Community Care

Community Care

The Social Inclusion section of the Council's Corporate Plan Strategy states that it will "..improve the level and quality of Community Care Services by promoting better integration and planning of services between the Council, the Health Board, Voluntary and Independent service providers".

Community Care Services cover all age ranges, from babies with special needs to older people in need of support. While some people may need help with their day to day living, others may require help to adjust to specific disabilities.

One of the aims of Community Care is to help people live as independently as they can in their own homes or in homely facilities in the community.

Service Provision

Community Care Services are available to older people, people with dementia, physical disabilities, mental health problems, sensory impairments, learning difficulties, children with disabilities or a disabling illness, people with HIV/AIDS and people who are terminally ill.

Assessments are undertaken for a wide range of people with differing care needs.

Carers are entitled to an assessment in their own right.

Social Care Services provide many of the Community Care services.

Housing Services, the Health Service, voluntary organisations and charitable organisations also provide community care services. Social Care is responsible for organising care, meeting with people, discussing with them, assessing their needs and arranging the appropriate services for them. Social Care aims to ensure that practical help is available for individuals and their carers.

Specialist social workers, teams and projects provide support to many care groups.

We consult our customers when preparing and reviewing community care policies.

First Step

The first step towards requesting support is to contact the agency directly. For instance, if you required an adaptation to your home to enable you to support yourself better, you would contact Occupational Therapy directly.

If you are unsure who to contact or what support you may need, you can contact the Independent Customer Service Centre, who will listen to your needs and direct you to the most appropriate agency.

Independent Customer Service Centre: Tel. 01595 808080

It is also possible, with your permission, for a relative, friend or Doctor to ask for support on your behalf.

Emergency help is available outside office hours (evenings, weekends and holidays) from the emergency number: 01595 695611

The Next Step

When you contact an agency, a member of staff will discuss your situation with you and listen to what kind of support you need. Further discussions may then become necessary, for example, with other people such as the family doctor, community nurse, friends and / or relatives. However, this will only happen with your consent.

Depending on your particular situation and life goals a personal support plan will be developed with you. You will be asked to sign the support plan, as will your coordinating practitioner, and you will receive a copy. We will try and implement your individual support plan as soon as we possibly can.

You will also be asked to have a feedback call 22 days after you first made contact with us, so that we can ensure that you are getting the best possible service from us. Agreeing to receive the feedback call will help us to make improvements to our service delivery.

If we are unable to offer help, your cordinating practitioner will explain why, and may be able to suggest alternative sources of support.