A new service for long-term caring solutions

The Council is improving the Home Care and Support service. This service is available to people in their own homes who have been assessed as needing help with essential tasks, such as washing, dressing and preparing food.

What is changing?
We are aiming to improve home care services to help people be as independent as possible by providing excellent, reliable and targeted care to those who need it most.

We’ll do this using a team of well-trained, highly skilled and supported staff organised in small local teams.

For people who use the service, this will mean being provided with care and support at critical points in life.

An intensive service will be provided when people need help to get back on their feet and relearn essential life skills, for example, after an illness, accident or hospitalisation.

We will do this by working with people, at their own pace, to build up confidence in their own ability, at first over six weeks.

The Council Home Care and Support service will also be providing a long-term service for people with complex needs which is flexible and responsive and which will work closely with community nursing.

Within six weeks people will have their care plan reviewed. If, after the initial service a long term service is required, a level of support will be provided that is ‘just right’, allowing people to live as independently as they can and regain confidence.

What do you mean by ‘life skills’?
‘Life skills’ is a shorthand way of describing daily independent living skills such as getting up and dressed, making a meal, moving about, going to the toilet, personal hygiene or simple domestic tasks, while feeling safe.

Why is the service being changed?
We are developing the new service to provide a long-term solution to the growing demand for home care by meeting people’s needs in an effective and efficient way.

Surveys with people who use the service have told us what they think is needed. More and more say they want to live in their own home rather than in a care home or hospital.

We need to find better ways of supporting people to do that, by helping people ‘to do’ rather than ‘doing for’ them.

The new approach known as ‘re-ablement’ has been successfully used in local authorities in England. In Edinburgh, it will start in targeted localities this year.

We will roll it out gradually and build on the successful Hospital Discharge teams already working in the city.

What are our aims?
People we have helped to regain their independence will be more able to undertake their own daily living tasks, or we will help them to find other appropriate services.

By modernising the Home Care service in this way, we’ll be able to ensure we’re delivering the right level of care to our service users, while making the best use of our funding to help those who need it most.

Consultation
We’ll be continuing to consult with service users and interested groups about the new vision for Home Care in the months to come.

If any changes directly affect individual service users, we will meet with them to talk through these. The changes will happen over the next six years.

Throughout the changes, we will ensure that the interests and wellbeing of clients and staff are at the top of the agenda.

We are committed to good communication and involvement now and into the future.
If you would like to hear more about Edinburgh’s plan to modernise home care, you can contact us by e-mail at: hsc.communications@edinburgh.gov.uk or write to: Bill King, Home-Based Services Manager, Waverley Court, Level 1/8,
4 East Market Street, Edinburgh EH8 8BG.