Could our adult social care transformation programme be a national award winner?

Last autumn Buckinghamshire County Council’s ground-breaking adult social care transformation programme was shortlisted in the Local Government Chronicle’s (LCG) Annual Awards in the Business Transformation category. It is now only weeks until the winners are announced and optimism is high that the local authority could walk away with the prestigious award.

In 2017, in partnership with external consultants Peopletoo, the County Council set about carrying out a thorough review of its existing model for adult social care. Triggered by the combined force of a growing older population creating increasing demand on social care services, together with the decrease in funding from central government, it was clear that something had to change.

Following extensive research and insight the answer emerged, a new social care model that effectively turned the old one on its head. The council’s Better Lives Strategy was launched in 2018. The new model maximises the use of existing resources and supports better outcomes for people through greater focus on prevention, and short-term intervention, supporting people to live independently and reducing reliance on long-term care packages.

Lin Hazell, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing said: “We are very excited to find out who is successful in this year’s LGC awards. We believe we have a strong chance of winning in the Business Transformation category. Our Better Lives programme is both innovative and ambitious and has involved a whole system transformation with teams across the entire adult social care service but also with our partners in health and the voluntary sector.

“I’m proud of the achievements that have been made and for the hard work and commitment put in by everyone to make this happen. It’s a long-term programme but we are already seeing results in terms of savings and more importantly better care for our service users. Whatever the outcome on 18 March when the winners are announced, the ultimate winners are our residents who are benefitting from a new and improved service that rightly puts their needs at the very heart of what we do.”

Maggie Kenney, Chief Executive of Peopletoo added: “We have now been working with the service delivering transformation across adult services for two years, and it is great to see the benefits being realised – Improved outcomes for citizens, staff excelling in delivering strength based practice and the whole system geared towards prevention and keeping people living within their communities.

“But we haven’t stopped there, we know there is more to do and we have continued to expand the scope of the programme to deliver further innovation. We work in true partnership with the Council and are delighted the programme has been shortlisted for this year’s Business Transformation category”.