East Riding care revamp amid battle to keep staff
GPS trackers which warn if someone being cared for is at risk are among the changes coming
GPS trackers which warn if someone being cared for is at risk are among the changes coming to East Riding social care as the council battles to keep staff.
East Riding Council’s Health, Care and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Committee heard moves to launch the Your Life, Your Way programme, the revamped model of adult social care, continue.
Adult services lead Lee Thompson told councillors the programme aimed to prevent or delay people’s reliance on traditional services such as home visits or residential care.
But Business Management and Commissioning lead Yvonne Rhodes told the committee it came as staffing issues continued, with four staff from one team retiring within days of each other.
It comes as the council moves towards establishing Your Life, Your Way as its overall adult social care offer following its building and trialling, in part during the coronavirus pandemic.
Six teams run the system across the East Riding, covering different geographical areas and helping to co-ordinate the council’s care efforts with those in the voluntary sector and private providers.
It aims to give those who approach the council for care more independence by reducing their reliance on traditional services, with savings targeted at £3m a year.
A council report stated early trials showed nine hospitals re-admissions had been prevented, and 70 per cent of clients had no ongoing care needs at the end of support.
A further 14 per cent of the 17 clients supported had lower levels of needs and overall wellbeing scores rose from 2.7 to 4.1 out of five.
A review undertaken in November showed assessments resulting in reduced isolation increased by 14 per cent and 27 per cent resulted in a decreased need for care.
Councillors heard ‘buddy clip and connect’ GPS trackers were also set to be given to some of those in care.
The trackers allow their families to set boundaries in the area where they live and be alerted if a person in the programme strays outside of it.
The devices are part of technology being offered under the programme which also includes a new look website where people can find information about care homes and local services.
Councillors heard in one case a 59-year-old who suffered two strokes and underwent rehabilitation and got home visits took a few steps after being told he would never walk again.
The committee heard the support he received under the programme resulted in a better outcome for him compared to what traditional services offered and saved the council £1,592 a week.
But councillors also heard capacity did not yet exist in the voluntary sector in some parts of the East Riding which the programmes aims to help build as it is launched.
Mr Thompson told the committee that work included encouraging the setting up of small care providers in more rural areas.
But he added much of the £3m a year the council aims to save would have to be used to cover mounting costs of social care amid rising demand.
He said: “A lot of the savings would be recycled into home care to help us concerns and pressures we’re seeing there at the moment.”
Ms Rhodes said a churn was being seen among staff, with many looking to retire or work elsewhere at the same time as new recruits were being brought in.
The officer said: “The infrastructure isn’t there in a sustainable way at the moment, particularly in the voluntary sector.
“We’re also experiencing a high turnover in staff.
“We recently took on new staff in Beverley which filled our vacancies, but after we’d been so successful in recruiting them we started to see resignations in the same team.
“Four of them resigned, they were tired and they’d stayed on because of the amount of vacancies we had, once they were filled they felt they could leave without feeling guilty about it.
“In Brough we interviewed people but some of them later said they’d got jobs at the new Aldi and Lidl there.
“It’s a really challenging landscape at the moment.”