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conference report
Getting creative in commissioning

Commissioners are determined to come up with novel solutions to ensure good practice
despite an uncertain future for social care. rose Trustam reports on the commissioners’
conference, where service integration and new models of service provision were discussed

Unsustainable Pressure? The Future of to start with
Health and Social Care neighbourhoods. He
National Commissioning and Contracting commended the
Training Conference, 2018 Local Government
Association (2018)
mid a tough climate, this for having reached
conference, run by and for political consensus
acommissioners, showed a in its own green
determination to share, challenge and paper on social care.
find solutions, as well as showcasing With oversight of
good practice. the development
Neither the government nor the of the 42
opposition is providing the political sustainability and On the table: providers and public sector staff share ideas
strategic thinking social care needs, said transformation
ADASS president Glen Garrod, when he partnerships, White explained how these potential providers to design the new model
opened the event. would move towards integrated care and tender; it then contracted providers to
Garrod, who is executive director of systems, driven from the ground up by cover six zones on a six-year contract. The
adult care and community wellbeing at “getting under what’s really going on work was funded by the Greater
Lincolnshire County Council, said the locally”. The next stage would be Manchester Transformation fund.
future of social care looked unsustainable, “shadow” integrated care systems, The provider uses the social worker’s
unstable and uncertain across the country. involving the development of relationships assessment and personal budget to
In his ADASS role, he has previously said: where people give up things for the produce a care plan with the client. They
“Pouring money into the NHS without greater good, and move to partnership both consider help from family and friends,
investing in social care is like pouring beyond health to wider public services. assistive technology and anything that
water down a sink with no plug in.” Garrod shared some areas for optimism. would help them to better connect with
The conference was chaired by Mike These included personal budgets. He cited the community, as well as what is needed
Webster, retired assistant director of health Warrington’s personal health budget pilot from Tameside Support at Home Service.
and adult services at North yorkshire on end-of-life care which had enabled 83 Around half of the 9,500 weekly hours
County CounciI. The opening keynote of 100 people to die at home as they had for 950 people have been provided. There
speeches majored on health and social wished (NHS England, 2018). is a key worker system, which motivates
care integration, with a green paper due. He also discussed homes with built-in staff so improves recruitment and
Garrod felt integration should cover design standards for later life, technology retention, and providers maintain contact
housing, while Jon Rouse, chief officer at to improve independence and for self-help if people go into hospital. There are
Greater Manchester Health and Social (including for online shopping), integrated monthly provider meetings and pilots of
Care Partnership, said Manchester had practice, pooled budgets and joint low-level health tasks, digital health and
asked for welfare benefits to be included. commissioning. Self-assessment could be electronic monitoring.
Jacquie White, director of the National made simpler, he said; for example, Leeds While funding is tight, more people are
System Transformation Group at NHS City Council has a two-page form to being helped within the same amount of
England, identified three levels of complete, while Lincolnshire County time, and providers are integrating more
integration, with budgets able to move Council’s runs to 24 pages. with local services. n
between them. These are: Resilience is built through having the ● Conference presentations can be
● ●Neighbourhood level: this is where right people, communications and downloaded from www.ncctc.co.uk/
integration starts, and would involve professionals, and people should share presentations/navigate/443/306
strengthening community, preventive resources and collaborate, he said. An ●●The presentation on A new model of
and post-hospital services, with integrated experience should be possible, home care – a person-centred approach
neighbourhood-based budgets he noted, inviting delegates to consider can be downloaded from www.ncctc.
● ●Place-based level: different services how Amazon manages to give people an co.uk/download_file/267/194
with common issues would be brought invisible integrated service. ADASS (2018) ADASS responds to public accounts
together, and staff shared committee report on social care and health
● ●System-level: this final level would Contracting differently integration. 2018. http://tinyurl.com/ybphxgou
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council
employ joined-up digital strategies.
Local Government Association (2018) The lives
Tameside MBC councils’ strong, direct local links and and local providers have changed how we want to lead. http://tinyurl.com/yakey8qs
Garrod was concerned to maintain
they contract home care services.
NHS England (2018) Warrington. http://tinyurl.
Tameside worked with current and
accountability, echoing the need
com/y962mhy2
www.cl-initiatives.co.uk Community Living Vol 32 No 2 | Winter 2018 23