To seek the views of the committee on work in progress to redesign the WISH service and its role in the wider prevention and wellbeing system for Herefordshire.

It was noted that the service was about to be recommissioned so this presented an ideal opportunity for scrutiny input. 

A member referred to her comments at an earlier meeting regarding her past experiences of using online searches being poor. She commented that this was now much better and WISH was appearing at the top of search results.  The WISH website now had better menu navigation including immediate information for people in crisis, and the overall construction of the website had improved.

The director for adults and wellbeing introduced the report by explaining that the Care Act 2014 placed a statutory responsibility on the council for providing information and advice. The model for WISH was intended to support the developing model of health and care by putting the member of the public at centre of the support available and helping them to access the large and varied range of local support and opportunities not provided by the state and supporting them to live well.  This also brought benefits to providers as WISH represented an information resource for referral and signposting their own service users. A further beneficial role was that of enabler in connecting communities in ensuring that the support on offer was the right support to meet need. It was noted that it could be difficult for individuals wishing to volunteer to know what they could do that would have the most beneficial impact on those needing support.

The community capacity and wellbeing manager explained that WISH was an evolving service, and as had been found in other authorities, the period of development was known to be around four years.  Since WISH’s inception, some of the key regulations had changed so its original purpose had developed and there was more focus on making the online presence comprehensive.  The provider, SIL (Services for Independent Living), was working with organisations listed on the website to review their entries and the intention was to focus on universal services and on areas of demand and localised information where there was limited content. 

A member commented that the website’s search facility needed to produce more postcode relevant information. She noted that some of the council’s services that provided opportunity to generate income were not listed. In response it was clarified that consideration was being given to what content could be migrated from the council website and how best to do this.  It was an intention to keep the WISH identity separate so that people were encouraged to visit it and so to reduce reliance on council services.  However, it was noted that it needed more promotion by other partners and for library staff to access it to support members of the public to find information.  Its use needed to be promoted more by other partners, including the library, so that people could use any public facing service to access information, not just via the physical hub.

Discussion took place around the footfall to the WISH hub. It was noted that there were fluctuations in access levels to the service hub and the reasons for this were not fully understood. The impact of the new arrangements in the library, which was considered to be a more viable option, would be seen over time.  It was initially understood that people would be more likely to use face to face and telephone services so these were developed more strongly during the early phases of the project.  It was also noted that a higher proportion of users than expected were professionals and carers, with the remainder being those seeking help themselves and this pattern of usage had been experienced around the country. 

With regard to the future marketing of the service, a member commented that the presence in the library may be less obvious than the previous location in Hereford’s High Town. Consideration was being given to marketing, particularly for the online offer and how this could be promoted in a fresh way. It was acknowledged that marketing could have had greater impact and that the experience nationally was that it could take time to raise the profile of the service.  It was intended to review the objectives for the service before further developments. 

A member commented that however the service be defined, its success would be determined by how well the information reaches people. It was important for the hub to have ‘spokes’ reaching out to where people in need had access.  In response, it was explained that such ‘spokes’ were evolving and that SIL had provided some pop-up facilities with limited success, and now the focus was on developing facilities in places such as GP surgeries and pharmacies with locally trained people to use WISH online, so that it could become more embedded in communities. With regard to Care Act implementation, it had originally been anticipated that there would be an increase in enquiries and a drive down in demand on services, but this was found to not be the case in practice and there had been no increase in demand during the operational period.  If it were the case that more people could take up universal services then there would be some impact on demand.  

In terms of future developments, the provider arrangements were evolving and the service provision would look different as the service moved to emphasise its online presence and relied upon non-SIL staff doing more signposting.  There was opportunity to develop specific content for children’s wellbeing, with interest in Herefordshire’s work on this model already being shown from other councils.

The chairman commented on the role of WISH within the preventive agenda and noting the developments in Leominster, asked about extending this to other parts of the county.  It was confirmed that this was central to strategy development, although it was important to recognise that WISH did not need to be the sole point of reference if providers had existing information and resources that people engaged with and the two were sighted on each other so that providers could also use WISH.  It was felt that there was a critical mass to be able to have a co-ordinated approach to this and to encourage resources to be embedded.

A member commented that councillors could contribute to promoting WISH. This would be encouraged further once the planned developments were in place.

Discussion took place around some of the format and content of the service, such as whether to have separate websites for children and for adults and how advice would be provided and integrated with services. It had also been identified for SIL to build up the information on third sector and voluntary support, and look at how to present this. There was further work to be explored such as the potential for online chat facilities, improving the search function, and developing a directory of personal assistants for use by people on direct payments.

In terms of timescales for implementing these developments, it was anticipated that the improvements could become live around June or July, with the additional features in the following few months.

RESOLVED

That

a)    the following suggestions be considered by commissioners regarding the redesign of the WISH service:

i)     to strengthen the marketing strategy

ii)   to develop the website capability to include online chat facility; and

b)   members be supported to promote the service, particularly once the redesign has commenced, by way of an update briefing.