Agenda item

VinaySanga, locality managerand Carol Infanti, planning manager from West Kent Adult Social Servicesdiscussed services to care and help older people stay in their own homes and stay independent.

VinaySangar introduced why KASS is changing and how

There is a range of government legislation and factors that is leading to the modernisation of social services.  UK statistics

£8 billion is spent in the UK on personalised care

£3 billion on long term care

36% increase in elderly population

55% of older people will need high care and have long term conditions .

Society has moved on and public expectations have changed. It is right that everyone should have a choice over their our lives.  KASS is changing in a major way, in the way we are structured and the way we deliver services to our customers in the community. The team here all part of a larger area in West Kent. KASS will have three localities in North Kent.  Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley will become one locality and everything will be done in a more inter-agency way in order to make the service quicker. 

KASS have created a new team called “Kent Contact Assessment Team” who will be able to provide you with what you need almost straight away.  A visit will be arranged afterwards to see if things are working.  Small basic needs items will be sent out quickly.  If the need is greater it will come down to the locality to a team called the “Assessment and Enablement Team”. They will then send qualified professionals to do a detailed assessment and then decide what the person’s needs are. Previously the care manager would do the assessment and arrange the care package and it would carry on. What the government wants to do is minimise dependency of older people and maximise their independence (enablement).  KASS will give them as much service as they need to make them as independent as possible, say within six weeks, to try and make them functional so the person becomes independent. 

At this stage assessment will include provision of an individual budget.  You have the choice to take that money and spend it on the open market and buy the homecare from wherever you wish.  Your normal benefits are not stopped. After your budget is sorted out and enablement has been done, if you need on-going care from social services it goes to the next team, “The co-ordination team”. They will help you on a long-term basis by continuing to support you through that period, however if things become drastically different it can be sent back to the Assessment Team, so there is flexibility.

KASS are aiming to support people at home, so they do not need to go into long-term residential homes, to give them choice, dignity and control over their lives.  It will be in place by September/October 2009.

Issues raised

• The new system needs to be simple, easy and gentle and hopefully tailored to meet the needs of those applying.  Call centres needed to be easy to use and understand, some people were likely to ‘switch off’, especially with push button options.  The response was given that it was based on real people in real time. 

• If someone was assessed and found that the assessment could the process be stopped and a review started straight away?  The answer was given that the main emphasis of the changes was that people did not get lost in a jungle of bureaucracy.

• Doctors surgeries should provide services for preventable medicine in Gravesham however in some places it is difficult to see a doctor

• Mental health issues – lady herself won’t call. However KASS say that she needs to come in and ask for help, but she won’t call. This is a real difficulty as when you are not well choice is the last thing on your mind.

Will every person on street know what is on offer and where will the directory of services be? KACAS will have information on the web