Decision details

Proposed decision: To approve ‘Your Life, Your Well-being’ as the Vision and Strategy for Adult Social Care 2016-2021, with the supporting Accommodation Strategy for Adult Social Care and the Community Support Market Position Statement.

How the decision relates to Corporate Objectives: 

Two out of the three KCC Strategic Outcomes are key driving outcomes for the strategy. These are:

1. Older and vulnerable residents are safe and supported with choices to live  independently’, together with the following supporting outcomes:

·         Those with long-term conditions are supported to manage their conditions through access to good quality care and support

·         People with mental health issues and dementia are assessed and treated earlier and are supported to live well

·         More people receive quality care at home avoiding unnecessary admissions to hospital and care homes

·         The health and social care system works together to deliver high quality community services

·         Residents have greater choice and control over the health and social care services they receive

2. Also, the strategic outcome – ‘Kent communities feel the benefits of economic growth by being in-work, healthy and enjoying a good quality of life’, together with the following supporting outcome:

·      Physical and mental health is improved by supporting people to take responsibility for their own health and wellbeing.

Demand for care and support is increasing, which is making finances come under pressure.  At the same time, public expectations are changing; people want a life, not a service. Adult social care needs to continue to respond to these challenges, and the new strategy sets out how we will do this.

The five-year strategy explains plans for the future and it provides the basis for health and social care integration, which is in progress, and aims to deliver more person-centred care and support for people.

The strategy breaks the approach to adult social care into three key themes. These are:

·         Promoting wellbeing – supporting and encouraging people to look after their health and wellbeing to avoid or delay them needing adult social care;

·         Promoting independence – providing short-term supportso that people are then able to carry on with their lives as independently as possible, and;

·         Supporting independence – for people who need ongoing social care support, helping them to live the life they want to live, in their own homes where possible, and do as much for themselves as they can.

Four ‘building blocks’ support the above themes. They are, ensuring effective protectionfor people (safeguarding), developing a flexible workforce, smarter commissioning and improving the way we work with key partners.

The strategy will be delivered through the next phase of the transformation programme journey that we are already on. The details of how we will deliver it will be set out in an implementation plan which is being developed. In summary, this will include activity over the next 18 months around the following:

·         Assessment - this involves investigating the current delivery model and assessing against the proposed alternatives, supported by best practice. It means confirming the expected financial benefits and the changes needed to achieve the benefits. It also involves developing options to inform the next stage;

·         Design – this means testing changes in specific areas and refining the expected financial benefits and, before putting into practice across the county;

·         Implementation - this means putting changes into practice across Kent and monitoring the benefits and making sure that performance is consistent.

Financial Implications:

The financial implications associated with the implementation of the strategy are broadly contained in the Medium Term and Financial Plan 2016-19 and the specific allocation for the adult social care portion out of the Social Care, Health and Wellbeing Directorate budget.

Legal Implications:

None, other than the main responsibilities for Adult Social Care which are defined in the Care Act.

Equality Implications:

An equality impact assessment has been completed, which has been updated using the findings of the consultation.  It should be noted that, due to the relatively low number of responses, it has not been feasible to break down the information by respondent type in detail.  The Equality Impact Assessment has been kept under review throughout the development of the Strategy and will be fully considered when the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health makes the decision to approve the Strategy.

The matter is referred to in the Business Plan/Medium Term Capital Programme.

As Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, I:

APPROVE ‘Your life, your well-being’ as the vision and strategy for adult social care from 2016 to 2021, the supporting Accommodation Strategy for Adult Social Care and the Community Support Market Position Statement;

DELEGATE authority to the Corporate Director of Social Care, Health and Wellbeing, or other nominated officer, to refresh and/or make revisions, as appropriate, to the above documents during their lifetime; and

DELEGATE authority to the Corporate Director of Social Care, Health and Wellbeing, or other nominated officer, to undertake the necessary actions to implement the decision.