor.
The local authority is planning to expand the centre with an additional two beds on top of the current offer of four core beds and an emergency bed.
Addressing the subject of staffing, director of adult social services Rob Henderson told an overview and scrutiny management committee meeting on Thursday, April 24, a full compliment of staff had now been recruited and were in permanent posts for Kentish Road.
The council had been dealing with several permanent staff being off long-term sick, the committee heard.
“There will be a use of agency staff where that’s absolutely necessary for staff sickness and absence, for example,” Mr Henderson said.
“We do have a maternity issue at the moment but we are recruiting to that as a fixed-term post.”
He said he believed in the leadership team to do their very best to deliver high quality and efficiency going forward.
Labour cabinet member for adults and health Cllr Marie Finn said there would always be a need for agency staff or a bank system.
“What’s really important is you have agency staff that know the service users,” Cllr Finn said.
“You want to keep it down to a minimum for cost reasons, absolutely, but it is really important the agency staff that you are using or a bank system know the clients and have known them for a period.”
Committee member Rob Harwood, Conservative, said some of the centre’s agency staff had been there for a long time, referencing one example of seven years.
He asked why the council did not do something sooner.
Hannah Balzaretti, head of whole life pathway, said the offer at Kentish Road had expanded over time since the centre reopened in 2019.
She said over this period the original staffing establishment in the budget remained the same, with agency staff used to supplement this.
Ms Balzaretti said she joined the council in May last year and the use of agency was something that they wanted to rectify.
“We knew we had long-term agency and actually two of those agency staff have been successful in the recruitment process and are now permanent members of staff at Kentish Road,” Ms Balzaretti said.
“There are agency workers that have worked there for a long time.
“They would still potentially be used if new people were coming through with one-to-one support, so we have still kept that relationship with our regular agency staff because we want to use staff that know the scheme.”
Conservative committee member Sarah Powell-Vaughan said the use of agency staff was “ineffective” and a “waste of money”.
“It is stuff we can’t afford in this council and it is something where we need to have permanent people,” Cllr Powell-Vaughan said.
“Seven years’ worth of money that shouldn’t have been wasted and somebody should have come down on this a lot sooner.
“Whoever’s portfolio it was, they should have looked at it sooner and they should have been dealing with it.
“It is something that is inexcusable and shouldn’t have happened.”
Labour council leader Cllr Lorna Fielker said it had been “incredibly challenging” dealing with a constant change of directors of adult social services during her time as the relevant cabinet member.
She said each change was like “starting from scratch” and she had always tried to offer the best service possible for residents.
Cllr Fielker said she took the decision last year to appoint Rob Henderson to the role alongside his existing position as director of children’s services to provide stability.
