Areas for development
Alongside the gaps in provision noted above, we seek support from the market in relation to the below areas for development within our commissioned support offer:
Community alternatives to regulated support.
As noted above, expanding choice for individuals beyond traditional, regulated care options is a key commissioning priority for Coventry. Our aim of this work is to:
- Increase choice and control for individuals who require support.
- Provide robust, cost-effective alternative options to regulated support for people within their local communities.
- Support people to remain in their own homes and communities for as long as possible, utilising the assets and resources people are familiar and comfortable with to deliver personalised support.
- Reduce loneliness and isolation experienced by individuals. The Council have assembled a specific project group comprised of various departments across the organisation working together to develop our community alternatives offer. This work includes:
- Mapping of and making connections with community groups, assets, and resources.
- Providing information to wider communities on how to link with support available in the community.
- Working with providers of adult social care and third sector to support them to diversify their current offer and make links with the wider community.
- We ask any community groups, support organisations and the local third sector to ensure they advertise their services, including on our Coventry Information Directory. The Accelerating Reform Fund is also being used to support this work specifically to enhance our carers support offer, develop access to community-based support and expand our Shared Lives offer.
Housing with Care (HwC):
Over the past few years there has been a general decline in the numbers of people accessing HwC through the Council. This is partly due to people wanting to remain at home, the type of accommodation and facilities available, and the lack of flexibility in the care models.
We note the following specific considerations in the development of future Housing with Care provision:
- Based on demographic growth Adult Social Care are expected to require between 17 and 24 additional units for people aged 65+ by 2026 and between 46 and 53 extra units by 2030. There is also an occasional requirement for service users with mental health needs who are under 65 to be accommodated within schemes.
- As further detailed in the ‘Demand’ section below, there is an under supply of provision for HwC for private paying individuals.
Third sector and additional community support
There are upcoming opportunities for third sector, non-regulated and community support over the next five years. We are always keen to proactively work with the third sector to identify different methods of commissioning and alternative funding streams.
Potential opportunities include:
- Third sector support which is currently commissioned under the Preventative Support Grant is due to expire in March 2025. During 2024 we will work with the Integrated Care Board (ICB) to determine future commissioning arrangements.
- Advocacy support will be subject to a re-tendering process in readiness for a new contract to commence April 2025.
- The appointeeship service will be recommissioned for contract commencement April 2027.
- Direct payment support services will be recommissioned for contract commencement in May 2028.
Home support (domiciliary care)
Home support accounts for approximately 40% of the long-term support commissioned by Coventry Adult Social Care where we are able to source home support quickly for individuals utilising our cluster model. Whilst our current offer works well in respect of capacity, availability, and market stability, we note challenges in:
- Ensuring consistency in the support delivered. We note feedback from individuals in receipt of support and family members in relation to the timing of care calls, consistency of care staff, concerns over language barriers of staff and ability of staff to prepare food. We will be seeking to address these within our new Long Term Home Support (LTHS) tender.
- Ensuring staff are working in a reablement manner which promotes the individual’s independence.
- We note challenges in achieving a balance of international and local care staff. In Winter 2024 we will be re-commissioning LTHS addressing the above challenges, improving on our existing offer and incorporate any learning and new ways of working identified from the Improving Lives programme. We will be engaging with the care market and individuals to ensure our future design meets the requirements of people supported and is viable for providers.