By Cllr David Hare
As with much of Wokingham Borough Council, Adults Social Care is under significant financial pressure.
We have always tried to set a realistic but challenging budget, as we do with our performance indicators, to ensure we give the best service possible to the people of Wokingham.
Inflation and increasing wages have more than wiped out the uplift in any income this year, yet there is an increasing demand for Adult care services and we have to serve this statutory work.
Unfortunately for some, Adults Social Care is not a free service, it is something that individuals may have to pay for or contribute towards for their care. The Council must ensure that our limited resources are targeted toward those vulnerable residents that need the support of the department.
Technology is being used, to keep people safe and maintain independence where appropriate.
Optalis are also employing a new care management system to ensure the resources available to us are maximised, so managing the need for locum and agency workers, therefore reducing costs.
Wokingham Borough Council is well on the way to purchasing The Berkshire Care Home.
This 50-bedroom care home will be run by the council’s own social care provider Optalis, who are excited by the opportunities this will give. It is vital that we can work to embed the service within Optalis, so ensuring that we can increase occupancy while remaining at safe levels, that will then mean we are making a positive return on our investment.
I hope people realise the purchase of this care home is great news. It is a priority that we support vulnerable people. By running our own care homes in partnership with our social care company, Optalis, we can help meet the demand for care.
In this way, we can reduce our own costs by providing local homes for local people while ensuring they still receive high-quality care.
We are in desperate need more specialist care in our borough as the number of people needing this type of support is rapidly increasing.
The other great event of the summer was a Social Cares Futures meeting in Woodley.
This had a varied mix of people who use and provide services, as well as parents all involved in looking to the future of Social Care.
The day was about how we work with, listen to and speak with the people who use the various services that are provided.
This was a day looking at the way we have worked in the past, with an us and them mentality that differentiates between provider and recipient and so can be very demeaning. In Social Cares futures we are looking to change this to an equal party mentality, where everyone is an engaged in all transactions.
So often providers think they know what a person needs and give them that. Often what is needed might not be what is provided, so money and time are wasted.
As providers we need to listen to and hear the views of recipients so that we tailor what is provided to what they know they need. Getting out of the old mentality, even when we didn’t consciously think of us and them, is not always easy.
We must relearn the language about being inclusive, talking about people rather than using other discriminatory terms, not necessarily having special events or courses for people with disabilities but rejoicing in the gloriously ordinary that we can all embrace.
This, for me, is something of a vision I outlined as a Social Work student about 35 years ago.
It is an exciting culmination of all I have dreamed of and laboured for since then, a valuing, respect and integration of people everywhere, whatever their ability, so that we can all work together to ensure a better future.
Cllr David Hare is the executive member for Health, Wellbeing and Adult Services on Wokingham Borough Council and ward member for Hawkedon
