Home care plan published

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

The principle of home care support for all Powys residents has been established, but how it is implemented could be very different in each part of the county.

At Powys County Council’s cabinet meeting this week, councillors discussed the “Transforming Prevention Services: Roll-out and mainstreaming of Home Support Services across Powys” report.

This will bring the council, health board and volunteer organisations together to provide support at home for Powys residents.

By adopting this model of care, the council is trying to cope with greater demand for services from an ageing population, and with limited funding.

This policy builds on a pilot scheme based on extending home support service schemes in Rhayader to three more areas, Presteigne and Knighton, Llandrindod Wells and Llanidloes from 2018.

These pilot schemes received grants from the Welsh Government’s Integrated Care Fund.

Head of social services commissioning, Dylan Owen, said: “The home support service has been in existence for a few years.

“It’s well established in Rhayader and has made great inroads into supporting people and providing early intervention and prevention by working with the local community.

“It’s not just a home based support service, there’s also community services which is run voluntarily by local people and  it’s about how those two groups work together to ensure that people are supported.

“The pilot has shown its effectiveness, its efficiency and the difference it makes to people’s independence.”

Mr Owen told cabinet that the report sets out that the services wanted this to be seen as a “priority” for them to develop it across Powys,

Mr Owen said: “We’re asking for support in principle but how we do so will be different in different areas.”

He explained that in Ystradgynlais for instance, the support could be linked to the Pont Aur Extra Care scheme and that new facility could be the base for around the clock outreach care for that area.

While in other areas, help could be commissioned from the voluntary sector.

As schemes come to fruition, Mr Owen explained that individual business cases would be made to “make sure” they are “viable and sustainable”, and funding would need to be found.

“This is the first of hopefully a number of papers coming to cabinet,” said Mr Owen.

Adult Social Care, Welsh and Communications portfolio holder, Cllr Myfanwy Alexander, believed this to be a “Powys solution for a Powys problem” and that “Powys people” could make it work.

Cllr Alexander said: “People want to be supported in their communities wherever possible, flexibility is a key strength of this proposal.

“We are committed to providing a level of care that anyone living anywhere in Powys can rely on, but the flavour of that care will depend on the area.”

“Powys is outstanding as a county of volunteers and there are many lessons, we have learned during the Covid crisis and one of those is how keen people are to help their neighbours.

“This will be rolled out building on the learning from the pilot scheme.”

Finance portfolio holder, Cllr Aled Davies, said: “It’s important that all our residents have equality of access to these services.

“There are always going to be hard to reach areas and we will have to work with the third sector to make sure all our residents benefit from this.”

But Cllr Davies warned there would be “difficult discussions” around how these schemes will be financed.

Cabinet voted unanimously to approve the report.