Improvement Service

This paper from IRISS (Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services) explores the integration of health and social care services. It examines the evidence base for partnership and integrated working within health and social care, looking in particular at financial evidence and the limits of structural change, and discusses the experiences of early adopters of different forms of health and social care integration in England (Torbay, Knowsley, North East Lincolnshire, Somerset and Sedgefield).

This report from the Audit Commission provides guidance for councils and the NHS on how to support joint working between social care and health services. It sets out a list of questions that can be used to identify where value for money could be improved in four areas: high or rising emergency hospital admissions; high or rising admissions to residential or nursing care; high or rising numbers of people discharged from hospital direct to residential or nursing homes; and low or falling numbers of people dying at home. It also includes some examples of good practice.

This report and case studies from the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) provides snapshots of good practice in delivering social care to adults. Written in response to the BBC Panorama investigation of Winterbourne View care home, it aims to show that social care need not be institutional, expensive, and poor quality; that many providers deliver excellent, high-quality support and transform peoples’ lives. It also highlights the key ingredients for successful outcomes through a handful of case studies.

This paper from the Centre for Housing Policy reviews the evidence on the cost effectiveness of preventative support services that assist older people with care and support needs to remain in their own homes, and contrasts these with the costs of specialist housing options, such as sheltered and extra care housing, and health services. The paper looks at handyperson schemes, adaptations, alarm systems, telecare models and floating housing support services.

Report from the Association of Directors of Adult Services which explores issues around improving practice and securing desired outcomes for: carers speaking up about abuse or neglect within the community or within different care settings; carers who may experience intentional or unintentional harm from the person they are trying to support or from professionals and organisations they are in contact with; and carers who may unintentionally or intentionally harm or neglect the person they support. The report is addresses the issues of leadership, partnership, empowerment, prevention, recognition and reporting, protection and proportionality, and learning and accountability.

Demographic change and financial pressures are combining to create tough times for adult social care. The population is ageing. People with learning difficulties are living longer. At the same time, funding for local councils has been cut, although the NHS will be making more money available for social care. Using the latest national data available, this Audit Commission briefing presents the starting point for local authority decisions on adult social care spending over the next three years. It also sets out the approaches councils have recently taken to improve value for money in adult social care.

This report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation investigates some of the key issues currently confronting those involved in planning and providing adult social care at a time of budgetary pressure. The key themes covered in this report are: prioritising spending by targeting resources for maximum impact, safeguarding support for the most vulnerable, adapting services to deliver them more efficiently and considering the effect of new commissioning structures on the adult social care sector; making the right decisions in order to strike a balance between long-term planning and short-term necessity, and to make the case for carer support and respite services; and involving service users by considering their role in the decision-making process, supporting their engagement and communicating the need for change.

The Governmentʼs Vision for Adult Social Care stretches right across the supply and delivery of social care and support in England and Wales, with a particular focus on the use of personal budgets and well-developed, diverse local care markets to fully meet individualsʼ needs. To complement this Vision, this document seeks to provide a vision for adult social care funding. It defines those outcomes that a new settlement on the funding of care and support should seek to achieve for care users, individuals across the population, the care and support system, and wider society. The final chapter considers what this Vision would cost.

Research shows that older people want and value low-level support - 'that bit of help' - but the benefits of investing in this are realised over many years, making it harder to prove impact and protect funding in the face of severe pressure on spending. This paper from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation provides examples of imaginative, affordable and effective ways of supporting older people’s health, well-being, social engagement and independence. It highlights projects with some local authority involvement whether as lead commissioner, subsidiary partner, or through small grants or seed-funding.

This paper from Local Government Improvement and Development provides examples of good practice in providing and improving services to older people. It looks at the work of a number of councils who have been recognised for the positive engagement of older people to support and promote greater independence and well being in later life, or for innovation in older people's services. For each council, it provides an overview of the context in which the council operates, what has been achieved by the council, examples of service improvement and innovation, the challenges that were experienced, and the main lessons learnt.

This report from the IDeA and the National Culture Forum is primarily aimed at providers of culture and sports services in councils and partner organisations to help them better understand the social care sector and how to engage with it. It is also intended to highlight the benefits of sport and culture to social care providers. Please note: although the guidance focuses on the English policy context, the issues and approaches are just as relevant in Scotland.

Councils face the challenge of an ageing population as public spending reduces. This Audit Commission report says most councils do not know enough about the costs of their ageing population. They may also miss the savings that could flow from preventive services and better work with other organisations.

This guide identifies key elements in the transformation programme currently taking place within adult social care that will allow scrutiny committees to assess the extent to which their local authority is planning, commissioning and delivering better social care. It should help enable overview and scrutiny committees to consider the whole process of reform, to see how the elements fit together and how they impact on each other and the wider provision of social care and health. The guide was commissioned from the Centre for Public Scrutiny by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA).

This Department of Health guide aims to stimulate discussion and debate for local authorities on how to commission and shape services by making best use of resources.