'Home first' strategy planned by Bradford Council to cut costs of social care

Bradford Council, which had already agreed to cut its care budget by £8 million a year for the next two years, has now set out its vision for keeping people living independently in their own homes for as long as possible.

Council bosses hope to set up social care hubs in communities across the district, as well as using cutting-edge technology and improved homecare services to reduce stays in care homes and hospitals.

Bev Maybury, Bradford Council’s strategic director of health and wellbeing, said they were faced with increased demand and reduced money and had to decide how to deal with this.

She said it was a “reasonable” goal to try to cut the number of people in care homes by 20 per cent, saying most people wanted to stay in their own homes as they grew older.

She added: “But I think it is bigger than that. I think people are looking for some kind of inclusion in their communities.

“As much as it is about services, it is about people having better lives and feeling that they are part of something wider. It’s their local church, their local mosque, or various groups, if that’s something people want to take part in.”

Councillor Val Slater, deputy leader of the Council, said: “We are not just doing it for the cuts. It’s the right thing to do.”

Mrs Maybury said: “The other option would just to be tighten up the eligibility, the number of people getting care. Then you get people going into crisis.”

The strategy is only at a draft stage, but some details have emerged.

There are plans to open five or more multi-agency social care hubs in communities across the district, bringing together social workers, health workers and others to boost early intervention and self-care.

The locations for these have not yet been fixed, but they could be based at GP surgeries, Cllr Slater said.

There would be greater use of telecare systems, personal alarms and falls sensors designed to keep people safer at home.

Care users would get help accessing community groups and activities, as an alternative to traditional Council daycare, homecare or respite care services.

The Council would encourage the building of extra-care flats for the elderly, such as one planned for the former Bronte School site in Keighley, as an alternative to care homes.

And the authority would increase both the quantity and quality of homecare services, Mrs Maybury said.

She said she had heard stories about people being put to bed by homecare teams at tea-time, only to get up again, which she described as “a waste” of resources.

Separately, a review has begun into the future of five Council-run homes - Holmewood in Keighley, Thompson Court in Bingley, and Woodward Court, Beckfield and Norman Lodge in Bradford. A sixth - Holme View in Holme Wood - is already proposed for closure.

Mrs Maybury said ‘home-first’ approaches at other local authorities had proven to cut demand for traditional care services by as much as 25 per cent.

But she said with Bradford having to reduce costs by 23 per cent, “this is challenging for us”.

She said: “I’m not going to underestimate the size of the challenge. What I will say is the best authorities have done it and have documented it.”

The opposition Conservative group has backed the plan.

Councillor Jackie Whiteley, its spokesman for social care, said: “I wholeheartedly support this aim, because obviously it’s much better for people to remain in their own homes, providing they are not lonely - which is one of the things Bev’s idea seeks to address.”

But Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said there was “nothing new” in the suggestion to keep people at home for longer.

She said: “Bev Maybury is a bit of a magician if she can cut out £8m worth of additional savings through a strategy that has been done for years.

“All this is is extra rationing.”

She challenged Mrs Maybury to produce a "line-by-line" breakdown of how the money would be saved.

Care providers have given the vision a cautious welcome, but have stressed that quality homecare will need to be properly funded.

Konrad Czajka, chairman of the Bradford Care Association, said keeping people healthy at home was a laudable medium- to long-term goal.

But he said in the short-term, the Council had to pay a "fair price for care" to stop providers leaving the market altogether.

And he said the plan also needed to take into account the growing elderly population.

He said: “All the things Bradford Council are doing regarding preventative care and keeping people healthy for longer, of course we agree with all that.

“That’s not the issue. The issue is, unfortunately, the demographics are changing.”