Changes to homecare services in Falkirk 'like losing a member of the family'
A project to get people out of hospital and back into their own homes appears to be at a cost to those who are already receiving care packages.
Many elderly and disabled people who are currently supported by Falkirk Council’s homecare staff are being told that these carers will no longer be coming into their homes but instead their care packages will be outsourced to independent providers.
One man who has carers attending to his needs four times every day says he was “shocked” by the news which he received in a letter and then followed up by a home visit from an official with Falkirk Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP).
The HSCP is a partnership between Falkirk Council and NHS Forth Valley, as well as third sector organisations. who deliver adult social care and social work support to 160,000 people across the district.
The man said he was told his new carers would be in place within five days.
He added: “I’m really not happy. I’ve the utmost respect for the people who are currently providing my care and to think that I will be losing them, well it’s like losing a member of the family.
"You build up trust and a friendship with someone and to be told that it is ending so suddenly is not good.”
The letter sent out to people with care packages explains that the HSCP is “changing how it is providing care to people at home”.
It continued: “Over the next few months, our service will begin to focus more on supporting people to remain at home, this will include reducing hospital admissions, helping people recover from a hospital stay and supporting people to live independently at home for longer.”
Last month NHS Forth Valley agreed to provide the HSCP with a further £2 million to support an initiative designed to keep people out of hospital and care homes, by providing round the clock care, where needed, for up to three weeks to assess patients’ needs at home.
As part of this it will be moving Falkirk Council’s home care team toward becoming a “reablement-focused service” which means rather than carers “doing for" the person, reablement is a "doing with" model, where support workers encourage individuals to do as much as possible for themselves to rebuild independence.
However, more people are needed and there are plans to increase the number of carers on the reablement initiative.
Falkirk Council’s care and support at home team currently employs 110 with 40 of these volunteering to complete the reablement training so far.
Caroline Doherty, Falkirk HSCP’s head of community services, said: “Regular reviews are carried out to make sure people receive the right support from the right team in Falkirk. Everyone in Scotland has a say in how their social care is arranged, using one of the four Self Directed Support (SDS) options.”
She added that those who chose to let the local authority find them a care provider will either have this sourced from the council’s own team or from one of around 80 private providers.
Ms Doherty said: ““As part of our wider efforts to discharge more people from hospital in a timely manner and to support more people to be independent at home, we are increasing the amount of reablement support available in the local area. This will help more people recover at home and can reduce the amount of ongoing care they need by maximising their independence.
“To do this, we are moving Falkirk Council’s home care team towards becoming a reablement-focused service and are developing plans to increase the size of the care and support at home team.
“We have been developing this approach with the support of trade unions and staff. Some colleagues have chosen to complete extra training so they can move into reablement roles. This means we can now support more people leaving hospital and provide more reablement support.
“To release this capacity, this may require a change in provider for some individuals currently supported by Falkirk Council. Where a change is required, a handover period will be in place. Individuals and families can also choose their own provider using the other SDS options, depending on their needs.”
The plans to increase the size of the team and restructure the service are currently being developed and will include public and stakeholder consultation.
The full proposal is expected to be brought to the Integrated Joint Board – which oversees the work of the HSCP – later this year.