Total Transformation – Creating A Five Year Forward View For Social Care
Adult social care will struggle to continue to provide good services that meet rising demand without significant transformation. Scaling up promising models could improve outcomes for individuals – and result in savings for both adult social care and the NHS.
That’s one conclusion in a new paper published today by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). It explores the potential for scaling up some of the most promising examples of care and support services, using data from Birmingham City Council, to see what their impact would be on outcomes and costs.
Total transformation of care and support indicates potential improvements in outcomes for individuals, and potential savings of £6.6 million to the adult social care budget, along with £1.4 million to the NHS, per annum, if three promising models were fully scaled up in Birmingham.
The paper, which is the first in a new SCIE series on the Future of care, summarises the potential benefits of scaling up:
- Shared Lives which provides family-based support for older people and people with disabilities
- Age UK’s Living Well scheme which involved providing low-level support to day-to-day living and utilising asset-based resources to promote empowerment and well-being
- Kent County Council hospital discharge project which introduced social care discharge coordinators into hospitals, using a reablement approach.
The sector needs to have difficult, challenging and creative local conversations which release ‘stuck’ systems and create space for moving forward together. The report includes a template for starting those conversations.
Speaking about the new paper which was developed in partnership with consultants PPL, Shared Lives Plus, Birmingham City Council and Clenton Farquharson – SCIE Chief Executive Tony Hunter says:
The NHS benefits from having the Five Year Forward View which sets out a case for up-front investment in the NHS – but no such case has been made for social care. Yet social care has repeatedly demonstrated its capacity for transformation. Our aim is to start a series of national and local discussions which re-imaging how we can lead good lives, in good places for people with support needs – building on well-evidenced innovative models from across the UK.
Alex Fox, director of Shared Lives Plus and contributor to the paper says:
Our vision is for every area to have the difficult, honest and creative local conversation which release ‘stuck systems and create space for moving forward together.
SCIE is seeking examples of evidence-based models of care that could be part of the total transformation of care and support. Contact ewan.king@scie.org.uk
