Introduction to Adult Social Care
The delivery of Adult Social Care is the responsibility of the Local Authority which interacts with a range of other local authority functions to support people in our communities, including Housing, Public Health, Children’s Services or Culture and Leisure to name but a view. Our work is also closely connected to health organisations and the voluntary and third sector who work with many of the same people who come into contact with Adult Social Care.
Although Adult Social Care has a distinct identity, much of what we do is achieved through working with others. Our success is increasingly intertwined with our health partners. New partnerships ‘Integrated Care Systems’ (ICS) are bringing together; Acute Trusts, Community Health Trusts, GPs, Primary Care services with Local Authorities and other care providers. These aim to bring
organisations together to redesign, improve support and outcomes for residents.
Adult Social Care in Coventry is one of several health and care organisations across Coventry
and Warwickshire, making up the Coventry and Warwickshire Health and Care Partnership. This
Partnership is working to improve the health and wellbeing of our residents. In all our efforts
to achieve this we share a common vision:
‘We will do everything in our power to enable people across Coventry and Warwickshire to pursue happy, healthy lives and put people at the heart of everything we do.’
In working to this vision, we believe that all our residents deserve to:
- lead a healthy, independent and fulfilled life
- Be part of a strong community
- Experience effective and sustainable health and care services.
As part of this Partnership, NHS Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board is now
responsible for commissioning health and care services on behalf of people in Coventry
and Warwickshire (this replaces Clinical Commissioning Groups).
From an Adult Social Care perspective, we do not have a complex strategy but at every level,
we intend to provide support to the residents of Coventry, in the least intrusive manner possible,
based on the assets, resources and abilities available to them. Our focus is on the promotion
of independence, and this continues to be the at the heart of the way we work and provide
support. Progressing this overarching objective is delivered day in, day out through the many
interactions between our staff and people with care and support needs and through a series
of developments and future planning overseen by the Director of Adult Services aimed at
constantly improving what we do.
During the last year we have made significant progress in our plans for the future, including:
- Improving access to support - Expectations are changing and for many, the provision of day centre-based support should be complemented with the opportunity to undertake activities, with support, outside of a centre environment. An informal engagement exercise with stakeholders and a focus group from Alzheimer’s Society co-designed the vision for the Coventry Dementia Hub and subsequently, permission was granted to commence a formal public consultation on the proposal to redevelop Maymorn Day Centre into a single Dementia Hub for Coventry. The proposals for the creation of a Coventry Dementia Hub, resulted in strong support for the new model, plans are progressing and formal Cabinet approval for the Hub is expected to be received in September 2022 with the opening of the hub predicted for April 2023.
- Use of technology - Our use of technology to support our assessment activity has grown significantly. We have introduced a new animated self-assessment process so people can identify what they understand to be their own needs prior to an assessment. Furthermore, through the use of a digital dictation tool staff can now create documents of any length and share them directly from a mobile device (usually a mobile phone). Both these innovations are saving people time and reducing
unnecessary delays.