Our key aims

How we will achieve this aim

We will achieve this aim through market shaping as well as:

• Via our connecting communities transformation programme, we will develop front line services with the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) that deliver advice and support
• We will work with providers through our home care strategy to increase the service capacity to enable more people to be supported to remain at home
• For home care providers who want to develop a specialism in working with clients with a learning disability and/or autism, we will work to develop a training programme to assist providers with meeting the regulatory requirements for this specialism
• We will ensure that our commissioning approach enables the development of services, such as the community equipment service to ensure that they are supporting people to remain at home now and can meet future needs
• We will continue to support the development of independent living and supported living schemes backed by capital funds that we provide
• We will support residential providers to meet higher acuity of needs through staff training and development, and with the support of the NHS as key partners in ensuring care delivery
• We will, in partnership with providers, review the current care definitions for residential and nursing care for older people
• We will continue working with the Norfolk and Waveney integrated care board (ICB) to improve the way that we work together to commission and contract continuing health care and funded nursing care for older people
• For working age adults, we will review the current approach to commissioning and the way that we pay for care. We will do this alongside providers and operational colleagues.
• We want a residential market that can support working age adults with learning disabilities, autism, and mental health conditions to live their most independent life within their local community
• In partnership with the ICB, we are engaging in the national programme 'small supports' to develop more locally grown organisations that can provide care and support to people with a learning disability and/or autism who are of working age and may have spent a long period of time in hospital
• We have started the transformation of learning disability day opportunities provision and expect to see more people being supported through these services to become work ready and to be more independent in their activities of daily living. For clients with the most complex needs we want day opportunity providers to deliver personalised care and support.

What we achieved in 2022

Connecting communities

Through the connecting communities transformation programme, new ways of working have been designed which has enabled the social care community engagement (SCCE) team to manage demand better. This has meant that our care and assessment phoneline has remained open for all needs since September, where previously this was sometimes open for emergencies only. 

The new information, advice and advocacy (IAA) service was implemented during 2022, supporting more people to get the information and advice that they need.

In the community referrals trial of the connecting communities transformation programme, we tripled SCCE referrals to the development worker team as part of our goal to increase community connections for people contacting the front door. We're now focused on achieving these results team-wide week-on-week in addition to making the most of other preventative routes like:

• Carers matter
• Norfolk first support (NFS)
• Assistive technology

Because of the work of initial engagement, people contacting SCCE for support are now less likely to be referred for a care package and more likely to be supported to stay independent with preventative tools and community connections.

Home care commissioning

The home care commissioning team has worked with Norfolk care association (NorCA) and providers to co-produce new home care service models.

The lack of available capacity within home care services resulted in around 800 people in July 2022 unable to secure the care and support they needed. A home care improvement plan was developed which focused on the delivery of actions that could improve this position. This included the commissioning of additional block contracts, use of technology and exploring the use of alternative provision such as personal assistants or via community and voluntary sector support. This work has significantly reduced the number of people on the interim care list which now stands at 65 as at 23 May 2023.

Integrated equipment services

During 2022, along with the ICB, we retendered the integrated community equipment service. This has a focus on improved efficiency and in supporting our, and ICB's, aims for carbon reduction.

How we will measure that we have achieved this aim

• More people being supported to access community and voluntary sector advice and support at an earlier stage, delaying the need for formal care
• Reduction in the number of individuals waiting for home care provision
• We will see an increase in home support agencies who feel skilled in delivering the specialism of learning disability and/or autism as part of a domiciliary care service for people
• More individuals in receipt of a re-abling style of care, enabling them to live more independently for longer
• More people accessing independent living schemes
• We will deliver another 10 supported living schemes across Norfolk by April 2025
• New care definitions for older adult residential and nursing provision developed
• For working age adults, we will work to re-develop the residential care market, driving quality, maintaining sufficiency for the needs presenting and working with the sector to make any model aspirational for people of working age who need residential care
• We will see our first small support organisation start the registration process with care quality commission (CQC)
• Through improved contract and performance management, commissioned services will have key performance indicators requiring providers and commissioners to work together on customer engagement, delivering both effective contract management and the continuous improvement of services

Impact

People will tell us:

• "I can get information and advice that helps me to think about and plan my life"
• "I can live the life I want and do the things that are important to me as independently as possible"
• "I am supported to manage my health and care needs in ways that make sense to me"
• "I live in a home, which is accessible and designed so that I can be as independent as possible"
• "I have a place I can call home, not just a "bed" somewhere that provides me with care"