Foreword
Pete Fahy, Director of Adult Services
The production of this Annual Report remains an important part of the annual cycle of Adult Social Care. It provides an opportunity for reflection on the progress we have made and challenges we face in delivering Adult Social Care within the city. The year this report covers, 2020/2021, was a year unlike any other as the unique challenges of COVID-19 dominated much of our work, and the demands placed on people who work in social care, along with people that access our services and their families and carers were like nothing previously experienced. Due to the uniqueness of the year much of the comparative information in this report is of limited use – it was an exceptional year and as a result the performance data is also exceptional. What is however becoming clear is that as we move forward we need to continue to adapt to new challenges, whether resulting from the ongoing impacts of the pandemic or other factors including the changing health and social care landscape due to the introduction of Integrated Care Systems from April 2022. A key aspect of this Annual Report is the opportunity to highlight improvements and progress made and those who know me will know that the concept of continual improvement and finding ways to do things better are core character traits of mine. For this reason, I am pleased to write this forward to a report that, despite the many challenges of the year, still evidences improvements made in Adult Social Care and the impact on people as a result. Indeed, we must never forget that we are a people business. There will continue to be significant amounts of effort and energy taken by the big issues of social care reform, health and care integration, growing demand and a limited resource environment but all of this is for nothing if it does not result in improving outcomes for the people that rely on us for support. This is the reason why this report contains real life examples and stories describing what we have done to improve outcomes for people and producing the report in this way helps ground us back to why we are here. Due to the people I work with and the commitment they show I remain immensely proud and privileged to be the Director of Adult Social Care for Coventry City Council. I hope you find this Annual Report informative and as always myself and my team are happy for any feedback.
Councillor Mal Mutton, Cabinet Member for Adult Services
This year’s Annual Report was produced during continuing challenging times for both the nation and Adult Social Care here in Coventry. I hope you find the report effectively reflects both the ongoing day to day activity of the service as well as the truly inspirational impact the team working in Adult Social Care have continued to make during the last year. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the most significant and tragic health crisis in living memory, I have felt immensely proud that Council colleagues, care providers and their care staff have not only risen to the challenge but have truly gone above and beyond in the interests of the people they work to support. It is not unusual for people who work in Social Care to see their roles as more of a vocation than a job and often when asked why they go to work, the resounding answer is ‘to make a difference'. I continue to be astounded by the difference people are making in all areas of Adult Social Care through the ways in which they support and care for the most vulnerable adults in the city. This report contains stories demonstrating this, along with key information on our performance and resources. Whilst there are in fact far too many examples of incredible work happening across Social Care for me to list here, I want to take the opportunity to record my heartfelt thanks for the hard work, perseverance, compassion, humanity and dedication that mean so much to so many residents of Coventry, I along with many am truly grateful. Please do get in touch if you would like to offer any feedback on the Annual Report by emailing getinvolvedasc@coventry.gov.uk.
Karen McKay, Adult Social Care Stakeholder Group
During the last twelve months the Adult Social Care Stakeholder Group has continued to meet virtually bi-monthly using Microsoft Teams. This has been a learning curve for many of us but has worked really well and has led to some really engaging conversations and contributions from group members. It was lovely to be able to check-in even if only virtually. We continue as a group to try to be the voice of service users and carers, to contribute to ongoing developments in Adult Social Care, be part of conversations about new developments, improvements and the way that services have adapted during the pandemic. Some of the key agenda items have focussed on digital developments and care technology and we have been able to use a demo of a new animated tool for online self-assessment which again is helping the group to continue on their own digital skills journey! Thinking about how we can include more voices and improve on real collaborative working is another regular theme, rather than being asked after plans have been made. There is always more work to do on this! I personally look forward to the long-awaited national review of Social Care, which cannot come soon enough. Previous national crises have led to significant social improvements, and if ever it was a time to tackle the long-standing problems in Social Care it is now. The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) has spoken of significant numbers of people waiting for support, calls for urgent social care reform, investment and a proper workforce strategy. We need to add our voices locally in any way we can to insist this happens. For me, rather than applause, doing this for our Social Care staff and service users is the best way to show how much we value them. The work of Adult Social Care continues to be supported by our Stakeholder Group, who meet regularly to discuss any updates and influence the improvements of the service. The group is made up of Coventry residents who are experienced in how services work.