Adult Social Care in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire Council is an ambitious unitary authority committed to establishing one of the best councils in the country. This is a very exciting time to join our new Adults and Health directorate as we build for the future, offering multi-agency support to our communities.
Working in partnership with our health colleagues, housing and regulatory services, community boards and voluntary networks, our aim is to ensure that residents of Buckinghamshire are given the right support at the right time. We want adults at risk to be safe and in control, and to help them make choices about how they want to live. We also want to support the wellbeing of their families and carers.
Our work enables residents to have choice and control over the services they receive and can maximise their wellbeing and independence within their local community. As outlined below, we have a range of diverse teams in our Adults and Health directorate and are looking for someone who wants to make positive changes to our communities. After all, our residents are at the heart of everything we do.
Adult Social Care
Areas of responsibility
- Early Resolution and Safeguarding, Discharge from Hospital, Occupational Therapy, Short Breaks, Home Independence, Community Based Long Term and Review Teams, Mental Health Social Work Team
Priorities 2022/23
- Extend partners in our multi-agency hub in our First Response function to connect people to community assets and prevent, reduce and delay the need for specialist social care intervention.
- Implement workforce development strategy to reduce caseloads and spans of control for managers.
- Implement a new structure for mental health social work that aligns to the council social work functions.
- Introduce the named worker approach to deliver a more personalised practice model.
- Improving timeliness of response to safeguarding referrals.
- Streamline hospital discharge and deliver an integrated health and social care “Home First” model.
- Improve how we support young people to prepare for adulthood.
- Deliver improvement and integration across CQC regulated provision and the statutory social work and occupational therapy function.
- Transform our short breaks service to address gaps in need and promote choice.
KPIs
- Improving the responsiveness of timescales linked to triaging and making eligibility decisions on all safeguarding contacts within 48 hours and undertaking s.42 investigations within 28 days.
- Reducing the waiting time for allocation to a social worker.
- Improve the percentage of clients that receive their annual review if due.
Budget
- Net budget £150.1m: expenditure of £183.7m, income of £33.6m predominately from client contributions and NHS payments towards mental health services.
- The largest budget areas are Older People and Learning Disability clients and the team provides social work, occupational therapy, reablement from crisis, day services and respite care.
- Key financial priorities are to manage growth and outcomes through a strength-based approach to support people to live independently for longer.
Integrated Commissioning
Areas of responsibility
- Commissioning adult social care services, children’s health, people with disabilities and all-age mental health needs and public health services including prevention, supporting people to manage their own care early intervention, accommodation for adults; strategic development and quality monitoring of the care market, health and social care integration.
Priorities 2022/23
- Establish procurement vehicles for adult health and social care services to support market development and value for money.
- Undertake strategic development of the care market to ensure the adult social care needs of the population can be met.
- Create aligned plans with partners to develop preventative services.
- Commission health services for children to ensure any difficulties are picked up early and acted upon.
- With Adult Social Care, develop and implement a new approach to day opportunities and respite services for adults.
- Develop and deliver enhanced opportunities for adults with learning disabilities in Buckinghamshire.
- Supporting integration of health and social care services through the delivery of the BCF and joint commissioning of NHS services.
KPIs
- Cost of long and short-term care per client.
- Number of people supported to live independently; and number of people admitted to residential or nursing care.
- User satisfaction with services; and the number of clients and carers who have control over their daily lives and day services make them feel safe and secure.
- Delayed transfers of care from hospital (being replaced by avoidable admissions).
Budget
- Net budget £5.141m: expenditure of £6.5m, income of £1.4m from the CCG and Telecare charging.
- Capital budget of £1.3m for equipment spend funded from DFG.
- The budget funds a range of services and packages of care on behalf of adult social care, public health, children’s services and the Clinical Commissioning Group (NHS).
Public Health & Community Safety
Areas of responsibility
- Health protection, Health improvement, Health care public health advice, Population health surveillance, Early years health services for children and school health services, Sexual health services, Substance misuse services, NHS health checks, Community Safety, Domestic Violence
Priorities 2022/23
- Work with residents, communities and partners to level up health outcomes across Buckinghamshire and recover from the COVID pandemic.
- Work with residents, communities and partners to prevent heart disease and stroke, especially for communities at higher risk.
- Work with residents, council services and partners to support healthy behaviours including physical activity, access to healthy food and prevent the harms from smoking and drug and alcohol misuse.
- Work with residents, communities and partners to improve mental health and wellbeing for key groups and prevent suicide.
- Ensure an effective system-wide response to protect residents from infectious diseases and environmental hazards including Covid-19.
- Recommission sexual health and integrated lifestyle services.
- Work with residents, communities and partners to tackle domestic violence, crime, violence and prevent exploitation.
KPIs
- System performance against the Joint Health & Wellbeing Strategy Action Plan targets.
- Percentage of those who have set a quit date who have successfully quit smoking at four weeks.
- Percentage of Domestic Abuse Victims that have their risk reduced after referral to an Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA).
Budget
- The Public Health budget of £22.2m is entirely funded by ring-fenced grant (£22.2m). More than 80% of it is spent on mandated functions or activities that are a condition of the grant.
- The Community Safety net budget is £1.934m. This includes grant income of £1.85m for various purposes including just over £0.5m from the Police & Crime Commissioner to tackle local issues.
Quality Performance and Standards
Areas of responsibility
- Business modernisation and innovation, Workforce development and planning, Service quality & improvement
Priorities 2022/23
- Enhance our learning and development offer to deliver a highly performing, competent and skilled workforce underpinned through robust quality assurance standards.
- Expand our digital offer to enable carers and residents to interact with care services through digital channels such as assistive technology and other technologies to improve and support health and well-being and reduce isolation.
- Actively engage with our residents who use our services to help define and design local priorities and evaluate services to inform Adult Social Care decision-making in areas that impact the lives of residents.
- Collaborate and co-design with Carers, partner organisations in developing and implementing a Carers Transformation Plan.
KPIs
- Staff access to training and qualifications – reduction in number of staff leaving.
- Reduction in time spent by front-line staff inputting into the system.
- Increase in use of digital technology to support people with care needs.
- Improved resident satisfaction through local surveys and annual user survey.
- Improved client engagement and reduction in complaints.
- Increase in the number of carers assessment/reviews and feedback from Carers.
Budget
- Overall net budget of £2.5m: expenditure of £2.6m, income of £0.025m.
- Key financial priorities include implementation of the digital road map to improve quality and efficiency of services.
Useful links / documents:
Care for Adults in Buckinghamshire
Joint Strategic Needs Assessment
Covid-19 Health Impact Assessment
