Adult Social Care - Completed Projects

Below is a summary of each of the Adult Social Care Programme projects (divided into workstream areas). Documentation relating to each of the projects can be found on the Key Products page.

COMMISSIONING

Supporting the Implementation of Objective 6 of the National Dementia Strategy - provided direct support to each authority and health partners to help ensure the implementation of objective 6 across the region.

Quality Standards for Regulated and Non Regulated Services - produced quality standards for regulated and non regulated services in the North East region. Provided a consistent approach across the region to benefit LAs and providers. Originally separate projects (Regulated and Non Regulated) but later combined.

NE Autism - project to drive forward the modern commissioning of care and support services for people with Autistic Spectrum Disorders and Asperger syndrome in two ways: via the delivery of the actions plans of the 4 sub regional Autism Service Development Groups (ASDGs) and the market development of both specialist and non-specialist providers to enable them to make the necessary 'cultural shift' towards personalisation.

Market Development through User Led Organisations - supported the development of ULOs across the region to ensure that the social care market place includes ULO providers. Ensured that each LA was able to meet the specific ULO Putting People First milestone.

Supporting People Cost Benefit Analysis - undertook an in-depth regional analysis of the benefits of the Supporting People Programme to highlight where efficiencies and good commissioning practice could affect the costs of procurement of Social Care Services for Independent Living.

WORKFORCE

Regional Workforce Strategy - development of an Adult Social Care workforce strategy for the North East region.

Making Adult Social Care a Career of Choice - promoted ASC as a career of choice to young people (16 - 25yrs) with a particular focus upon young men and people from BME communities who are under represented in the workforce.

Mapping of Relevant Workforce Strategies - when this project was procured there were three distinct parts to it. The first was to complete an audit of other relevant workforce strategies in the region, the second part was to identify gaps and inappropriate duplication between ASC Workforce Strategy and other relevant strategies and the final part was to make recommendations about how the strategies could be brought together through joint working. Due to policy changes as a result of a change of Government this project specification was altered to focus upon the future of adult social care in the changing policy context.

Embedding National Minimum Data Set - supported all LAs to input workforce data onto NMDS up to recognised Gold standard. The second part of the project was to use his information to produce an InLAWS (Integrated Local Area Workforce Strategy) report for each LA.

Supporting Personal Assistant Development in the North East | - facilitated in depth research into the current numbers / skills / roles of PAs in the North East. To investigate the requirements of PAs and their employers and to develop a quality standards framework for PAs in the North East.

Supporting Social Work in the North East - via a service level agreement provided infrastructure support for continued collaborative work across the region between Universities / LAs / Employers and NESWOC. Also provided project management for three joint (adult and children's services) social work projects.

Equality Impact Assessment - equality impact assessment of the workforce strategy.

PERSONALISATION

LAC - explored how the theory and delivery of Local Area Coordination can support the personalisation agenda and service transformation, including how the model can be developed to support the whole community, particularly older people with a focus on strategic resource shifts that would need to be made and the identification of clear cashable efficiencies.

Community Equipment - investigated the opportunities to achieve efficiencies through joint regional commissioning of adult social care services and equipment.

What Supports Independent Living - supported and promoted a move to preventative services in order to improve outcomes and realise efficiency savings that come from a reduced need for health and social care intervention.

User Involvement and Stakeholder Communications Project - aimed to ensure a structured approach to involvement and communications and to improve the involvement of key stakeholders, service users and carers in the Adult Social Care Programme.

Excellence in Reablement - provided direct support to each LA to ensure the development of reablement services in each authority area.

Improving Public Relations and Communications in Personalisation - provided support to local authorities to meet the challenges of communicating Personalisation changes to residents, service users and carers and other key stakeholders and to meet specific Putting People First milestones relating to publicity and promotion.

Improving the Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults - produced recommendations on how improved, standardised approaches to safeguarding could be implemented across the region.

TELECARE

Telehealth for Long Term Conditions - the aim of the project was to use telehealth monitoring equipment to monitor the health of people with long term health conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart disease. The equipment empowers the patient to take control of monitoring and managing their own condition as well as allowing their GP practice to monitor their condition on a daily basis. This project was a pilot involving a small number of patients in Middlesbrough and Redcar/Cleveland. It is hoped that this will improve people's confidence and therefore result in less emergency admissions to hospital and less home visits by GPs and Community Nurses.

Early detection of Urinary Tract Infections Project - the project is experimental in nature and is being independently evaluated by Sheffield University. The intention is to carry out a pilot using patients in Middlesbrough and Durham to find out if it is possible to detect the early signs of UTIs using telecare equipment which monitors people's behavioural patterns (such as frequency of toilet use) and raises alerts when there are changes. It is hoped that this will allow antibiotic treatment to be delivered quickly and avoid the need for hospital admissions as a result of falls or delirium.

Rapid Response Telecare Service - this project has provided the rapid installation of telecare to people in South Tyneside who are being discharged from the hospital or who are at risk in the community. Telecare equipment is used to provide support and safety to facilitate a safe discharge from hospital or avoid the need for residential or hospital care.

Telecare Evaluation Project - this project aims to evaluate how telecare provision in the North East is provided, evaluate the effectiveness of the RIEP funded telecare projects and make recommendations which will help policy makers, local authorities and service providers to improve their telecare offer going forward.

Purposeful Walking Project - this was a pilot project using GPS technology to track people with dementia and thereby allow them to walk safely in their neighbourhood. The tracking technology enables people to be found if they wander and relatives can be alerted if they stray out of a pre-determined area. Since the satellite tracking can be carried out using any PC, relatives are empowered to help the family member with dementia.

Over 85s Project - projects were delivered in Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Gateshead, Northumberland and Hartlepool Sunderland to offer free telecare to people over 85. The intention was to enhance public awareness of telecare, provide a preventative function by reducing falls, risk of dying in a fire, vulnerability to intruders, etc. The project would also allow people to become accustomed to using telecare and therefore make it easier to add on additional devices as their care needs change.

Reducing Unsettled Accommodation for People with Learning Difficulties - this project aimed to improve the care of people with learning disabilities through the use of telecare. Telecare was given to service users with complex needs to allow them to live independently in community based settings.

Assistive Technologies Project North Tyneside - this project aimed to use assistive technologies to provide better and more efficient packages of care for people with learning disabilities, dementia and other complex needs in the North Tyneside area, reducing need for waking night cover and residential care and improving people's quality of life and independence.

Electronic Monitoring of Home Care - projects based at Sunderland, North Tyneside, Gateshead and Middlesbrough aim to improve the quality of service to home care service users and ensure that they receive the care which is being paid for through electronically monitoring the length of care time which they receive and checking this against care plans and invoicing.

PROVIDER DEVELOPMENT

Provider Development Innovation Evaluation - the ILG has carried out a programme of support and evaluation with the provider development projects to encourage and document innovation. This has been done through meetings and several developmental events. A final report will be produced which will capture the key learning of the projects

Darlington Independent Home Care Monitoring - this project involved monitoring a variety of medical monitoring equipment and patient self-reporting with data being sent directly from residential care homes to GP practices. This allowed the effective management of people with long term serious health conditions within the less intrusive and medicalised environment of a care home for people who would otherwise require expensive nursing home care. More effective management of these conditions improves the quality of life of residents, avoids unnecessary GP call-outs and can prevent hospital admissions by providing treatment quickly when someone's condition changes.

Inreach Service - this service has provided an in-reach worker at a the James Cook memorial Hospital to advise medical staff on uses of telecare and facilitate earlier and safer discharges from hospital through use of telecare support.

Citizen Support Exchange - this project has provided a training programme for personal assistants, a group of workers who have traditionally had no formal training or way to get recognition for their skills and experience. The service also aims to create a culture of professional development for this group of workers through use of a development 'passport' which can be added to through the personal assistant's career. The project also provides a service to link up personal assistants with people who need to use such a service.

Dementia is Everybody's Business - this project is aimed at improving the quality of support to people with dementia and their workers who are going through the care management process to be more actively involved in the planning of their own care including helping them to access personal budgets and make innovative use of services and resources in the community.

My Signpost - this project has aimed to increase community capacity and link up potential service users with providers through the construction of an information portal which provides links on services for people with disabilities.

More to Life Than Services - the project was designed to increase capacity in community organisations to provide better services and respond to the needs of people with individual budgets.

Local Authority Approved Traders Scheme - this project provides a portal for traders (builders, plumbers etc) who have been approved by trading standards to work with vulnerable people. It has the advantage of providing reassurance to vulnerable people and their traders that these providers adhere to high standards of conduct.

Worthwhile Work - this has enabled people with learning disabilities to be involved in the acting and production of two films and associated live theatrical productions. One concerns tackling obesity in people with learning disabilities and the other concerns informing people about the benefits of personalisation. The videos will be seen by very large audiences through YouTube and the live performances will be seen by large audiences in schools.

Northumberland Social Care network - the project aimed to improve the resilience and capacity of community organisations in Northumberland

Hartlepool Centre for Independent Living - the Capital project was to support the redevelopment and refurbishment of an existing adult training centre into a centre for independent living (CIL). The Project pooled funding from other successful bids to transform the current Havelock Adult Training Centre and support the delivery of preventative services via a newly formed user led organisation (ULO).