Promoting independence: Our vision for adult social care in Devon 2023-28
Our ‘promoting independence’ vision remains the core driver of everything we do. Our current strategies were developed in 2023, taking into account the circumstances at the time:
- We had been through the COVID-19 pandemic and were facing the challenges of recovery.
- We continue to face a cost-of-living crisis with inflation making financial sustainability increasingly challenging for councils.
- The government published its vision for adult social care ‘People at the Heart of Care’ in 2021.
- The Health and Care Act came into legislation in 2022 and introduced assessment of local authority adult social care functions by the Care Quality Commission.
- We had a new Chief Executive and a new Director of Adult Social Services in 2022 bringing fresh views and experience into the Council.
We undertook a process of engagement and consultation in updating our vision and strategy, and are grateful to the many colleagues and members of the Council, partners and providers, and people who use services and their carers who contributed to the development of our updated vision and new strategies.
We also ensured we reflected other changes:
- beginning with the Social Care Future vision which many people say speaks to them
- recognising that people want to live lives with a purpose that is meaningful to them including through employment and volunteering
- emphasising the importance of the home and community that people live in, in maintaining their independence
- putting more focus on housing with support options as people’s needs change
- acknowledging that as technology develops, so we must make best use of it including how we deliver care
- shifting from long-term care to short-term support that promotes independent living including through reablement, rehabilitation and recovery
- understanding that transitions don’t just occur between childhood and adulthood but at different stages in people’s lives
- realising that unless people feel safe and are having their basic needs met, they can’t make other changes in their lives
- encouraging our own staff and all those who work in the health and care sector to adopt a culture of practice that is based on recognising people’s strengths
To navigate this online content, we suggest:
- reading the ‘Promoting Independence’ vision first – this lays out our aspirations.
- focusing on the strategy of most interest to you:
- ‘Living well’ for working age adults.
- ‘Ageing well’ for older people.
- ‘Caring well’ for unpaid carers.
- exploring the supporting approaches and other information if you are interested.