Care Act Phase 1 Implementation

From the point of view of a resident seeking to access information and advice

Health & Adults Care Scrutiny Panel

30 September 2015

Let’s Briefly Recap• The Care Act modernises the framework of care and

support law:– New duties for local authorities– New rights for service users and carers– New care standards

• The social care reforms came into effect April 2015 • The financial reforms and a new appeals system were

due to come into effect April 2016. • However, the government has delayed the introduction

of the care cap to April 2020, and deferred the introduction of a new appeals system, date to be advised.

Let’s Briefly Recap – cont’dWhat were the Phase 1 social care reforms?• A duty to provide prevention, information and advice services.• A national minimum threshold for eligibility for both service users

and carers.• The entitlement for carers to assessment, support services and

review equal to that of the service user.• The right for people who pay for their own care to receive advice

and support planning.• A universal system for deferred payments for residential care.• The introduction of statutory Adult Safeguarding Boards and

associated responsibilities for adult protection.• Transitional arrangements/assessments for children moving to

adult social care and support• Care and support duties to prisoners.

Changes we made to meet our duties

• Designed, implemented and embedded a new customer pathway including the new national eligibility criteria.

• Developed a single generic Adult First Contact Service extending across a number of areas including Adult Social Care, Housing and Housing related support and Occupational Therapy.

• Embedded the principle of the safeguarding of vulnerable adults in all adult social care services.

• Improved our information and advice offer including the development of CarePlace our main digital platform for information and advice.

• Updating our hard copy information for those who do not access the internet. • Carer assessment, support services and review now follows the same resident pathway as

for service users. • Designed in partnership with Feltham Young Offenders Institution an adult social care

service for the 18+ to meet the new duties LAs have towards adult prisoners.• Implemented a Deferred Payment Agreement (deferring the financial contribution payable

by those in residential care against the sale of their property in the future).• Produced and published Hounslow’s Market Position Statement.

and … Changes to Support Further Integration with HealthAs part of the transformation programme to implement the Care Act, restructuring of teams and services to support further integration with Health has been undertaken including:

• Five Locality Teams established aligned with their GP practices. • Community Recovery Service established - an integrated service with

Health to successfully support residents back to independence and living well at home.

• Extended Hospital Adult Social Work Service provided supporting delivery of prompt discharge and minimise readmissions. Available now at weekends and longer opening times weekdays.

For residents seeking to access services or advice – the customer journey

The Council’s duty to facilitate access to information and advice

The information offer

• CarePlace• Guide to my Social Care and Support• Information guide for people with

learning disabilities ‘Living Life to the Full’ – in accessible format

CarePlace

CarePlace is an online directory that provides information about care and community services as well as advice and information.

CarePlace is now much easier to use, with an improved look and feel, and information on hundreds of local organisations.

CarePlace – supporting residents to access the help and advice they need through a pre-assessment tool

Financial information and advice

• Duty to facilitate access to independent financial advice

• Webpage• CarePlace• Staff training

Funding your care and support needs – independent financial advice

Extract from Hounslow webpage

Duty towards the deafblind

• Establish & maintain Register/Record for DeafBlind adults • Ensure assessments of need for care and support are carried

out by people with specific training • Provide appropriate services for deafblind people.• Provide specially trained one-to-one support workers when

necessary.• Provide accessible information and advice for deafblind people.• Establish that a Director-level member of the local authority

senior team has overall responsibility for deafblind services.

Duty towards the Deafblind - cont’d

Work is underway to improve services for the deafblind, including:• Creating a deafblind register/record with an

accountable manager as owner.• Training for practitioners.• Reviewing information and advice available for

deafblind adults.• Looking at whether there is a need to raise

awareness in community.• Investigating whether any gaps in provision.• Linking with Children’s Services.

Adults assessed as eligible for council-funded adult social care in 2014/15 3638

Adults who were assessed for social care during April – May 2015/16 621

Adults who were assessed for social care during April and May 2015 who meet the new eligibility threshold

584

Carers who received council support in 2014/15 913

Carers who were assessed during April and May 2015 77

Carers who were assessed during April and May 2015 who are eligible for services

69

Early days – no increase in April and May 2015 for Adults eligible for council-funded care or to the numbers of carers eligible for services. Increases are expected. Use of trusted assessors and on-line self referral are 2 of the actions taken to increase capacity to respond to requests for assessments.

Impact on demand

Conclusion

• Phase 1 Care Act reforms have been implemented. • National ADASS Care Act Stocktake undertaken in June 2015

demonstrated that Hounslow had made very good progress and implementation has gone well.

• To achieve this we have undertaken a major transformation programme to reorganise services and team structures.

• This is the biggest overhaul of adult social care legislation for over 60 years.

• Final DOH guidance was published October 2015. Implementation date April 2015 - 6 months only to prepare. We therefore have a number of task and finish groups undertaking short-term work where needed until December 2015 to support Care Act compliancy.

Chris PierreHead of Care Act Implementation

020 8583 3021

Care.act@hounslow.gov.uk