Adult Social Care Newsletter Issue 3: Care Bill, Meals, Carers Strategy, Autism Strategy, WFD Update, Mental Capacity newsletter, Safeguarding training newsletter, CSC contact numbers

Main header

Issue 3                                                                                                               5th June 2014 

Ppat

Welcome to the new Adult Social Care Newsletter providing staff with one source of information relating to adult care management, social care provision and commissioning.

If you are a manager please ensure these details are read and understood by your team members.

If you know of any staff who are not receiving the newsletter, please let us know.

 


Sub-care-managementSub new

Care Act 2014 (Care and Support Bill)

The Care Bill gained Royal Assent in mid May and is now a formal act.  This is a significant change to social care.  A simple overview of the act is available, and all Cluster Managers, Practice Managers and Team Leaders have a copy. 

 Internally, a Care Act Project Board has been set up to plan and co-ordinate the work.  The majority of changes are to be implemented April 2015, with financial changes April 2016.  There will be regular updates over the next few months, but look out for public consultation on draft regulations and guidance which is due out at the end of May.  The consultation will last for 10 weeks and these documents will give you an idea of some of the detail behind the changes e.g. new eligibility threshold (replacing FACS) amongst many others.

 For further information or questions email Freya Woodward.  


Service Review Update - Meals

All views have been carefully considered and a decision has now been reached about the future of community meals in Devon. Please go to the website for the full consultation findings report.

A decision has been made to no longer have a meals contract and to move to a sign posting model. 

As a result the County’s meals contract with Apetito will cease on 30th June 2014.  This decision removes any cost subsidy for meal provision and also enables people to use whichever supply they want without the need for a social care referral.  Should there be no available option for a person, then a social care assessment may be required to look at alternatives.  Reviews are commencing with each of the current service users to ensure that alternative arrangements are in place for 1st July 2014.  This is being managed by Care Direct Plus.  Apetito have also sent a letter to all existing users giving details of private costs for hot and frozen meals and offering an ongoing service.  Many are anticipated to remain with Apetito as a direct customer.

If you are currently case managing a service user with a hot or frozen meal service or have any further questions then please contact Emma Bewes, Operational Lead

For further information relating to the project please contact Hannah Hurrell (Project Manager)


Carers Strategy

The joint Devon Carers’ Strategy will shortly be published.  It will be launched on June 12th at an implementation workshop.

Main themes for development are improving the ways mainstream health and social care services recognise and work with carers,  identifying more carers, improving access to bookable respite  AND developments with Young Carers.  For Young Carers we are trialling specific Health and Wellbeing Checks.  With General Practice we will be looking to develop a simple, easily adoptable approach to quality for carers to complement existing good practice, and taking part in a national Carer Friendly Pharmacy pilot.


Autism Strategy

The National Autistic Society, who are working with Health Watch Devon, have been commissioned to undertake consultation for the development of a Joint Autism Strategy for Devon. 

Events are being held around the county for people with autism, their carers and other interested parties to attend.  

The dates still available are 11th June in Okehampton and 17th June in Cullompton.  Please encourage people who may be interested to attend.  Places can be booked via the Health Watch Devon website.  


Workforce Development Update

Course Information:

PPAC1 for 2014/15 is underway.  Make sure you book on soon to guarantee a venue close to your work place.

Excellence In Social Care for this financial year will begin in the summer.  Please find below links to the online booking system.  Again, please book early to ensure you can get to a venue in your area. 

o    All registered Social Workers – Click to book on

o    ART / CCWs – Click to book on

o    OT’s / ROVIs / ROHIs – Click to book on

o    Brokers – Click to book on

Record Keeping and Court Skills for Social Workers: This is the final year in which we will be providing the course in its current format.  If you are in a social work post and have not done this yet please book onto one of the three dates available. There will be no more sessions once these are full. 

Induction courses for new staff to Devon or staff new to a role – Click to book on

Social Work network 5th JulyClick to book on

OT Network 9th JulyClick to book on

Registered Social Workers don’t forget - Your registration will need to be renewed between September and November of this year.  Visit the HCPC website for further information regarding portfolio requirements. 

Research Messages:

The 94th Research and Policy Update from Research in Practice for Adults (RiPfA) is available now.  This issue contains an interesting article by the Institute for Public Policy Research about the increasing demands and collective solutions to care in an ageing population.


Mental Capacity Law Newsletter

The May edition of the Mental Capacity Law Newsletter is now available:


Safeguarding Adults, Mental Capacity & Deprivation of Liberty Training Newsletter

The latest edition of the Safeguarding training newsletter  is now available.


Sub finally

Customer Service Centre - Contact numbers are changing

From Monday 2nd June 2014 all of the Customer Service Centre 0845 numbers will be migrating over to 0345; so the new number for Care Direct will be 0345 155 1007.  All of the old 0845 numbers will continue to operate as normal until 31st December 2014, with messages being played to callers informing them of the changes.  From 1st January 2015 anyone calling the old 0845 numbers will then hear an unobtainable tone.

The change is being made because landline and mobile providers are required by Ofcom to bundle calls to 03 prefixed numbers into any ‘inclusive minutes’ packages.  Revenue sharing, where the dialled party can receive a share of the charge made to the caller, is also not allowed on 03 prefixed numbers.  These rules apply to calls made from any line including mobile, payphone, BT or other fixed line provider, so it is hoped this change will be of significant benefit to all customers calling the Customer Service Centre, with no appreciable cost to DCC.

Over the next 6 months, please can you ensure any references to the Customer Service Centre 0845 numbers on voicemail messages, email out of office messages, printed materials, web pages, letterheads etc. are changed to refer to 0345.  Workers should also be aware that if they are giving out the Care Direct number to members of the public or partner agencies, they should be quoting the 0345 number – 0345 155 1007.

The Customer Service Centre has arranged for their web pages etc. to be updated to reflect the changes; and any recent service launches have already been given the 0345 number(s).  In addition the Customer Service Centre has been given a complete list of GP surgeries by Public Health, so all surgeries will be emailed to inform them of the change.  The Corporate Communications Team will also be publicising this externally, but it would be helpful if you could contact any other partner agencies that you think might be affected and inform them that any references they use should also be changed to refer to 0345.

Please contact your Customer Service Centre contact if you any queries.


Sb-commissioning

Advocacy Contract

New Advocacy services for adults, young adults and children recently started delivering on 1st April 2014.

These services are structurally independent of the statutory authorities and have been re-commissioned through a competitive tender.  For further information and details of drop in / awareness sessions from the providers click here 


logos