Published on Wednesday 31 July 2024
A £1.79 million investment in adult social care to improve the lives of adults and their families who require support, has been passed by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council’s councillors.
The initial investment will go towards the Fulfilled Lives Programme, as part of the Adult Social Care (ASC) Transformation Business Case, which aims to create a more preventative, effective and efficient service.
The programme has four key priority projects which aim to support people to remain independent and in the community for longer.
Cllr David Brown, Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing said: “We all want to live in the place we call home, in communities that care, doing things that matter to us.
“This ASC Transformation Business Case is about people having more control of their lives. We would like to have conversations with people about what they can do for themselves and how others can help before we need to intervene with services.
“This could include community groups helping with shopping, joining friendship groups or completing domestic tasks – all these things help reduce social isolation which can help with wellbeing and support independence.
“We know that when people lose their independence this can impact their mood, they may start to not look after themselves and can end up in a crisis. If we can prevent this, then we will need less regulated services, which cost more.”
The ASC Transformation Business Case states the £1.79 million investment is part of an overall funding boost of up to £2.9 million that would lead to recurring savings of approximately £3.5m per year through new innovative ways of working and support.
The following recommendations were passed at Council on 23 July.
- Approval in principle for the business case for a new adult social care transformation delivery model to improve outcomes for residents and to achieve financial efficiencies and savings enabled by investment of up to £2.9M
- The establishment of a formal transformation programme; ‘Fulfilled Lives’
- An initial 12-month investment of £1.79M, with an interim report to Cabinet on progress of the design phase in January 2025 and a full report by July 2025, with recommendations for further investment
- An agreement to invite the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee to provide regular scrutiny of progress towards benefits and sustainable change. In particular the Committee be invited to review the progress against the four priority areas of the Fulfilled Lives programme and the risks and opportunities of data with ASC transformation.
Cllr David Brown said: “Adult social care services locally and nationally have faced significant challenges in recent years, with an ageing population, increased demand for support and more complex needs.
“The nature of these challenges means that long term, sustainable change is needed to ensure that BCP Council’s ASC services are modern, preventative, fit for the future and affordable.
“Our Adult Social Care teams have worked hard over many months to review our ways of working, look at the best practice in other Council’s across the country and develop these plans for modernising the way we deliver our social care services to thousands of residents across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.
“As such as have come up with proposals for a transformation plan, which is all about taking a more preventative rather than reactive approach and putting people at the heart of our services.”
Proposals for the ASC Transformation Business Case were passed at Council on 23 July.