I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I am conducting research to inform the development of services for individuals requiring acute mental health care, rehabilitation, acquired brain injury (ABI) support, and complex care placements, including nursing, residential, and supported living services. I would appreciate it if you could provide the following information:
Section 117 Aftercare
1. The total number of individuals currently receiving Section 117 aftercare funded by your authority.
There are 1,024 individuals currently receiving S117 funded aftercare.
* A breakdown of these individuals by:
* Type of placement (e.g., supported living, residential care, nursing care).
| Service Group 2 | Qty Unique Clients |
| Supported Living | 228 |
| Shared Lives | 2 |
| Res Care – Respite | 3 |
| Res – Short Term | 9 |
| Res – Long Term | 300 |
| Nurs – Short Term | 2 |
| Nurs – Long Term | 88 |
| Enabling | 366 |
| Domiciliary Care | 68 |
| Direct Payment – Respite | 1 |
| Direct Payment | 80 |
| Day Care | 13 |
Note there will be some duplication in the above figures where clients are receiving multiple service types
Primary support need (e.g., mental illness, ABI, dual diagnosis).
We only hold information on their “Primary Support Reason”, breakdown of which is below.
| Primary Support Reason | Qty Unique Clients |
| A – Physical Support / Access & Mobility | 32 |
| B – Physical Support /Personal care support | 73 |
| C – Sensory Support / Support for visual impairment | 6 |
| D – Sensory Support / Support for hearing impairment | 1 |
| E – Sensory Support / Support for dual impairment | 1 |
| F – Support with Memory and Cognition | 65 |
| G – Learning Disability Support | 71 |
| H – Mental Health Support | 756 |
| I – Social Support / Substance misuse support | 2 |
| K – Social Support / Social Isolation Support / Other | 15 |
| L – Social Support / Support to carer | 2 |
* Total annual expenditure on Section 117 aftercare for the past three financial years.
We cannot answer this question within a reasonable timeframe. Unfortunately, this would require looking at each individual client, which would take around 8 minutes each (for easy-to-understand agreements). This would be estimated to take around 136 Hours. This is therefore beyond the appropriate time limit of 18 hours and is therefore exempt from disclosure pursuant to section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000
2. Commissioning Frameworks:
* Details of any Approved Provider Lists (APL), Frameworks, or Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS) your authority uses for commissioning:
None, services are commissioned through Spot contracts
* Inpatient rehabilitation for mental health. The local authority don’t commission these services.
* ABI or neurorehabilitation services. The local authority don’t commission these services.
* Complex care placements. The local authority doesn’t currently have a commissioning framework for complex care placements
* Supported living services. None – services are commissioned through Spot contracts.
* Information on how new providers can apply to join these frameworks. This question is not relevant – as have no frameworks.
3. Out-of-Area Placements:
* The number of out-of-area placements made in the past 12 months for individuals requiring services mentioned above.
| Area | Qty Service Agreements | Qty Unique Clients |
| South West | 240 | 68 |
| POSTCODE NOT FOUND | 2 | 1 |
| National | 93 | 37 |
| ICB | 233 | 80 |
| Devon | 2775 | 856 |
* Reasons for these out-of-area placements (e.g., lack of local provision, specialist needs).
* Average duration and cost of these placements.
Same as above for both questions, the timeframe to find this information for those outside Devon alone would be 186 clients * 8 minutes = 24.8hrs (per question)
4. Delayed Discharges:
* Data on delayed discharges from hospitals over the past 12 months due to:
* Delays in funding decisions.
* Lack of suitable placement options.
* Disagreements between health and social care commissioners.
* Average length of delayed discharge periods in these cases.
This data is not held by Adult Social Care MIT within Devon County Council – and would need to be directed to the relevant National Health Service Trust.