Adult Care and Community Wellbeing Executive update

Here’s the latest update on key items from the recent Executive DLT meeting for Adult Care and Community Wellbeing.

Substance misuse services across Public Health and Safer Communities

A proposal to extend the current 12 month posts with We Are You through to the end of the current 12 month contract  in September 2023 has been supported, together with 2 additional workers within the Community Safety team, one for an additional 12 months and the other for two and a half years. Consequently, frontline staff within our substance misuse contract will see case-loads reduce. This will allow more quality time to be spent with each person, which will in turn improve outcomes for them and help reduce growing pressure on frontline practitioners.

Substance misuse services have been working at capacity for some time with delivery continuing through the pandemic. As lockdown restrictions have been relaxed, evidence has shown increased pressures on substance misuse treatment and acute services – recent data shows alcohol specific hospital admissions have risen by 20%, mostly from areas of high deprivation while drug related deaths are 13% higher than anticipated.

The additional funding of £616,500, which will come from the Public Health Grant reserve, will allow time for projects to have an impact on service delivery and any developing issues resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic to surface. All learning from these services will be used to inform the re-commissioning of the service in 2023.

Recruitment of a Carers Practice Lead

A proposal to recruit a Carers Practice Lead through the Covid Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV) budget (initially for two years) has been supported. Many carers, and most of the people they care for, will have been classed as CEV during the pandemic. While that designation no longer exists, it’s essential to continue to support unpaid family carers to stay well, enabling them in turn to support the people they care for. This will also help manage pressure on the health and care system this winter.

This role complements but does not duplicate other Carers Service support. It will ensure best practice to support carers in line with the Care Act within LCC. It will ensure that

·         carers assessments and personal budget arrangements are robust and appropriate

·         appropriate guides, protocols and workforce development are in place

·         the Mosaic system reports on the outcomes for carers with good outcome data

·         mechanisms are in place for customer feedback, quality assurance, contract management and audit

·         carer support is timely, effective and high quality

The council’s duties to unpaid family carers are set out in the Care Act and form a key part of our prevention offer. Focus on ongoing service improvement is essential post-Covid to identify and respond  to changed circumstances. The development of the Integrated Care System and the role of unpaid family carers in maintaining the wellbeing of those they care for is key at a time of unprecedented pressure on health and care services.