Building bridges, breaking barriers: Integrated care for older people

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has reviewed how well different health and care services work together to support the needs of older people in England. 

In its report, Building Bridges, Breaking Barriers, CQC warns that despite a widespread commitment for integration across the sectors, substantial progress is needed to better support people who use a number of services, reduce hospital admissions and avoid confusion about where to go for help. The report concludes that with a growing elderly population, now is the time to act.

They carried out site visits in eight areas and gathered evidence from a range of sources, and spoke with older people and their carers to understand how their experiences of care related to services working together.

The report highlights many instances of good practice where those providing and commissioning health and social care share information and co-ordinate services for older people. The report sets out the barriers to delivering joined up care. It concludes with five key recommendations for health and social care leaders.

The full report is available on the CQC website - http://www.cqc.org.uk/buildingbridges 

Disability and employment reports

The Resolution Foundation's report, Retention deficit: a new approach to boosting employment for people with health problems and disabilities,states that in order to make significant progress on the government's ambition to halve the disability employment gap, a comprehensive set of changes will be needed, alongside a cultural shift in how we view the connections between disability, health and employment in this country. The purpose of this report is to offer a new set of ideas that can be considered and developed in the new Green Paper due to be published later this year. In particular, they see an opportunity for a renewed focus on one area of policy where they think attention has often been lacking: the employment relationship and exits from work connected to disability and ill-health.

A copy of this report is available on their website.

Also, the Trades Union Congress has published Disability and Employment, which claims that the government is “years behind schedule” in delivering its manifesto commitment to halve the employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people by 2020 and it will be 2030 before the commitment is delivered. The report's main findings are:

1. At the current rate of change, from Q1 2016, it would take 58 quarters, until Q2 2030 to halve the employment gap

2. The TUC have calculated that by the end of this Parliament (Q2 2020) at the current rate of change there would still only be a 52.4 per cent employment rate for disabled people. This means that with a number of provisos and assuming the current rate of change continues, only around a third of the government’s goal would have been achieved (31 per cent).

3. The latest employment rate of disabled people remains at below 50 per cent, at 47.2 per cent for Q4 2015. It averaged at 46.6 per cent between 2008 and 2014. The latest employment rate for non-disabled people is 80.3 per cent, and the average rate between 2008 and 2015 was 78.0 per cent.

4. The disability employment penalty rate averaged at -31.4 per cent between 2008 and 2015. The ILO unemployment penalty rate averaged at 4.4 per cent. The disability penalty is the gap between an employment outcome measure for disabled and non-disabled people

5. In Q4 2014 the average pay for all disabled people was 14.8 per cent lower than all non-disabled people. Average pay increased for both non-disabled people and disabled workers from Q4 2014 to Q4 2015. However, the gap narrowed between them in Q4 2015, when the average pay per hour for disabled people was 12.3 per cent less than non-disabled people. The average weekly pay for part-time disabled workers decreased between Q4 2014 and Q4 2015 compared with other workers

State of Caring 2016 Report

Carers UK’s State of Caring 2016 report shows that, one year on from the implementation of the Care Act 2014² – designed to improve support for carers – carers in England are still struggling to get the support they need to care well, maintain their own health, balance work and care, and have a life of their own outside of caring.

Carers’ experiences show that the positive rights outlined in the Care Act are not matching up with reality. Growing numbers of carers believe their quality of life will get worse over 2016 (54%), despite the Care Act being in force, compared with expectations last year (50%) before the legislation was introduced.

Under the new legislation, all carers are entitled to a timely assessment of their needs. Yet, shockingly, 1 in 3 carers (29%) who reported having an assessment in the past year had to wait six months or longer for it. More alarming still, over one-third of carers (39%) looking after someone at the end of their life had to wait six months or more for an assessment.

Not only are carers facing barriers to getting an assessment, but they told Carers UK that the assessments they have received are, consistently, not fit-for-purpose. Of carers who received an assessment in the past year:

• 2 in 3 (68%) felt their need to have regular breaks from caring was either not considered or not thoroughly considered
• Only 1 in 3 (35%) felt that support to look after their own health was thoroughly considered
• 3 in 4 working age carers (74%) did not feel that the support needed to juggle care with work was sufficiently considered
• 1 in 5 (21%) said they received little or no helpful information or advice, and felt they didn’t know where to go for support with caring

These findings are particularly stark in the wider context of reducing support services and changes to social security. Carers UK’s survey revealed further evidence that a reduction in public services is hitting carers and their families hard. 1 in 3 carers (34%) reported a change in the amount of care and support services they or the person they care for receive. Of these, over half (59%) saw a reduction in care and support services due to cost or availability; this includes 13% who said a service was closed with no replacement offered.

A full copy of the report is available on the Carers UK website.

Job Opportunity: CLES

The Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) is the UK’s leading independent charitable research and member organisation, with a focus on local economic development, regeneration and place-making. They think and do – promoting action and implementing new progressive economic activities which create positive environmental, health and social outcomes. In all their work the relationship between place, economy and people is central. 

As a Senior Researcher, you will play a role in identifying new policy ideas and business opportunities through developing relationships and engaging with their membership base. You will play a key role in delivering policy advice, research and consultancy assignments to a high standard as well as implementing activities. This will involve using qualitative and quantitative research techniques such as undertaking interviews, facilitating discussion groups, administering surveys, and analysing secondary data; and you will contribute to the development of relevant recommendations. In addition you will help produce policy publications and will deliver bespoke training and membership seminars.

You will have three to five years’ experience of a policy/research/consultancy environment, preferably with a think tank, local authority or other public sector agency, voluntary and community sector organisation, or consultancy. You will have experience of developing relationships with a range of stakeholders across the public, commercial and social sectors and managing research and policy work. You will be self motivated, enthusiastic, up for creative thinking and keen on making a positive difference to local places and society. The role is an opportunity to work in a unique and innovative environment.

The salary for the role is £25k - £30k, dependant on experience, and is based in Manchester. 

Senior Researcher Job Description June 16

Senior Researcher Person Specification

To apply, please submit a CV and full cover letter to:

Laura Symonds
Office Manager
CLES
Express Networks
1 George Leigh Street
Manchester M4 5DL

T: 0161 236 7036

E: laurasymonds@cles.org.uk

As part of their equality, diversity and inclusion policy, they are committed to name blind recruitment. To enable them to do this, please send your documents as word files rather than pdf. 

For an informal and confidential discussion about the post, please contact Neil McInroy, Chief Executive of CLES on 0161 236 7036.

Realising the Value Update

Regional Voices, of which VSNW are a member, has been part of a consortium working with NHS England, Nesta, Health Foundation, Behavioural Insights Team and 5 VCSE partner sites on a project to evidence the value of different approaches to person centred care and to find ways to encourage greater use and uptake. The project was hugely ambitious and complicated, and has met with some challenges over the past 18 months, but findings are starting to emerge and a project update is now available.

In preparation for a working day with commissioners, Nesta has produced an update of progress and next steps in the different workstreams. It is in the form of a ‘storybook’ which gives you an ‘in a nutshell’ overview of each of the workstreams: what they are about, who the products are aimed at, learning and next steps. The workstreams detailed in the storybook are:

·  Work with local partner sites and communities of interest (led by sites with Voluntary Voices)
·  Supporting culture change, underpinned by behavioural insights, for both health and care professionals, and individuals and communities (led by the Behavioural Insights Team)
·  Valuing the contributions of people and communities in health and care (led by Voluntary Voices)
·  Assessing system change levers and drivers (led by the Health Foundation)
·  Developing an evidence-based economic model and tools for commissioners (led by PPL)
·  At the heart of health (led by Health Foundation/Nesta)

Link - Realising the Value storybook

People and Communities Board - Six principles for engaging people and communities

These six principles were developed by the People and Communities Board, one of the Five Year Forwrad View programme boards, in conjunction with the new models of care ‘vanguards’ sites, to give practical support to services as they deliver the ‘new relationship with people and communities’ set out in the Five Year Forward View

The six principles require that:

1. Care and support is person-centred: personalised, coordinated, and empowering
2. Services are created in partnership with citizens and communities
3. Focus is on equality and narrowing inequalities
4. Carers are identified, supported and involved
5. Voluntary, community and social enterprise and housing sectors are involved as key partners and enablers
6. Volunteering and social action are recognised as key enablers

The Six principles for engaging people and communities: definitions, evaluation and measurement document contains information and suggestions to help organisations and planners to understand and measure the impact of engaging with local people and communities.

Download Six principles for engaging people and communities: definitions, evaluation and measurement

There is also a Six principles for engaging people and communities: putting them into practice documentwhich sets out why the principles are important, and offers case studies and key questions to help local leaders put them into practice.

Download Six principles for engaging people and communities: putting them into practice

Inclusive Growth analysis tool launched by JRF

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, in conjunction with the University of Manchester, has launched a new inclusive growth tool that monitors LEPs nationwide on both prosperity and inclusion.   

The initial report’s findings, which compare prosperity and inclusion scores for 2010-14 based on a composite of eighteen indicators, suggest that there is little correlation between prosperity and inclusion in the UK (see image below).

Figures for the North West LEPs indicate a mixed bag- while changes in both prosperity and inclusion in Cheshire & Warrington and Cumbria were better than average, Liverpool City Region and in particular Lancashire performed quite badly. Greater Manchester had a high prosperity score for the period yet it was in the bottom quartile for inclusion. 

The monitor will be updated by the Inclusive Growth Analysis Unit, which is a joint venture between JRF and the University of Manchester, headed by Ruth Lupton of the university. The GM VCSE Devolution Reference Group met with Ruth in May, and will be working with her to ensure that the voices of communities are adequately reflected in the unit’s work.

The tool will complement the RSA’s Inclusive Growth Commission and the Greater Manchester Growth and Inclusion Review, which have both launched recently. 

More information on the Inclusive Growth Analysis Unit can be found on the University of Manchester’s website.

Map of European funds by LEP area

The Local Government Chronicle have produced a map of European funding for 2014-20 by LEP area.

This shows that the allocated funding for the North West is:

265m euros  Lancashire

91m euros    Cumbria

414m euros  Greater Manchester

221m euros  Liverpool City Region

142m euros  Cheshire and Warrington

This map is part of an article about the potential impacts of the EU referendum vote on this funding (subscription required) - http://www.lgcplus.com/politics-and-policy/finance/brexit-and-reforms-create-uncertainty-over-european-funding/7004041.article?blocktitle=European-Funding&contentID=23437

Response to Cutting Red Tape Consultation

The Cutting Red Tape review of local authorities is a government review led by the Cabinet Office, DCLG and BIS, working together with other government departments and regulators. They want to identify and remove unnecessary regulatory barriers to growth and associated costs placed on businesses by local authorities, while ensuring necessary protections are maintained, and also gather evidence of where regulation imposes unnecessary or avoidable burdens and costs on local government. More information on the consultation can be found on the Cabinet Office website.

NCVO are planning to submit a short response focussing on procurement barriers, applying for discretionary business rate relief, and volunteering issues. If you have any evidence or examples that you would like them to include, please contact Nick Davies at Nick.Davies@ncvo.org.uk by the end of play on 22nd April. The final deadline for submissions is 28th April.