Funding boost for city’s integrated care plan
Ambitious plans to revolutionise care services in Exeter have received £1.5 million funding from Government.
Twelve local government, public and community sector organisations including Devon County Council, Exeter City Council , key NHS providers in the city such as the Devon Partnership NHS Trust, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust and Northern Devon Health Care Trust and Age UK Exeter have joined forces to promote independence for adults with complex needs in the city, by working together to deliver high quality, cost effective, sustainable health and social care services.
The ‘Integrated Care for Exeter’ project aims to give residents a better experience of care and health and social care outcomes and deliver care in the most cost effective way.
The project will see the creation of a cross-organisational team to provide truly coordinated support within communities, with key frontline posts moving to single common roles. This means that services will be delivered through a single point of access so people have one place where they can go and get the information that enables them to make the best decision about their care.
Allocating key-workers, who will work with all agencies, will ensure care is coordinated by just one person, and will therefore require just a single assessment. This means someone will only have to tell their story once for it to be shared by all those who need to know, and will be reassured that the support they receive to remain independent is coordinated by someone who knows them well and helps them get their needs met.
New voluntary sector roles will be developed to facilitate a more integrated response to those at most risk, drawing on more of the skill and resource of the voluntary and community sector.
Others will benefit from support through community based wellbeing networks to deliver alternative and early intervention services designed to promote healthy lifestyles and prevent declining health. These roles will provide co-ordinated support within communities and will include packages of support for safe early discharge; links into community based services and will strengthen social action.
Devon County Council, who led the bid, has welcomed the news of the funding boost.
Leader Cllr John Hart, said: “The demands on our services are changing, as are people’s expectations about how they receive health and social care.
“We have a high proportion of older people in Devon compared to the rest of England. We need to change our services to better reflect the expectation of our residents to support them to stay well and be able to take better care of themselves.
“We understand people want to stay independent for as long as possible, and we want to support them in that, but the way we deliver services at the moment is unsustainable.
“Integrating care with our public sector colleagues is one of the ways we can reduce costs and improve the way we do things.
“But we also want to develop alternative and preventative pathways for people to access earlier support, for example through community based services.
“There will be greater opportunities for people to remain living independently and be cared for in the community, with no delay in care as they move from one service to another. This will drive down demand on our services and reduce the cost of intervention and unplanned admissions for acute care. Pathways to care will be personalised, coordinated and more flexible, joined up and consistent.”
The ‘Integrated Care for Exeter’ (ICE) partnership includes Devon County Council, Age UK Exeter; Devon and Cornwall Constabulary; Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service; Devon Partnership NHS Trust; Dorset, Devon and Cornwall Probation Trust; Exeter City Council; Exeter Primary Care Ltd; New Devon Clinical Commissioning Group; Northern Devon Healthcare Trust; Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust; Westbank Community Health and Care.
