Sutton Council announces improvements in adult social care

 The Local Account 2018/19 document was presented at the People Committee on Thursday evening and details how the Council provides support to over 2,100 residents to live well independently. 

Key achievements include:

• People spending less time in hospital
• Less people under 65 needing to go to hospital
• The first of new local teams, delivering support quicker and more efficiently 

Feedback from the report shares the impact on residents. 

“The staff have been so good to me. They all did a very good job by supporting me to be able to get back on my feet.”

“The care and support provided was exactly what I needed.”

“I can now do so much more for myself”

Councillor Marian James, Chair of the People Committee said, 

“Helping our residents live well independently is one of our key goals for the borough. Last year, over three quarters of the people who we helped through our START Reablement Service didn’t require long term support services or reduced their ongoing support, which is a major achievement.

“These changes have largely happened because we’ve changed the way we work. We’ve spent the last year bringing together staff from different areas and departments to form the first of three new local teams. Being locally based in the community provides us with a better understanding of the resources that are available and helps us to play a stronger role in the local community.”

The Council have been able to deliver these changes by working with local organisations by forming partnership with Epsom & St Helier Hospitals, Sutton Clinical Commissioning Group; South West London and St. George's Mental Health NHS Trust and Sutton GP Federation.

If you’d like to find out more about our work in Adult Social Services, you can download the Local Account 2018/19.

Notes to Editors

Adult Social Care services covers the provision of support for personal care and practical support for people with a physical disability, learning disability, mental health and also support for their carers. Support services enabling residents to live at home include:

• Sutton Health and Care at Home in partnership with health colleagues
• START (Short Term and Reablement Team) service on discharge from hospital
• Occupational Therapy service and the provision of equipment
• Meals on Wheels
• Personal Budgets to enable people to remain independent in the community following an assessment of their need
• One example is direct payments which enables people to have the flexibility to purchase care from providers of their choice.

Other services for residents with complex needs include:

• Residential care
• Nursing care
• Referral to Continuing Health Care to support residents with health care needs.

Adult Social Services are one of the biggest areas of spending for Sutton Council — we spend £63m per year providing care and support in order to enable over 2,100 of Sutton’s residents to live well independently.