The focus of Adult Social Care in Coventry
Our Coventry Adult Social Care Offer explains in brief what people can expect from Coventry City Council’s Adult Social Care and Support Services. Our work, at every level, intends to provide support to the residents of Coventry, in the least intrusive manner possible, based on the assets, resources and abilities that are available to them.
This is underpinned by a set of commitments.
Although the approach is simple, implementing it is complex. It requires the people we work with to be challenged on what they can do for themselves and what they can get support for from outside of statutory social care and support services. It means that where people come to us because they believe, or their families, friends of medical professionals believe that they need care, we will challenge this assumption and, wherever possible work with the person to grow their strengths and capabilities so that the need for ongoing care and support is reduced or eliminated. In general terms we refer to this approach as ‘Promoting Independence’.
How we work with individuals and their families and carers from the point of first contact with Adult Social Care is critical to achieving this model – how outcomes are defined, how people are engaged and motivated to improve their independence, how risk is managed and how families, carers and other forms of community support are engaged are all critical to our success and the delivery of improved outcomes for the individual.
Delivering this focus requires the co-ordinated effort of a number of professionals including social workers, occupational therapists and care and support staff plus the work of commissioning colleagues to ensure the market for social care and support has the skills and abilities to deliver this approach with us.
The role of the practitioner is critical to this and the remainder of the practice framework specifies what is expected, the tools and approaches to support these expectations and the support on offer.
As a directorate we will continue to develop new and innovative ways to improve our approach, as well as developing our practice approaches this also includes the options available for people to access and arrange support as well as the support on offer. Some examples of how we are developing our wider approach includes:
- Enhanced use of promoting independence approaches and technology-enabled care to support people to remain at home wherever possible and maximize independence.
- Development of Individual Service Funds (ISFs). ISFs are already providing a number of people with choice and control over their personal budget and we are continuing to expand this approach.
- A focus on customer experience and development of more ‘real time’ surveying.
- Recommissioned voluntary sector organisations to have a focus on prevention and early intervention.
- Provision of improved information and signposting via an enhanced digital offer.
- Improved internal forms design and processes reducing time spent in administrative tasks and increasing time available for face-to-face practice.