Services for older people in Southwark

Sarah McClintonDeputy Director Adult Social Care

15th December 2011

• Snapshot of Southwark population

• Vision for adult social care

• ‘My Support Choices’ – prevention, early intervention and support services in Southwark

Older people in Southwark

• 25,000 over 65s – 9% population• 16,000 live in social housing • 10,000 claiming housing benefit and

pension credits• 9000 live alone • 19% BME - rising

• 11% Southwark households in fuel poverty

Life expectancy in Southwark

• Average life expectancy for men is 77.6 years (national average 77.8)

• ….for women it is 82.9 years (national average 82.3)

Life expectancy at age 65 is higher than London and national averages:

• Men aged 65 can expect to live another 18.4 years

• Women aged 65 can expect to live another 21.7 years

Southwark’s Adult Social Care Vision:

We have a heavy reliance on residential and nursing placements and we want to change this. People have the right to support to live independent lives and to make choices for themselves.

Single point of contact for people who need care and support

Better information and signposting – ‘My Support Choices’

Services to tackle social isolation and practical help

Help to get back on your feet – more short-term help or ‘reablement’

People eligible for support can now choose how they would like to use their ‘personal budgets’

Intensive support will be for the most vulnerable

Safeguards in place for those who are at risk of abuse.

My Support Choices

Launched last week. Mrs Lowing, a housebound wheelchair user, who has recently become an internet user said:

"The internet has changed my life. I can do my own shopping online now and this gives me a sense of normality. I have upcoming major surgery and I have been able to find out lots of information online. Some of my fears have been taken away.”

My Support Choices

My Support Choices• A new online guide to adult social care and other services in the community.

• In Southwark we want to help people keep well and live safely and independently and we want to make sure people can find out about the support available to help them remain as independent as possible.

• Our website is designed to help local people easily explore the options and choices available that meet individual needs, all in one place.

• It has been developed with input from staff and users helping make it a user friendly system.

• Being online means that the information can be updated constantly and more can be added

• Informed by the focus groups earlier in the year which helped identify some of the

concerns that older people have and also the kind of straightforward information people need to help them remain independent.

My Support Choices• Use My Support Choices to find out more about:

– specialist alcohol services including dedicated helpline, support and treatment– social opportunities, connecting people– community alarms – safeguarding people at home – to find a volunteer or neighbourhood helper to help with gardening and other

home maintenance tasks– find out about accessible facilities in the community eg libraries, leisure

activities– short term support to help older people regain confidence

• Our aim is to ensure that people are able to find information that they need easily and quickly, rather than having to telephone the council with queries, or for advice and information only.

• This will maximise our resources to work directly with those people in most need.

Support going online

• Support Choices is easy and quick to use but we recognise that some people are slightly apprehensive about going online and so if local residents need help going online we are encouraging them to visit their local library where staff are able to help or one stop shop which offer free access to the internet with staff on hand to help.

• Dedicated sessions are being set up in libraries to help local residents familiarise themselves with Support choices

• Digital divide – 8 million people nationally don’t use the internet but this figure is reducing rapidly. Research shows helping older people use digital media reduces social isolation.