The large and complex review of services for older people funded through the Supporting People has been delayed as work undertaken by consultants, Peter Fletcher Associates, looking primarily at sheltered housing, took longer than originally anticipated to complete.
They have now completed their work which will provide the basis for our commissioning discussions, discussions with older people - including service users, and providers.
To view the consultant's report, click here. For further information about the report or for more information on district profiles, please contact us.
There are a number of different strands to this review which will take many months yet to complete:
District level reports from the consultants will kick off the work of district commissioning groups comprising representatives from strategic Housing authorities, Social Care, Health and Supporting People, with representation from the voluntary sector. These groups will come up with district level plans for the services we need to meet the need of our ageing population.
There are also specialist countywide groups. One is discussing the approach to the commissioning of home improvement agencies (see below). Another is looking at the complex issue of community alarms and assistive technology provision across the county.
Finally, there is a group developing an extra care strategy for the county which is also linked to the county council’s modernisation of its own older people’s services.
We are also keen to link into work developing the common assessment framework currently under development by the Department of Health. This could see changes to the way services are accessed in the future. We will provide details once work starts in this area.
Perhaps most importantly, we are keen to link into work taking place locally within Adult Social Care & Health around Putting People First. This is the new government approach looking a putting individuals in control of the services they receive through self directed support and personal/individual budgets. We will have a dedicated post within the team, working alongside social care colleagues, helping develop our plans in this area.
This is the largest strategic review we will undertake within Supporting People as older people’s services make up nearly 90% of the housing support services in Nottinghamshire. Implementation of the outcome of the review is likely to take several years.
Work is starting on local plans now and progress will be reported to the Provider Forum which will also be a key mechanism for consultation with providers.
Current contacts for elements of this review are Mark Douglas – alarms and assistive technology, Sonal Marner - home improvement agencies and Ruth Rigby – extra care.