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In this issue:
Welcome to the last bulletin of the year and how things have changed in a year!
This time last year we were teetering on the edge of another round of pandemic related restrictions with advice to ‘make careful choices’ over who to see in the run up and over the Christmas period, whereas now I’m sure we are all looking forward to the first Christmas for three years where we can spend time as we wish with friends, families and loved ones. Coming out of the pandemic some of us may have been hoping for a more stable and predictable year whereas it has been anything but with the global impacts of climate change causing floods and heatwaves, war in Europe, the population of the planet passing 8 million, inflation surging and cost of living escalating as a result and the death of HRH Queen Elizabeth II.
These global events really do have an impact on our work and lives – we’ve needed to step up support to vulnerable people in the summer heatwaves, and the impact of cost of living is impacting on us personally as well as the people we support. These factors combined with the raft of public sector strikes over the winter and this month in particular mean there is no surprise that many people are feeling the strain.
We don’t know what 2023 has in store for us but whatever it is we can expect more challenges – as a result it is more important than ever that we support each other as colleagues and friends and celebrate the positives when they come. Since the last bulletin we have held a ‘well-being week’, and held an engagement event for people with care and support needs and their carers to listen to the issues people are dealing with and try and find practical ways to support. We will continue to do more of this in 2023.
In November, for the first time we held celebration event that gave the opportunity to recognise the contributions of a number of colleagues in social care who their peers and managers had nominated. The event really highlighted the ‘big team’ nature of Adult Social Care and the amount of respect people have for each others contributions. It always has been and always will be a privilege to work with so many committed people and left me confident that whatever lies ahead we can face it together.
Merry Christmas
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As part of the People at the Heart of Care: adult social care reform white paper, local authorities are required to complete a Fair Cost of Care exercise to arrive at a shared understanding with providers of the local cost of providing care. In addition, authorities are required to publish a Market Sustainability Plan detailing how they plan on working towards the fair cost of care (where this is not already being paid) over the next 3 years.
In undertaking the exercise, local authorities will be looking to identify the lower quartile, median and upper quartile costs in the local area for the following care categories:
- 65+ care homes
- standard residential care
- residential care for enhanced needs
- standard nursing care
- nursing care for enhanced needs
- 18+ domiciliary care (home support – excluding short term or reablement provision.
The Department of Health considers the median cost of care across the market to be the 'Fair Cost' and has indicated they will provide additional funding over the next few years to move towards this fair cost where local authorities are paying below this rate. Please note, however, with the supposed "fair" rate being a median there will be as many rates above it as below. This does not mean if providers are above the median that the rate is "unfair". Likewise, where rates fall below the median, providers are not entitled to an immediate fee uplift; this may however indicate work is required to move the rate towards a fair cost
Coventry has now completed the first part of the exercise and has submitted our draft Market Sustainability Plan to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). Work is now underway to develop our final Market Suitability Plan in readiness for submission in February 2023.
Further details in respect of the outcome of the exercise will be published following authorisation from the DHSC.
Update following Autumn Statement on the implementation of a lifetime cap on care costs
Adult Social Care Charging reforms - Care Cap delay until 2025 announced.
The cap on the amount anyone in England spend on their personal care over their lifetime was due to be implemented from October 2023.
Jeremy Hunt (Chancellor of the Exchequer) on 17 November 2022 in the Autumn Statement, announced a two-year delay to the adult social care charging reforms, including the £86,000 cap on care costs, which has now delayed the implementation until October 2025.
If you require information with regard to paying for care, please visit paying for your care.
Adult Social Care Stakeholder Group
The Adult Social Care Stakeholder Group meets every other month to discuss any upcoming developments, projects and changes. They are there to influence, make changes and help us improve the experience of people accessing Adult Social Care.
The group is made up of people receiving support, carers and voluntary sector organisations. In June we met to discuss key topics such as Social Care Reforms, the upcoming Adult Social Care Offer and Our Approach to engagement.
October's Meeting
In October's Meeting we discussed the recommissioning of Home Support Provision in Coventry and Jason Bejai (Commissioning Manager) attended to talk about involvement in developing the service for the future and what the challenges are in this current climate.
The group also heard from different staff in Adult Social Care about reforms in social care, from the Fair Cost of Care Exercise, CQC Reforms and Care Cap.
The next meeting is planned for 21 February, were we will be discussing how we Quality Assure provision.
If anyone you're working with springs to mind then please let them know about the group. You can email GetInvolvedASC@coventry.gov.uk for more information.
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Having a carer's assessment?
If you look after someone, a friend, a loved one, a neighbour sometimes it can be hard to think about the support you need yourself. But support is available when you need it. A carer's assessment is a good way of starting those conversations and thinking about your own needs.
Who can have a carer's assessment?
Anyone providing care for an adult is entitled to a carer's assessment.
What is a carer's assessment?
It's the opportunity for you to talk to a professional about your caring role, how it impacts you, what you'd like
We will explore what is important to you, how your caring role impacts you, what parts of your caring role you want to maintain, need support with or want to end. We will explore how regularly you are able to take breaks and the other areas of your life that are important to you. A carer's assessment will also help you think about the future and what support you might need in the event of an emergency.
We will complete a support plan with you if required (and jointly with the person you are caring for) and will review this as your needs change over time.
What might happen as a result of an assessment?
The practitioner will work with you to see what support is available and what might help. It might even be that feeling listened too and having the opportunity to talk about your experiences has helped in itself. It might be that you need a bit more support, perhaps care and support for the person you're looking after, so they will support you to access help available.
Who does the Carers Assessment?
We work in partnership with the Carers Trust Heart of England to provide carers’ support services. The contact details for Carers Trust Heart of England can be found in part three ‘useful information’
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Carers' bulletin
If you want to find out more about what's going on for carers every month, please subscribe to our monthly carers' bulletin. We let you know everything that is going on across the city for carers, any groups or training, consultations and helpful information. Subscribe to the carers' bulletin.
Please see our cost of living support webpage containing a range of useful information regarding support with the current cost of living crisis and also wellbeing support. There is lots of useful information available on the pages, for example help to reduce outgoings, struggling to pay rent and wellbeing support. This source of information is aimed at offering guidance and information for everyone living in Coventry.
Coventry residents can get free energy advice by contacting the Act on Energy advice line: 0800 988 2881. Act On Energy is a charity commissioned to provide information, advice and guidance as well as physical interventions (depending on eligibility).
The pressures in the last two years have left households struggling more than ever to pay their energy bills. Having a better understanding of fuel poverty, and what steps can be taken to tackle it, could help you support those most in need.
Act on energy are delivering a number of online training sessions that will cover:
- What is Fuel Poverty – and its impact
- Understanding the Energy Crisis, inc. a global and UK perspective, the price cap and why this is happening
- What help is available now
- Longer term solutions
Front line workers or anyone wishing to learn more about the current cost of living crisis are welcome to sign up to the free online training.
Read more and book onto planned dates.
Alternatively, if you would like to arrange in person training for you and your team, please email administration@actonenergy.org.uk or call 0800 988 2881 (please note this will require a minimum of 10 attendees).
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Approval to implement the proposal to develop Maymorn Day Service into a Dementia Hub was granted on Monday 3 October 2022 and our feet haven’t touched the ground since!
What has happened so far
The staffing restructure has been implemented, freeing up more capacity to deliver outreach work whilst retaining two days of a traditional day service. This was implemented from 7 November 2022 and already the outreach has increased from approx. 40 hours to 70 hours with nine people on the waiting list. We are in the process of recruiting three more outreach support worker posts which will enable us to increase the outreach capacity to the target of 96 hours a week.
Multi agency working
The steering group has been set up to oversee various aspect of the project, key members from Arden Memory, Alzheimer’s Society and Age UK to name a few are on the group. The same group is responsible for creating a schedule of events that will operate from the hub. Further group work is up and running with members of Alzheimer’s Society focus group, a group of people living with Dementia who are actively involved in monitoring the progress of the project.
Building works
Plans have been designed and planning permission application submitted. Building work will hopefully start just before Christmas which will take until April/May time to finish. Building works will include an extension to the day service space, the creation of s social space for people living with dementia, their carers and professionals involved and a dementia friendly Café.
Dementia Treasure Map
Work is currently underway to explore developing a dementia friendly treasure map of all services both formal and informal so that people living with dementia, their carers and professionals involved can easily see what’s on/available in the local area. This work will support Alzheimer’s Society Dementia connect advisors to be the single point of contact for advice and support.
Recruitment
Further recruitment will be undertaken in January 2023 for Lifestyle coordinator’s/Café Coordinators and outreach support worker posts specifically to support Young Onset dementia so keep an eye on the job opportunities page if interested.
There are lots of other pieces of work going on as part of the Hub’s development but too much to mention now.
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The latest Adult Social Care Annual Report and Key Areas of Improvement 2021/22 has now been published.
The report describes the performance of Adult Social Care and the progress made in Coventry against the priorities for the year. Looking back at the year 21/22 a year that saw us come out of a national lockdown, be part of a widescale vaccination programme for social care staff and a raft of government reforms, that will have implications for future delivery.
The report includes powerful experiences of people navigating adult social care. It also explains the latest adult social care offer describing what people can expect when they contact the Council, how they can participate in the Council’s work, and useful links to information and advice.
Cllr Mal Mutton, Cabinet Member for Adult Services, said: “We put the report together to help us reflect on where we have made improvements and where more work needs to be done.
“It also sets out what people can expect from our services – explained in our adult social care offer.
“Things have become more challenging over recent year’s but we always strive to help people to live as independently as possible and there are examples of where this has happened through practical steps.
“The Council is having to get to grips with a lot of government reforms and this is presenting new challenges that will require time and resources to meet but which we will have to overcome.
“This is also despite the uncertainty of not knowing what this Government has in store and despite their inability to tackle the real concerns of recruitment and retention of staff.” She added: “It is the reality that as life expectancy increases more people are likely to require support from social care.
“Where people do need to come to social care for support we will do everything we can in Coventry to make that process as clear and supportive as possible – and we will do this through hard work, resilience, compassion and through the dedication of staff and in supporting people who require care and support - that is our absolute commitment.” The Adult Social Care Annual Report reflects the performance and activities throughout the main period of the COVID-19 pandemic to date. In 2021/22 the Council spent £110.4m on Adult Social Care compared to equivalent spend of £103.2m in 2020/21, with the increase largely driven by additional resources of £8.2m provided to the care market in response to the pandemic.
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On 10 November we held the first of a series of Adult Social Care engagement events that will take place throughout the year, at community venues across the city. These events will help us to share the new Adult Social Care Offer and other related information to help support people who may need to access our services and their families and carers.
The event was held in the Central Methodist Hall in the city centre and was well attended with over 80 people dropping in to learn more, ask questions and give feedback on our services. Along with a variety of Adult Social Care teams represented at the event partners from; Act on Energy, Public Health, Carers Trust and Eon were among a range of associated information stands included.
This first event has given us the opportunity to test out this approach and feedback has confirmed that there is definitely an appetite for information and advice events in community settings to supplement our on-line and customer services centre offers.
Look out for future dates – we plan the next one to be held out of the city centre in March 2023.
Real time experience survey
If you've had a recent assessment or support provided from Adult Social Care then we'd like to hear more about your experience. You can provide your feedback by accessing Access the Adult Social Care Experience survey. The survey is open to anyone whose received support from Adult Social Care recently and any carer who may have received support.
We use any feedback to make sure we develop and improve our services and understand more about the realities of receiving support through Adult Social Care.
The survey asks for your Care Director ID which can be found on any assessment or support plan you will have received as part of your care journey.
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Why flu vaccination is important
Flu vaccination is important because, while flu is unpleasant for most people, it can be dangerous and even life threatening for some people, particularly those with certain health conditions.
The best time to have your flu vaccine is in the autumn or early winter before flu starts spreading. But you can get your vaccine later.
Who can have the flu vaccine?
The flu vaccine is given free on the NHS to adults who:
- are 50 and over (including those who will be 50 by 31 March 2023)
- have certain health conditions
- are pregnant
- are in long-stay residential care
- receive a carer's allowance, or are the main carer for an older or disabled person who may be at risk if you get sick
- live with someone who is more likely to get a severe infection due to a weakened immune system, such as someone living with HIV, someone who has had a transplant, or is having certain treatments for cancer, lupus or rheumatoid arthritis
Where to get the flu vaccine
You can have the NHS flu vaccine at:
- your GP surgery
- a pharmacy offering the service – if you're aged 18 or over
- some maternity services if you're pregnant
Sometimes, you might be offered the flu vaccine at a hospital appointment.
If you have a flu vaccine at any NHS service except your GP surgery, you do not have to tell the surgery to update your records. This will be done for you. If you’ve been given a flu vaccine privately, or through an occupational health scheme, you can tell your GP surgery if you would like it added to your NHS record.
Where can I book
You can arrange your flu vaccine with your GP or book online.
COVID autumn booster
A season booster is now available for COVID-19 for people who fall into the following categories:
- aged 50 or over
- pregnant
- aged 5 and over and at high risk due to a health condition
- aged 5 and over and at high risk because of a weakened immune system
- aged 16 and over and lives with someone who has a weakened immune system
- aged 16 and over and is a carer, either paid or unpaid
- a frontline health and social care worker
The appointment dates you'll be offered will start from 3 months (91 days) after your previous dose.
Book your booster.
Coventry City Council has recently collaborated with EON in promoting their Homes for Living programme, a scheme aimed at supporting people to live better for longer in the comfort of their own homes by installing discrete, minor adaptations free of charge.
The scheme is open to all Coventry residents regardless of which energy provider they are with and aims to support those who could benefit from having such installations but may not be seen by adult social care. Find out more information on the EON scheme.
On Tuesday 29 November an event was held at Friargate which celebrated the efforts and hard work of staff across the service.
We were grateful that Councillor Mal Mutton was able to join us to present some awards alongside Pete Fahy, Head of Adult Services and Housing and Sally Caren, Head of Adult Social Care and Support.
We were overwhelmed with the number of nominations received, the panel which was made up of a variety of staff from across the service had a very difficult job selecting the winners!
We presented awards such as the Hidden Gem award, Extra Mile award and Lifetime Achievement. As well as presenting awards to the winners nominated by peers, we also took the opportunity to celebrate those who had achieved academic awards over the last 3 years.
"It was really lovely to hear about all the great achievements of staff across Adult Social Care. It is great that staff have been given this recognition as they work very hard and often don’t get much recognition for what they do."
"Was great fun! Nice to be recognised at what we are doing and a really enjoyable day!"
"The celebration was a lovely event to meet, chat and share lunch with old colleagues and meet new ones. It was great to hear such positive words said about the winners and of the amazing work they do every day, good for all to understand what a difference they make."
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or email GetinvolvedASC@coventry.gov.uk
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