Areas for change and improvement

To meet the challenges we face in providing care, and do it in a way which reflects what people have told us, we recognise that our services to adults in need must change and must improve.

On this page we list the areas for improvement which we propose to focus our efforts upon.

Helping to quickly restore people’s skills and confidence

Our community services play an invaluable role in helping people to live where they want - at home in their community.

However bouts of ill health can see people being taken to hospitals and care homes for help; and we know that this can be linked to people quickly losing the skills they need for independent living.

We want to help people who have had a crisis or a bout of poor health to regain as much independence as quickly as possible. We will seek to refocus our Care at Home services so they target help to people to quickly regain lost skills.

More Housing and Support solutions

Greater availability of affordable housing with the right level of help on hand is the key to many people living successfully in the community.

We believe it is important to plan new housing with support in mind; and we aim to support more people to be able to find houses in both the social and private sectors.

By developing Care at Home services we aim to provide more and more flexible help to support people live at home Modernised Care Homes will provide accommodation for those with the highest needs – but they will also work to help prevent hospital admissions and support efforts for people to re-establish community living.

Better joint working

We aim to join up health, housing and social work help so we can be more than the sum of our parts. One of the main things we propose to do is have one single helping process that all professionals use. This has to be simpler, with less bureaucracy, and give more freedom to just get on with things. This should mean earlier help, and more people getting the right help at the right time.

Helping people and communities help themselves

Across the country it is understood that services can sometimes do things for people not with them. People also seem to think that communities are now less supportive – not looking out for one another.

Wherever people, families and communities can accept the responsibility for their own care and support we believe they should. Services may add to this support – not replace it.

Through a review of day and community services, and by supporting voluntary effort, we will seek to ensure there is a broad spectrum of community based supports for independent living.

Better information; better communication

Service users and carers have told us that providing clear and accessible information and advice is essential to ensure that they know who to speak to, what services are available and how to access them.

We think that by providing good information at the right time we can also help people help themselves. This could be information about ways to manage a medical condition or about benefits they may be entitled to.

We believe providing good information is fundamental to people becoming more active in their care.

Carers as partners

Carers are people who provide help and support to relatives, partners, friends or neighbours without getting paid for it. This helps many people stay at home when they might otherwise have to go into a care home. It also helps prevent emergencies and stops people from needing other specialist services.

The work done by carers is immense. Unpaid carers are our partners in providing community care. We want to make sure we do all we can support them in their caring role.

Using new technologies

Telehealth (equipment that monitors health) and telecare (equipment that monitors social care needs) can give early warning that things are not quite as they should be. Staff can intervene earlier to prevent someone becoming so ill that they eventually need emergency care in a hospital or care-home. Technology can also help carers go on caring at home by giving them confidence that things are alright.

Our proposal is to increase our use of these technologies; we believe it allows us to offer help when it’s actually needed – not just in case it is.

Being in control

It is becoming widely accepted that people should play as full a role as possible in shaping and delivering their own care, together with their paid and unpaid carers. That way the help people get should be closely tailored to meeting their individual needs and wants.

It should also mean that people feel in control of the decisions which affect their care and their lives.

People’s lives can be affected by ongoing challenges to their health and well-being, for example, enduring mental health problems or addiction to alcohol or drugs. However we also know people can and do recover control in their lives; our role will be to support them on that journey.