To approve a new joint carers strategy for Herefordshire and  agree consequent commissioning intentions for carers and procurement arrangements for commissioned services.

The cabinet member for young people and children’s wellbeing introduced the item.

He thanked all those who had contributed to the strategy and noted the following points:

·         there were barriers to the way in which carers could maintain their own wellbeing and that of the individuals they cared for;

·         in view of resources the council had to deploy smarter ways of working, enhance what it had and promote greater awareness;

·         the strategy recognised the massive contribution made by carers;

·         the strategy included a focus on young carers;

·         the council was proposing to invest in the carers strategy to ensure that carers had access to the best services;

·         there was a focus on strategic change rather than specialist services, due to the high number of carers – estimated to be about 34,000 in Herefordshire.

The strategic wellbeing and housing manager set out further detail on the report. He explained that:

·         the strategy had been prepared in consultation with the clinical commissioning group (CCG) and other partners;

·         the carers strategy formed part of an emerging wider strategic approach to wellbeing and prevention;

·         carers played a key role in preventing and delaying the onset of significant health and care need by supporting the most vulnerable people in society;

·         there had been engagement with carers during production of the draft strategy which would continue during the implementation and commissioning phases;

·         the carers strategy was a medium to long term document which set out the broad direction of travel, vision and priorities and the headline outcomes which were being pursued; details of how outcomes would be achieved, over what timescale and by what means would be set out in the implementation plan;

·         with limited and reducing financial resource to invest in services for carers the council could not focus on providing and funding specialist services for individual carers, the focus had to be on strategic change such as making universal services more effective and accessible and helping carers navigate the system;

·         consultation had highlighted that the most important thing for carers was that the person they were caring for got the services they needed at the right time  and in the right way;

·         need to recognise that carers are individuals with many other roles who may not choose to be defined primarily as carers, the strategy seeks to take a whole person and whole system approach;

·         carers may themselves be vulnerable being either older people or young carers, or have other needs;

·         the strategy focussed on six priorities, some were ongoing from previous strategies, others were new or had new emphasis such as the focus on universal services, information advice and mutual support and networking;

·         there were now statutory duties to assess the needs of carers;

·         needs would be assessed on a strengths basis by identifying what the carer could do, what the person they were caring for could do and what support was available in the local community;

·         there was a need to recommission and re-procure services for carers from April 2018, the fine  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15

To seek the views of the committee on the proposed new carers strategy for Herefordshire.

The strategic housing and wellbeing manager gave a presentation describing the process so far in the development of a new carers strategy.  Extensive consultation had taken place during 2015 and 2016 and there was ongoing engagement which would follow with sharing the draft strategy with stakeholders prior to presenting to Cabinet in July.  

Referring to co-production of the strategy, a member commented that there appeared to be a period of extensive consultation and the final work was set for Cabinet in July. Noting that this seemed rushed, he asked what steps had been taken to make sure that as many carers as possible had been asked for their view given that they represented some 25% of the population, and whether this was considered to be true co-production. 

The strategic housing manager explained that consultation had extended beyond the known groups and had engaged with 155 carers in different ways including in their own home and electronically. It was recognised that not all carers were connected with the charity Herefordshire Carers Support and that work had been with a small number so far.  However, the consultation had been publicised widely on website and elsewhere and this was a continuing process. It was considered that within the estimated number of carers, not all people considered themselves to be carers.

In terms of the number of people taking part in the carer’s assessment, it was anticipated that this was below the requirements of the Care Act. However, some opportunities had been identified in the way assessments could be offered so they were deliverable.

A member commented on a point regarding the financial context for local government and the NHS, with increasing pressures on budgets.  He asked how funding might be used to support the role of carers to support the aim of avoiding hospital admissions. In response it was explained that some proposals had been outlined with the Clinical Commissioning Group regarding investment in carers support around this aspiration and also with regard to supporting hospital discharge.

Returning to the information in the presentation regarding engagement, it was explained that engagement continued to be offered throughout the further stages of the development process for the strategy and which included home visits, telephone calls and emails as well as attending events. 

From what people said, key themes emerged, which were:

·         identifying carers and how to support them

·         a carer’s needs tended to be identified at the point of crisis and there needed to be more focus on their long term needs being identified earlier and to address risks to them and the person they cared for

·         information and advice sources which included WISH were a key resources and there were  plans to invigorate and extend these

·         developing understanding of carers by professional and information sharing between agencies

·         anxieties of carers around continuity of care if something were to happen to them

·         making contact with carers not currently accessing support and helping to improve their quality of life

·         more information required regarding rights for carers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 150