What has changed since our last MPS?
We are proud of the impact we have made to improve our overall adult social care offer, available provision, and ways of working since our last MPS.
Key achievements and developments include:
- Mental Health (MH) supported living provision: Since our last MPS we have 9 new schemes providing an additional 84 units across the city. As a result, few younger adults have been placed in care homes. An additional 2 residential mental health schemes (17 beds) are also available.
- Dementia Hub: co-designed with people who attend and carers, the Coventry Dementia Partnership Hub is an initiative to provide more comprehensive support to people living with dementia and their unpaid carers. The Hub offers a range of different activities, information and advice sessions, traditional day services and outreach along with a Dementia Friendly Café and social space. Feedback from the Hub has been overwhelmingly positive - Paul, user of the Young Onset Dementia Service “I am grateful for the support I have received from the Hub especially the social aspect of it and the opportunity to be able to have made friends”.
- Learning disability and autism supported living provision: The Council has commissioned a range of core and cluster developments which meet a wide spectrum of needs, with schemes providing a mixture of 24-hour support, alongside on-site staffing during the day. In the past 3 years specifically, we have increased capacity by an additional 56 units in the city.
- Improving Lives: Improving Lives is a Coventry collaborative programme delivered in partnership between Coventry City Council, University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW), Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust (CWPT), and other health and social care partners and providers in Coventry. The programme is about fundamentally changing how we support people with urgent need and ensuring they receive a seamless, high-quality experience dictated by what they require. Following a successful trial commencing in September 2023, we have already seen evidence of increased outcomes, independence, and improved service user experience for individuals alongside systemwide efficiencies. Expansion of this programme is planned for July 2024.
- Re-commissioning of short-term home support: new contracts commenced in May 2024 building on the strengths of previous contracts, feedback from individuals, and the learnings from our Improving Lives programme, with four providers delivering this support across specific zones of the city.
- Re-commissioning of Pathway Two: (hospital discharge and community stepup short-term beds) commissioning care homes to ensure consistency of approach to promoting independence and incorporate learning from the Improving Lives programme. With the aim of improving outcomes for the person and their experience, minimising or delaying of long-term care, improved efficiency, and tighter control over infection prevention and control, all contributing to improved, efficient and value for money services.
- Communicator Guide Service: We have commissioned a new communicator guide service to support people with a dual sensory impairment or who are deafblind, providing highly skilled 1-2-1 support to people in their homes or activities in the community to relay information, facilitate communication and ensure people can get about safely, increasing both quality of life and independence of individuals.
- Third and voluntary sector recommissioning: Our Preventative Support Grant commissions 13 third sector organisations to deliver a range of support; this was recommissioned in 2022/2023 for a further two years ending 31 March 2025 to ensure continuity of support for individuals in the city.
- Increased visibility of Adult Social Care in Coventry: To meet the diverse needs of our city we must be sure our services are suitable, inclusive and offer equity in access. We have improved our visibility of adult social care services within communities across the city through our Adult Social Care Open Days, holding these events at various community and religious centres throughout the year, and completing comprehensive Equality Impact Assessments prior to any commissioning activity or service and policy design to ensure we are meeting the diverse needs of people in the city.
- Accelerating Reform Fund (ARF): The Accelerating Reform Fund was launched by the Department of Health and Social Care in autumn 2023 to reduce barriers to innovation in social care. Coventry was successful in their bid and were awarded £779,604 (to be used across the Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board footprint) and plan to use funding to commence several projects centered on delivering alternative methods of support for people in Coventry. Specifically, these projects include a digital carers support and assessment tool; development of an alternative carers breaks offer; dedicated Shared Lives recruitment support.
- International Recruitment: The Council was awarded £120,000 in 2023 as part of a joint bid with Warwickshire County Council to fund an international recruitment project. The funding has been used to identify and scope the number of international recruits employed in Coventry and Warwickshire, assess the risk to both individual recruits and the wider care market should sponsorship become unstable, and identify a cohort of ethical employers who are willing to train, mentor or reemploy displaced international recruits, migrants and/or refugees. This supplements a wealth of recruitment support already available from the Council in this area including provider forums, webinars, and training workshops for both providers and potential recruits. This project is delivered in conjunction with Coventry City Council (CCC) Migration Team and Modern Slavery Team, with support from the Multi-Faith Partnership Forum.