Agenda item

In attendance for this item were:

Worcestershire County Council

Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Adult Social Care

Elaine Carolan, Interim Director of Adult Services

Richard Keble, Assistant Director of Adult Services

Pauline Harris, Programme Manager for Adult Services

The Programme Manager for Adult Services talked through the presentation included in the agenda, which set out the main messages from the series of roadshows which took place over the Summer across Worcestershire.

The context for the roadshows was the Adult Services Business Plan ‘Promoting Independence’, which set out the Council’s vision to ensure residents are healthier, live longer, have a better quality of life and remain independent for as long as possible. The Plan was not just a duty for Adult Services but was threaded through all of its work. The roadshow also formed part of the Adult Services Directorate’s variety of stakeholder engagement events over the past 12 months.

The Programme Manager was aware that many Panel members had participated in the roadshows and reported that staff and the public had appreciated councillors’ involvement. Locations for the roadshows were chosen according to levels of social care being provided and nearly 1000 people had been spoken with.

The campaign objectives were to:

·       prevent, reduce and delay the need for care

·       promote adult social care – what was offered and what isn’t i.e the myth that everybody was eligible for care

·       help people to find out where they could get support in their local community

·       explain what help was available from social workers, citizens advice bureau, financial assessment teams etc, for example help to check benefit entitlements

The focus of the roadshows was to promote messages about active ageing, public health support, planning for care and consideration of the costs of care. An app was available to let you know your position on the life curve, based on tasks such as no longer being able to cut your toenails, which was one of the first signs of ageing. The app, based on this research from the University of Newcastle, had been very well received.

Adult Services was trying to encourage people to plan for care costs and had started work with financial advisors in Worcestershire to signpost people. More people being able to continue to afford their care would reduce pressures on Adult Services’ budgets, as well as help people avoid or delay the need for residential care.

Information and advice were other areas of development and the Panel was shown examples of information available to the public. Many people requesting information at the roadshows were in their forties, and very digitally capable.

The main messages from the roadshows included questions about assistive technology, local community groups, extra care facilities, combatting loneliness, queries about entitlement to care and for leaflets to start conversations with family members. Many people struggled to start these ‘difficult’ conversations with their families and were grateful for the prompt. Another theme was people feeling overwhelmed with carer and family responsibilities.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care (CMR) agreed that the roadshows had been a very useful start to communicating information about Adult Services, and he had been staggered by the low level of information in the community. More work was therefore planned, including with parishes and the voluntary sector; input and challenge from Scrutiny was welcomed.

The Chairman invited comments from the Panel and the following main points were made:

·       Panel members completely agreed with the roadshow campaign aims, and the ‘human’ approach of going out to talk and listen to people. If people were better informed. the Council would spend less, with more scope to direct budgets appropriately.

·       Funeral planning, making a will and setting up power of attorney were highlighted as important aspects of planning in older age.

·       The roadshows were an effective means of getting messages across, which was more of a challenge for local authorities than for the NHS.

·       The importance of encouraging people to listen was highlighted.

·       When asked whether the app referred to would be the same as that used by social workers, the Officers explained that three options were being looked at. The app for social workers had been set up quickly and cheaply in-house and sharing it wider would involve governance and quality considerations.

·       The Interim Director explained that the roadshow work meant communicating messages from the Council’s ‘Promoting Independence Plan 2018-22’ to a far wider sector of the population. It was important to address increasing demand for Adult Services, which was not matched by available budget and it was therefore important to reduce the number of self-funders who were coming into the Council’s care. The new Directorate structure, incorporating a Directorate of People, would assist.

·       The CMR flagged up the difficulty of planning ahead when the Government’s consultation Green Paper was still awaited.

·       Funeral planning and will making were highlighted as important parts of ageing and it was explained that Registrars would be part of the new Directorate of people.

·       The Panel asked whether there was a long-term plan to continue the communication work and were reassured that this was the case.

·       A Panel member suggested that the role of social workers would be a useful topic for future roadshow campaigns, which the Officers advised was planned.

·       The Cabinet Member pointed out that the roadshows would present a good opportunity to recruit staff, since workforce was an issue nationally.

·       The Officers acknowledged a suggestion that the public would appreciate clarity about the functions provided by the county and district councils, which could be incorporated into the council (as opposed to Adult Services) roadshows.

·       Regarding the formats of information and guidance, a member pointed out the importance of striking a balance between visual appeal with the fact that some members of the public would want to print things out. The suggestion of a separate format for those who wanted to print was taken on board by Officers.

·       The Officers referred to the new reablement service planned for the Spring, which was part of the Council’s work to help people stay at home for as long as possible. The Panel expressed an interest in hearing how the new reablement service progressed.

Overall, the Panel endorsed the forward thinking and down to earth approach of the roadshows and the work to encourage people to start to talk about progression of their lives and planning for older age, which was very important and often overlooked.