Recovery plan for care services following Covid

Plans to enable the health and care sector recover from "unprecedented" pressures due to the Covid pandemic are to be considered by Cabinet.

A report by Norfolk County Council shows that backlogs, staff turnover and illness have increased - and will take time to return to pre-Covid levels.

Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, Councillor Bill Borrett, said: "The latest wave of Covid-19 has fuelled unprecedented pressures within the Health and Social Care System in Norfolk and Waveney this winter - and the crisis is by no means over.

"The council provides care and support to many of the most vulnerable individuals in Norfolk. I'm keen to push forward our plans to return to business as normal and focus on prevention work and high quality, safe and timely care to all those that need it."

Adult Social Care is still reporting its highest alert level. Examples of the pressures during the winter peak include:

• From September-December 2021, adult social care has supported 2,667 people to leave hospital
• 2,538 people are on the holding list, which means they remain unallocated to an individual social services worker, with risk management instead provided by small duty teams
• 261 people remain in a short-term bed in a non-therapeutic care home, following their hospital discharge
• 243 people are being provided with support by Norfolk First Response whilst waiting for a Care Act assessment for long-term service
• 4,703 people receiving care and support are waiting for their statutory annual review
• 781 people are on the interim care list, which means they are not being provided with full care, based on their identified care and support
• Social worker vacancies stand at 18 per cent, with a rate of 23 per cent in the Norfolk First Response Service
• There is an average sickness rate of eight per cent and as high as 25 per cent in some frontline teams

A comprehensive range of measures to recover from the current crisis are being put in to place, including:

• Wellbeing calls to people on the holding list
• Developing criteria for cases where telephone reviews or online reviews may be appropriate, to bring the backlog down
• Developing a trusted reviewer approach where certain providers can carry out reviews on the council's behalf
• Working with the NHS to support an increased number of people who are discharged to their homes, instead of to care beds
• Re-assigning staff and extending temporary and agency staff to complete more Care Act assessments, to meet the demand for discharged and support team resilience

In addition to these short to medium-term activities, the Council's longer-term transformation plans include programmes focussed on prevention and early help with a re-purposed "front door', integration with the NHS, embedding Living Well, continuing to develop a stable and modern care market, harnessing technology and developing the workforce."

Cabinet will consider the report when it meets at 10am on Monday, 7 March. Watch the meeting, live or afterwards and read the report.