The Welsh Government is currently consulting on plans for the future of social care in Wales. The housing sector has an important role to play in maintaining the health and well-being of residents. With an ageing population and many people preferring to live in their own homes for longer instead of going into residential care, WHQ is investigating what is being done to integrate housing and social care services.
A well maintained and adapted home is a safer and healthier environment for those in need of care-services. Joining up housing, care, telecare and equipment services will improve the experience and outcomes for service users while releasing efficiencies for commissioners through a more streamlined, coordinated process.
Mears is the UK’s largest provider of social housing repairs and maintenance services. In addition to repairs and maintenance they are also one the fastest growing providers of home care and support services. Mears have recently won a five year repairs and maintenance contract with NPT Homes and will be carrying out Welsh Housing Quality Standard works, mainly kitchens, bathrooms, rewiring and central heating. Mears are using this opportunity to try a new approach bringing their care teams and repairs and maintenance operatives under one roof, the first step to creating a more integrated approach.
The traditional approach
Traditionally if a care-services worker spots a trip hazard or other problem in a customer’s home they report it to their supervisor. They in turn let their manager know. The manager should contact social services who, in turn, make a report to the landlord. The landlord will then put in a request to a contractor for an adaptation or repair. Even if the message manages to get to the repairs contractor, the process takes time leaving the resident at risk of a fall or other injury.
Mears have already successfully combined repairs and maintenance teams with care services in Wigan and Peterborough. This approach has meant that responses to problems are virtually immediate. Care workers are uniquely placed to identify potential problems or hazards that could cause an accident. Likewise, repairs and maintenance operatives are well placed to identify residents in need of extra support, an early warning to enable prevention services to be put into action. Best of all, this joined up approach doesn’t cost anything above or beyond normal operating costs.
Older people who use the service have said that they feel safer knowing trip hazards are repaired quickly. They also like the fact that repair worker visits coincide with visits from the care worker that they know and trust so they feel reassured that the repair worker is genuine.
Mears Cymru Director Adrian Marshman said ‘We are delighted to bring our Care and Repairs teams together, with the hope of full integration in the future. Integrating health, social care and housing delivery will enable us to meet the living needs of vulnerable people and ensure more efficient services are provided to tenants and service users. We are proud to have recruited local people for our new contracts and look forward to contributing to regeneration of the Neath Port Talbot Borough.’
A commitment to community development
As well as Care and Repair operating in unison, Mears Cymru has a real commitment to regenerating local communities and tackling long term unemployment. They have formed strong ties with Workways, an organisation that aims to get people from long term unemployment back into employment. To date, Mears has taken on 25 local people, of which 45% have been long term unemployed. They have also worked very closely with Careers Wales and NPT College to undertake apprentice recruitment; 7 apprentices will be taken on this year.
Looking to the future
Mears has also formed a unique partnership with AKW, a major provider of home adaptations and Tunstall, a leading provider of telecare-services and telehealth solutions. These partnerships mean local authorities and individuals can have a complete set of solutions and have the opportunity to purchase them as a single package. By placing an onus on providers to integrate services, creativity and innovation is encouraged and services are improved. However this can only be achieved if commissioners work in partnership with providers and are open to working together to try new ways of delivering services.
Our Repairs and Maintenance teams are learning from the experience of the care sector and vice versa. No longer operating in a silo, both housing maintenance teams and care teams now feel better placed to create long lasting sustainable improvements.
More information
For general enquiries:
Abigail Lock, Head of External Relations, abigail.lock@mearsgroup.co.uk, 0780 8647836
For enquiries about our work in Neath:
Craig Thomas, Project Manager Neath Port Talbot Homes Framework, craig.thomas@mearsgroup.co.uk,, 0845 609 0433