Imagine this. You’re in your seventies, and you’ve just had a spell in hospital. You’re less mobile than you used to be, and are finding it difficult to get out and about. You now need assistance to help you rebuild your strength and manage life independently once more.
In the past, many people in similar situations would have attended a traditional day centre. Yet, what if you felt this wasn’t the answer? What if you wanted a few hours with a carer to take you out food shopping, or the chance to attend a fitness class at a local community centre?
Putting People First, the name of a new directive from the Department of Health, recognises that modern social care needs to give people more control over the type of services they receive. To achieve this all service users will be allocated a sum of money – known as a personal budget – to spend on the services that they need and want.
As part of the drive to introduce real choices into the social care system, East Sussex County Council is looking at innovative new ways of offering day care for older people.
Cabinet members will discuss suggestions that day services at:
- the Charter Centre (Bexhill)
- the Isabel Blackman Centre (Hastings)
- the Phoenix Centre (Lewes)
could benefit from having a different business model, and that more time should be taken to study these alternative options, before a final decision is taken.
According to an East Sussex County Council (ESCC) review, these three centres could be turned into a resource for the whole community – that would bring different generations together by offering a broader range of activities and extending opening hours. As lively community hubs, these centres could attract more people, counteract the social isolation and segregation that some older people experience, and increase their profitability.
Another proposal to explore is that management of these three centres could be outsourced to the private or voluntary sector. Under this arrangement ESCC would purchase back day care places for its service users from the new management. This may be a more cost-effective way of using tax-payers money than the County Council continuing to run these services itself.
Whatever the final outcome, service users will need to understand the sorts of choices they have as a result of Putting People First – and how their Personal Budget will work. A recommendation has therefore been put to Cabinet that time is spent explaining the new system to service users of these three centres.
Finally, Cabinet will also decide at its meeting whether a decision on the future of the Moreton Centre, in St. Leonards, can be put on hold for the next eighteen months.
In January 2008, the County Council agreed to temporarily house in-patients from St Michael’s Hospice in the Moreton Centre’s residential unit, during redevelopment and refurbishment works. This arrangement will come to an end in 2010, but an informed decision could be taken in October 2009 as to the future of the site.
Notes to editors
The Cabinet meeting will take place at 10.30am on Tuesday 6 May in County Hall, Lewes. Journalists are invited to attend in person or to watch the meeting online, via our website – see our page about Videos of council meetings.
The review of these day centres is part of a wider ongoing review of all council-run services within its Adult Social Care department.
‘Putting People First’ was launched by the Government in December 2007. The County Council now has three years to roll out these changes. For more information about what it all means, ask us for our press briefing on Putting People First – email: charlotte.johnson@eastsussex.gov.uk
Download the Department of Health’s summary of Putting People First.
Reference:
1935
Contact the press team
