Supporting innovation in adult social care – Accelerating Reform Fund
The Accelerating Reform Fund supports partnership working in local areas to improve services for unpaid carers and those requiring care.
Impact
- Evaluation design for nine local authority projects: five Cornwall, four Devon, helping to support a share of the approximately 55,000 unpaid carers in Cornwall and 114,000 in Devon.
Project and evaluation support to implement:
- AI-driven app to support carers information needs.
- Digital care planning that encourages person-centred conversations about care needs.
- Home monitoring technology to enable people to remain healthy at home for longer.
- Dementia carers training and mentoring to support the resilience of carers of people with dementia.
- Volunteer-led ‘sitting’ service for unpaid carers.
- Access to carer breaks, leading to an increase in breaks taken across the region, supporting the wellbeing of unpaid carers.
- Strategies to recruit and retain host families to support people through Shared Lives South West.
Project summary
Health Innovation South West is forming new partnerships with local authorities and place-based organisations within Devon and Cornwall’s integrated care systems to evaluate innovative projects designed to improve the quality of adult social care and accelerate the shift from treatment to prevention.
Supported by the Department of Health and Social Care’s Accelerating Reform Fund, the work aims to identify unpaid carers and ways to support them, enable people to access more care options, and adopt and scale projects that deliver community-based models of care.
Local projects are expected to evaluate and capture their learning through implementation and spread, and to deepen understanding about how best to improve outcomes in this area of work.
Rationale
Devon and Cornwall have older and ageing populations, with the number of residents aged 65+ expected to increase ahead of the national average in the next decade. The ageing population not only increases the number of people requiring long-term care but also raises the age of the unpaid carers who are essential to providing that care.
Adults receiving social care often have multiple long-term conditions and frailty and face higher risk of hospital admissions and re-admissions. Their carers also face increased risk of ill-health due to the demands of caring for loved ones around the clock, often alongside other commitments. Even when respite care is available, it can be costly or inadequate, leaving carers without the necessary relief.
Supporting both groups – especially unpaid carers – is a key focus nationally and regionally to help people stay healthier at home for longer and reduce demand on primary and secondary services.
Key stakeholders
- Health Innovation South West is providing evaluation design and support for the implementation of a range of local authority projects.
- Other stakeholders include Devon County Council, Plymouth City Council, Torbay Council and Cornwall Council.
Next steps
We will continue supporting the various projects that have been trialled or implemented as part of the Accelerating Reform Fund.
Through our innovator support pipeline we will continue to support the work that have been initiated as part of a wider plan to grow our work across AI and digital innovation and to build on our growing portfolio of work in the Adult Social Care Sector.
The Accelerated Reform Fund provides us with a real opportunity to test some innovative change in our services, and Health Innovation South West have helped us ensure we are able to properly evaluate our work. We look forward to continuing to work with them as the projects unfold.
Giles Colton - Strategic Commissioning and Markets Lead, Social Care Commissioning, Devon County Council
