Agenda item

      Report of the Chief Executive

Councillor Jane Davies, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, SEND, and Transition & Inclusion, presented a report summarising the draft Wiltshire Independent Living Strategy 2022-2027. This aimed to maximise the independence, choice and control for people with a mental health condition, learning disability and/or autism spectrum disorder in Wiltshire by providing the right accommodation and support in the right place at the right time.

Councillor Davies stated the strategy would involve an ambitious programme of work, and that health partners and the voluntary sector as well as social care providers had been engaged with in order to draft the strategy.

Cabinet Members offered their support for the strategy, including the creativity involved in developing constructive approaching for example in respect of housing.

Councillor Gordon King, Vice-Chairman of Health Select Committee, thanked the Cabinet Member and officers for presenting the report to the Committee. He noted the recommendations. He welcomed commitment to develop service specifications and business cases to plug gaps in services that had been identified, with the Committee looking forward to updates on delivery of the strategy.

At the conclusion of discussion, it was then,

Resolved:

That Cabinet agrees the five principles outlined in the report and the following key actions:

In the short-term (next 12 months) we will:

·       Make sure our processes are clear to everybody, to ensure smooth pathways for housing and social care

·       Build on our needs analysis and agree new ways of delivering and commissioning the right housing and care

·       Establish arrangements for indemnifying housing providers if a person lacks capacity to sign a tenancy, to give housing market confidence

·       Explore the feasibility of deregistering residential care and be in the process of remodelling to supported living

·       Identify where there are opportunities to provide value for money and improve outcomes by Council having a role in the provision of housing and/or care

·       See excellent joint working across Bath & North East Somerset (BSW) Integrated Care Board (ICB)

In the medium-term (the next 2-3 years), we will have:

·       Recommissioned our framework of care and support providers (known as the Good Lives Alliance (GLA)

·       Fully implemented a dynamic system Provider Assessment and Market Management Solution (PAMMS) which will improve the collection and analysis of data

·       Implemented the South West Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) framework for out-of-County residential care

In the longer-term (the next 4-5 years), we will:

·       Have developed a pipeline of accommodation schemes to meet needs, and be well on the way to delivering these

·       Be consistently measuring people’s satisfaction and outcomes

Reason for Decision

We currently face several challenges which stop us realising the vision set out
above:

Housing and care markets in Wiltshire provide limited quality and
choice – we need a new approach to commissioning accommodation
and support, including where appropriate intervening in the market,
building or buying new housing in the right places, providing support and
modelling good-practice.

There is a lack of focus on recovery – especially for people with
mental health conditions. With robust needs analyses, we will develop
business cases for new models of support which promote independence
and recovery.

There is a lack of housing and care options in the right place –
especially for people with learning disabilities and autism spectrum
conditions. This leads to an over-provision of out of County and/or
residential settings, where independent living closer to home would
deliver better outcomes. We will create more housing choices for
people, including building where they are most needed.

Housing and care provision is often not well aligned – through our
commissioning functions, we are developing stronger relationships with
and between housing and care providers. Internally, we will review our
own processes to make sure these are clear and seamless.

Pathways are not always clear to the public – we will provide clear
information to help people find accommodation and support which meet
their needs..