An update on the Council’s ‘Living the life you want to live’ Adult Care Strategy, including its performance and delivery in keeping people well and independent for longer at home will be discussed at Adult Health and Social Care Committee this week.
‘Living the life you want to live’ has a vision that ‘everyone in Sheffield lives in a place they can call home, in communities that care, doing things that matter to them, celebrated for who they are - and when they need it, they receive care and support that prioritises independence, choice, and recovery.’
The Adult Health and Social Care Policy Committee will meet on 18th June to discuss the report, which covers several key areas and updates:
- More people are accessing the Council’s ‘First Contact’ team and effective prevention, and signposting is resulting in a lower proportion of people progressing to a Care Act needs assessment.
- Data is also showing improvements in the number of people awaiting an assessment across occupational therapy services and improved response times.
- The successful launch of the Adult Health and Social Care’s Home First transformation will allow for services to work more seamlessly together and have a positive impact on access to reablement, which is vital support in the home after a stay in hospital or an illness.
Working effectively together is continuing to support access to reablement and more timely discharges from hospitals, which will result in more people through the service but fewer of these people requiring long term support.
Work continues with hospital discharges around appropriate referrals so that people go to the right settings. The aim is to continue to reduce referrals to care homes to 1% in accordance with national guidance. Work is in progress alongside partners in Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust and South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board to both maintain and develop the Discharge to Assess model with Mental Health hospital wards.
I am pleased to see the good progress in this update in Adult Health and Social Care against our plan and an important part of this is thanking and recognising all those working in the adult social care sector. Every day they are working together to help people to live the life they want to live. The main aim of our work, through the many work programmes that we are delivering, is supporting people to stay safe, well and independent.
We continue to operate in a difficult landscape due to the increased demand for social care and the increased cost of delivering quality care. We will continue to work in a collaborative way with individuals, carers, those with lived experience, colleagues and partners so that we work as effectively and efficiently as possible. We will continue to report back on our successes, challenges and the risks we face. Where we identify risks, we will make sure that we work hard to reduce those risks and to solve them in the best way that we can.
Councillor Angela Argenzio, Chair of the Adult Health and Social Care Committee at Sheffield City Council
The report shows capacity in care homes and nursing homes with overall occupancy rates running at 87%, meaning that for long term older people’s care home placements there continues to be no waits, due to sufficient vacancies in the market. There is more pressure in the nursing area due to the need for enhanced care, but placements remain available.
Access to planned and emergency respite provision remains a challenge along with the pressure on both residential and respite provisions that have the skills to support individuals with complex risk profiles.
The service is prepared for its Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection and has sent its performance data pack and all other paperwork to the CQC. It brings together Adult Health and Social Care’s narrative and analysis of its strengths and areas for improvement, what the data says, and feedback from staff, customers, families, carers and people with lived experience.
The detailed report including more on the Adult Health and Social Care strengths and achievements, areas of risk and planned action is at: https://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeId=642