Purpose

Adult Social Care approach to day
opportunities and overnight respite for adults with care and
support needs

Content

This report set out the vision
for day opportunities and overnight respite so that all adults with
care and support needs could live well and independently as part of
their communities. These services provided vital support for people
to learn daily life skills and provide care to support
independence. Day opportunities and overnight respite were
delivered from many sites and run by external providers along with
a council-run service called ‘the short breaks
service’.
 
The current service model
needed to ensure that the Council could meet the changing needs of
adults with care and support needs in the community and achieve the
vision. Most of the care and support was delivered through a
variety of external providers.
 
There were three key drivers
for change. 
• Firstly, to ensure that
the Council had the right service model to deliver the vision for
day opportunities that focussed on supporting adults to live
independently and well in the community, aligned to the Better
Lives Strategy.
• Secondly, to ensure that
adults supported could access high quality facilities and buildings
that meet their needs.
• Thirdly, to provide
value for money to the Council and taxpayers.
 
Over the last few years, the
need for building-based provision had reduced considerably.
Firstly, this was because of the work that had taken place to
increase community-focused provision enabling access to mainstream
activities including enabling participation in leisure facilities,
facilitating access to shops to purchase provisions and enhancing
daily living skills. Secondly, work had taken place with
residential and supported living providers to strengthen their day
activities offer, so that residents no longer must travel to a
separate day centre to access meaningful activities during the day.
And, thirdly, there had been an increase in the take up of direct
payments which offered greater choice and flexibility for those
that need care and support and their families/carers.
 
Three overall options for
change had been considered. The first option was to continue to
keep 7 council day centres and the same operating model. The second
option was to keep 3 day centres and no longer deliver the service
from the 4 other centres, as well as increasing external market
provision. The third option considered was to close the
Council’s Short Breaks service and deliver all day
opportunities and overnight respite services through external
providers alone.  
 
Option 2 was recommended, which
was to keep 3 council day centres and no longer deliver adult
social care services from the 4 other centres. No decision has been
taken on these options and the service area were proposing to
consult to gather views to inform a decision.
 
RESOLVED –
 
(1)            
That the proposal to go out to public
consultation and seek views on the preferred operating model for
Adult Social Care Day Opportunities and Overnight Respite Services
be APPROVED.
(2)            
That following the public consultation exercise a
report will come back to Cabinet on the consultation findings with
a recommendation on the future operating model.