JIP e-bulletin No.21 April 2011

Welcome to our April issue of the JIP e-bulletin, which brings you details of our priorities for the next two years.

We’ve decided to concentrate our support on initiatives that help improve efficiency, and drive up quality and performance in adult social care. We’ll be reorganising the partnership to help us do this and position ourselves as the much needed link between councils and the NHS.

The DH West Midlands programme of support for Putting People First has also come to an end.  We’d like thank our colleagues in the department for the direction and support they have given to us over the last few years.  They have contributed significantly to transforming adult social care in the region – their legacy report is below. 

Finally, we are always keen to hear about your developments and initiatives. The bulletin is the main way of sharing information and good practice– as can be seen in stories from councils in the Update section of the bulletin.  Please send your contributions to Cathie Louis at cathrinalouis@btinternet.com, telephone 0790 8875533. 

Deadline for the next issue is Friday 6 May 2011.

Andrea Pope-Smith
Chair
Joint Improvement Partnership,
Director of Adults and Communities
Dudley MBC

Personalisation, productivity and efficiency

Published by the Social Care Institute for Excellence, this report focuses on the potential for personalisation, particularly self directed support and personal budgets, to result in cost efficiencies and improved productivity as well as improved care and support.

Download

Safeguarding Children & Adults Congress 2011

Date:     24-25 May 2011
Venue:  Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Westbourne Road, Birmingham
Cost:     See delegates rates     

This event brings together the main players in the safeguarding arena for in-depth discussion, best practice sharing and networking.

Dr Sheila Fish, Senior Research Analyst will be running a workshop examining the practicalities of monitoring and promoting learning around the safeguarding of both adults and children.

For further information please visit the Safeguarding Congress website.

Community Care Live 2011

Date:         18-19 May 2011
Venue:      Business Design Centre, Islington, London
Cost:         Free

This year’s event will help you navigate current policy changes and showcase practice excellence that is really making a positive difference to the workforce and service users, at a time of financial constraint.

Visit the SCIE stand to speak to SCIE staff and pick up copies of all our latest resources. For further information about this event visit the Community Care Live website.

Ageing Well Masterclass: building social capital with older people

Date:         24 May 2011
Venue:      Hyatt regency, Birmingham
Cost:         Free

The Ageing Well programme supports local authorities to develop good places to grow older. This masterclass explores the practical options for harnessing the capacity of local communities, particularly within the context of a reducing public sector.

It looks at:

• working with communities and the voluntary sector to support the development of local services
• the asset-based community development approach and its practical application
• intergenerational working
• examples of alternative models of support for older people.

Contact: Jane Pattulo, telephone: 020 8660 1769, email: lgid@event-x.com

New sector-wide partnership for transforming adult social care

The new Think Local Act Personal Partnership takes over from Putting People First (PPF) the three year programme that ended on the 31 March this year.

The partnership consists of 30 national and umbrella organisations, representing a range of interests in personalisation and community based support. 

Its work will include advising and influencing government, and will focus on six priority areas: personalisaton and personal budgets; developing cost effective and efficient solutions; developing the service provider market and workforce; building community capacity; improving information to the public and highlighting the importance of coproduction.

A work programme will be developed over the coming months. Tools and materials previously held on the PPF website can now be found on the Think Local Act Personal site, which is hosted and maintained by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE).

Read more

Neurology partnership for Staffordshire

Officers from Staffordshire County Council have joined the recently formed Regional Neurological Alliance for the county.

Set up in January this year, the alliance gives a united voice to people affected by any of the 57 neurological conditions affecting the body’s nervous system. 

It will seek to influence decisions about services that meet their needs, and push for integration of services to ensure quality and a holistic approach.

Chair of the Staffordshire Regional Neuro Alliance, John Morgan says:  “I am privileged to be leading an impressive group who are committed to making a difference to the lives of the many living with miserable neurological conditions,and their carers and friends. We believe that we can only do this by forming effective partnerships with decision makers and providers based on mutual understanding open communication and realistic shared goals.”

Network of dementia cafes for Sandwell

A £50,000 network of dementia cafés has opened in Sandwell to help the thousands of people in the borough affected by the condition.

Sandwell Council has worked with Accord Housing Association and other local organisations to launch cafés in the six towns.

More than 3,200 people in the borough are living with dementia, over one per cent of the population, and this figure is expected to continue to rise.

The cafés will give people with dementia and their carers somewhere to go for information, support and advice, and the chance to meet other people.

The two hour drop in cafés are hosted monthly at various venues, at different times, and attended by a coordinator.

Other organisations involved in the scheme are Sandwell Mind, Options for Life, the West Bromwich African Caribbean Resource Centre and BUDS.

For more information or to register interest in attending, telephone Nicole Beeching on 0300 111 7000 or 07818 840982, or email nicoleb@accordha.org.uk

Timely response from first point of contact

Dudley’s Access to Adult Social Care Team has made a marked difference to the way people are given advice, care and support in the area, since it set up less than a year ago. 

Since its launch in June 2010, as a first point of contact, the team has dealt with 600 to 700 enquiries a week, with half of these resolved by providing advice, or referral to an appropriate person.

Responses are consistently prompt, and people needing emergency support have received it the same day.

Information about the team has been circulated to professionals in other agencies, who refer members of public to the team. 

The approach has helped the council to respond to Dudley’s residents in an appropriate and timely way.  Options are being explored to enhance the team’s activities. 

Contact: Steve Jones, TSC team, Email: steve.jones@dudley.gov.uk .

Regional roll out for Dudley care course

Dudley Council’s online course designed to raise awareness of carers’ rights and the services available to them, is being rolled out across the West Midlands.

Funded by DH, the Carer Aware course is aimed at carers, employers and other organisations.

It has been hailed as a great success and is used as a blueprint by at least 35 authorities, nationwide.

The course can be completed by carers or a team of employees. When a number of staff within an organisation complete it, they will be accredited as ‘carer aware’, and be given a sticker to display in their building, so carers will know staff are trained to point them in the right direction for accurate information that will help them in their caring role.

It can be accessed through www.dudley.gov.uk/careraware .

Organisations keen to become carer aware accredited should call Christine Rowley, carers’ co-ordinator on 01384 818723 or email christine.rowley@dudley.gov.uk .

Fast track to integration

NHS West Midlands and ADASS West Midlands are jointly commissioning a fast track development programme for workers in community health, adult social care, children’s service and GP commissioning.

The programme will equip GPs and staff who carry out commissioning or redesign services, with the relevant skills. It also aims to forge close collaborative links between health and social care, necessary for integrated commissioning.

Central to the programme will be developing skills to aid planning and implementation of a QIPP business case. Priorities include:

• rehabilitation and reablement
• preventive services designed to reduce further demand
• redesign of services to help prevent hospital admissions
• transition issues for children with disabilities
• learning disabilities and mental health residential placements. 

Training is intended to cater for multi-disciplinary teams of staff who need to work
collaboratively and make commissioning of integrated care happen. 

Contact: Patricia Barnett, Programme Consultant, Primary Care and PBC, NHS West Midlands, email:  patricia.barnett@westmidlands.nhs.uk;                                                  

Building good places to grow old

Free support is available to local authorities as part of the ageing well programme run by Local Government Improvement and Development (LGID).

Its aim is to help councils prepare for an ageing population and make their area a good place to grow older.

In 2008 there were more people aged over 65 than younger people; one in four people born today will live to 100, and 1.7million more people will need care in twenty years.

Funded by the Department for Work and Pensions, councils participating in the programme will benefit from a diagnosis of needs and the local authorities’ ability to meet them, as well as peer reviews, leadership and officer development, and sharing of good practice.

Contact: Virginia Saynor, Improvement Manager, Ageing Well Programme, West Midlands & North West, Mobile: 0781 0828 432; email: Virginia.saynor@local.gov.uk

Boosting productivity and quality in the NHS

The Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) programme, is designed to support clinicians and NHS organisations improve the quality of care and make efficiency savings.

There are 12 workstreams covering commissioning of care, efficiency, and mechanisms for services to run effectively. 

Workstreams have been identified to ensure the likelihood of improved quality and increase productivity.

Read more

From LINKS to Healthwatch

Government’s HealthWatch Transition Plan is now available, setting out proposals for patients, service users and carers to have a greater say in health and social care.

The plan forms part of government’s wider NHS and care reforms, and builds on current patient involvement arrangements - Local Involvement Networks (LINKs).

New HealthWatch organisations, replacing LINKs, will be set up by 2012, and provide a single point of contact for people seeking information about services. They will also act as consumer champions.

Local authorities will have responsibility for ensuring there is a robust and effective HealthWatch in their area.  

The transition plan sets out what the arrangements should look like when they are working well, and outlines measures to be put in place to support the transition.

Read more

Lasting Legacy for PPF

DH West Midland’s Putting People First (PPF) development programme has ended.

Set up in April 2008, DH specialists helped councils implement a raft of changes needed to transform adult social care, with emphasis on prevention, early intervention, personalisation, and provision of information.

Councils have been left with a legacy of fresh thinking and new approaches to the way services are delivered in the region, giving them a strong basis on which to build care services for the future.

The following summary includes an overview of progress so far; the challenges councils face, and tips for continuing the transformation of adult care:

Carers

• All councils have an online staff training course designed to raise awareness of carers needs and how best to help them
• NHS organisations need to be involved at strategic level in the engagement of carers
• There is need for carers strategies and the implementation of personalised care to be coordinated.

LINKs

• Achievement of LINKs – the  local involvement networks where individuals can air their views and influence health and social care services - is variable
• Healthwatch – the new government initiative to provide people with a single point of contact for seeking advocacy, information, or wanting to express their views, will supercede LINKs.  Rapid implementation is required but the new scheme is not fully understood locally
• Councils have lead LINKs officers who monitor existing contracts. Transition to Healthwatch may need extra or different types of resources.

Dementia

• Take up of benefits for people with dementia is still low and needs to be increased
• Support for the independent and third sector organisations is needed to help them deliver personalised care and reablement services
• Greater use of telecare and touch screen technology is required as part of intervention, prevention and reablement of dementia sufferers
• Precision training of social workers to ensure the right people have appropriate skills for working with people with dementia, is needed

Dignity

• A more concerted effort is required to mobilise 3000 dignity champions in the region to support delivery of:

          -personalisation

          -telecare

          -safeguarding

          -commissioning services to support the dignity programme

          -LINKs/Healthwatch

Valuing People Now

• Investment in employment support leading to paid work for people with a disability, has proved to be financially efficient

• An employment toolkit is available on the Valuing People Now and BASE websites  
• Ensure people with a learning disability are fully represented in Joint Strategic Needs Assessments, with particular attention to areas such as young people in transition, people with complex needs requiring bespoke housing solutions, and people living with older family carers

Safeguarding

• Councils are urged to set up mechanisms for regional coordination of safeguarding practices and procedures
• Continue with close collaboration between staff responsible for personalisation and safeguarding
• Develop risk assessment and risk management policies that incorporate positive risk taking
• Ensure continued collaboration with health authorities
• Make safeguarding the vehicle for continuation of the dignity programme, and implementation of the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty.

JIP projects prove their worth

The initial results from the automated pill dispenser pilot project, shows over £2,000 of savings per person receiving a service; while latest figures for savings from use of the care funding calculator (CFC) exceed £5million.

The calculator is a free Excel spread sheet based tool, used to gauge prices and negotiate the cost of residential and supported living care. 

Use of CFC will be extended to mental health teams in the area, starting with South Staffordshire, North Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire PCTs. Work is also underway to develop and implement Care Funding Calculator tools for Special Educational Needs (SEN) placements and residential placements for children.

The automated pill dispenser has an alarm which is set to remind people when to take their medication.  The pilot has been set up to build a business case for increased use of the dispenser by local authorities and PCTs in the region.

The first 64 users who have completed their pilot period have generated savings in social health and care services of £144,000, the equivalent of £2,257 per person, per year. 

The scope of the pilot will be broadened to include newly formed pathfinder organisations, as well as Memory Centres in the region.

For further information about the Care Funding Calculator Project, contact Mihir Trivedi, mobile: 07977 160 163, email:  mihir@hb21.co.uk

For further information about the Automated Pill Dispenser Project, contact Andy Jackson-   mobile: 07815 073611, email: andy.jackson@ntlworld.com

JIP priorities agreed

The JIP’s priorities for the next two years have been agreed and will focus on promoting quality, performance and efficiency.

The decision was made following the announcement by Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands to keep a revamped partnership going until April 2013.

From now on the JIP will act as the strategic link between local authorities and the NHS.

The old steering group will be replaced by a network of local authority assistant directors, who will be responsible for implementing regional projects. They will also provide development opportunities for practitioners, and peer support. 

Priority areas are:

The NHS’ Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) programme, for assisting clinical staff and NHS organisations to improve the quality of care they provide, while making efficiency savings.

The partnership will work on initiatives to:

• Enhance recovery times of patients who receive non-emergency treatment, by providing appropriate reablement services
• promote prevention and early intervention care services for people with dementia
•  encourage early intervention in mental health
• reduce out of area placements.

Efficiency, specifically:

•  expanding use of the  Care Funding Calculator
• integrating assistive technology into care, with emphasis on learning disability and dementia placements
• optimising reablement services 
• improving systems and processes in work and services
• responding collectively to financial challenges emerging from year two of the Comprehensive Spending Review.

A detailed business plan will be produced over the coming weeks.

The JIP is a programme board for Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands (IEWM) which is the name of the Regional Improvement and Efficiency partnership (RIEP).

Contact: Matt Bowsher, Regional Transformation Lead; telephone: 0121 245 0170, email: mbowsher@westmidlandsiep.gov.uk