- Effective partnerships are in place to commission and deliver fully integrated, high quality sustainable outcomes for people
- People are encouraged to be involved in the design and delivery of their care and support as equal partners
A partnership approach to commissioning
We have worked closely with our domiciliary care providers to change the way we commission and deliver services to older people. We promote a more coordinated, outcome-based approach, focusing on what people can do, rather than what they can’t do. This gives providers an opportunity to tailor their services around the individuals they support, taking on board their views, preferences, and what matters to them. We recognise that changing practice takes time, however we have seen very positive outcomes as a result, enabling older people to remain in their own homes for longer. Our challenge now is to ensure that we have sufficient capacity to meet the rising needs of our older population, as they express their choice to be supported in their own home, rather than residential care.
Taking on board the views of people with disabilities and their carers through engagement activities, such as ‘having a job’ facilitated by North Wales Together, we have commissioned new services to meet their needs and aspirations. Working in close partnership with HF Trust, the Bryn Euryn café and shop in Colwyn Bay is due to open in late spring or early summer 2024. The aim is to provide excellent opportunities for people with disabilities to enhance their skills, gain valuable experience in catering, and help them gain paid employment. Our vision is for the café to be Conwy’s favourite place to shop for plants and stop for a coffee, whilst supporting people with learning disabilities to learn skills that will help them achieve their employment goals.
We are actively taking steps to implement a co-production approach to the way we commission our services, e.g. enabling people and their families to work with us as equal partners and offering opportunities to for them to be involved in part or all of the commissioning process. We have good examples of working closely with families in the design, commissioning and procurement of person-centred services, which includes the providers who support them. We are committed to developing a co-production approach to commissioning, ensuring we have a diverse range of services in our local area.
As part of our children’s accommodation development, we are currently engaging with children and young people, and involving the Loud Voices group, to take on board children’s views, feedback, and suggestions in the commissioning and development of residential care and supported accommodation type services.
How we can improve
- We recognise the shortage of suitable accommodation for young people in our area, and that their support needs can be quite complex. We will engage with the local community when we plan to introduce new residential care services in the community.
- Our commitment is to develop and commission new services based on evidence and meaningful information, taking on board people’s views, national policy guidance and good practice, so that we have the right services available at the right time and place.
- We will continue to develop the way we engage, gather feedback and carry out our research and consultation activities to assess public preferences and opinions as part of our commissioning process; we’ll be utilising tools such as the Citizen Panel.
Employment pathways for people with learning disabilities
This year Conwy and Denbighshire, in partnership with North Wales Together, have launched a new pathway for individuals with a learning disability who are open to social services. The supported employment pathway offers people intensive job coach support in order to help them find paid employment that would be difficult to source on their own, or a social worker would not have the capacity for. The Employment Pathway Coordinator (EPC) receives all referrals to the new service from social workers, Careers Wales officers, and other professionals. They then meet with the individual and their family or carers to decide what the best route to employment will be for that person, and whether they would benefit from some work experience/volunteering opportunities to build up a CV. We have also referred people to training courses provided by Conwy Employment Hub, the Downs Syndrome Association’s WorkFit programme and Amdani, Conwy’s in-house volunteering service aimed at providing volunteering opportunities based on local culture.
Conwy will be adapting the way that day services are currently offered to individuals. The goal is that from now on, people will attend day services on a short-term basis, leaving after a set period of time with experience, and hopefully a qualification that we can use to find paid employment. Day services will always still exist for those that need them, but anyone who is able to work should use them as a training tool rather than a long-term option. The new nursery and café at Bryn Euryn Nursery in Mochdre will be providing tailored work experience opportunities for people, again for set periods of time, which can then be used to source jobs in the community. We will also be running a weekend job scheme for 14+ students at Ysgol Gogarth to gain work experience, hopefully shifting the culture in additional needs schools and colleges to focus more on employment. Going forward, our EPC will also have a presence in our local special schools and colleges, where they will be working with staff to deliver information to the learners on our new service, and employment in general.
Work has been carried out to provide people with a learning disability with a genuine choice about what they want to do. For some, employment could now be achieved in place of traditional day services, volunteering in charity shops or becoming NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training). It was previously very difficult for someone with learning disabilities to access paid employment, as Social Workers would rarely have capacity to undertake the time-intensive task of sourcing employment for someone with a learning disability. It is often also the case that without the initial on-the-job support that our job coaches can provide, the barrier faced by the employer of training up someone with a learning disability in the new role would be too much of an undertaking. The creation of these new roles, EPC and job coaches, aims to bridge the gaps in this field and enable people with a learning disability to successfully find paid employment.
Due to the posts having been filled in October 2023, it’s still very early to measure achievements, but so far we have had some good successes. Five people have started paid work using the new service, with one more set to start in January 2024. People have accessed training opportunities that they otherwise wouldn’t have known about. Volunteering placements have been found for people to improve their CVs and build experience. We have two people starting a work trial in the Venue Cymru cleaning team in January, building a link there between two Conwy services. People referred to the service have seen their well-being, prospects and social situations all improved.
Adding to the well-being improvement for residents, there is also a financial saving to be made for Conwy in the long term. The cost of helping someone into paid employment is far less than the cost of providing constant domiciliary care, access to day services, transport, staff etc. that may otherwise be needed if the person did not have access to this support. There are currently conversations happening about how to make Local Authority jobs more inclusive, potentially providing Conwy with candidates in the future for vacancies that are sometimes unfilled for a long time.
How we can improve
Vocational profiling is a tool used in supported employment to get as much information on the individual you are supporting as possible, and it is used to get the best job match possible for employers. The more relevant information we can get onto a vocational profile, the better the chance of a successful candidate succeeding in their new role. As we deliver the service we are discovering what information is relevant and what isn’t, tweaking our vocational profiles all the time. This will be a process that continues into the next year. While it may not be possible to get a perfect vocational profile at any point, ours will continue to be improved as we learn more about what is important to discover about job seekers pre-employment.
Our success rate when approaching employers needs to be improved. There is of course a ceiling on this, and many employers simply won’t be interested in using the service. We believe however that with the right approach, more interest will be generated from employers who may currently be hesitant. Our approach when it comes to contacting employers is again something that we will adapt and change as we go forward and learn more about what works and what doesn’t.
Links with local authority jobs and opportunities are not very strong at the moment and this needs building on.
Our action plan
There are some elements of the vocational profile that have been added and removed already, and this will continue. If we find that certain types of information don’t seem to be relevant, they will be removed. Likewise if we find there is a piece of information that is needed or requested, it will be added in and we will find out about it earlier in the process. We can talk to employers about things that have worked or not worked, and see if there is some way we could have discovered this at the vocational profiling stage.
We can talk to employers about what information they want to know about the service to put them at ease. As time goes on we will build a series of employer ambassador testimonies. Hearing from another employer that using the service has been successful will be the best way to put them at ease and build confidence in our service.
Two work trials have been set up at Venue Cymru which is a good start, but there are other avenues we can be looking at. How can we go out into the world and ask employers to take a chance on our candidates when we are not doing so in-house? There are currently conversations ongoing around making the recruitment process more inclusive to those with a learning disability. We hope that in 2024, people with learning disabilities who are referred through this service will be able to undertake a work trial in place of a formal interview to demonstrate that they can do the job, even though they may have been able to convey that using the current application form/job interview recruitment style.
Improving our foster carer offer
In order to improve Conwy’s offer to foster carers, we increased the allowance they receive, as well as the amount payable for second and third children in their care. We have also re-introduced reimbursements to foster carers to cover the first 50 miles they transport children to and from school and family time. We are exploring options around Council Tax discounts for foster carers, with a view to implementing them during the 2024-2025 financial year. These initiatives align with the Foster Wales agenda to harmonise payments throughout Wales, put us in a more favourable position to attract new foster carers, and gives them a viable alternative to the private sector.
Conwy has developed a Foster Friendly Policy for employees of Conwy who are Foster Carers or may wish to become Foster Carers. This policy, which is currently going through the democratic process, aims to provide existing and new employees with five additional special leave days to attend training or meetings to enhance their fostering role. This will support our recruitment and retention strategy in a year which has been challenging. Without a Recruitment Officer in post, we have struggled to attract new foster carers, however the team have continued to attend public events and post social media campaigns to generate interest and enquiries. By the end of 2023, four new fostering households had been approved, with two more expected to be approved by the end of March 2024.
Gaining a Short Break Social Worker in December 2023 was a positive development, following months of recruitment. This post had been identified as a need in our 2022 Placement Strategy and funding for the post was achieved via a successful bid to the Eliminate Profit Agenda. By the same route we were also able to recruit a Duty Officer in November 2023 to support the Supervising Social Workers to increase our assessing capacity.
Retention of existing foster carers continues to be a strength of the service, and this is demonstrated by the stability of our foster families. Foster carers’ attendance at bi-monthly coffee mornings remains positive, with the opportunity to gain peer support, advice and guidance from staff, whilst maintaining the foster carers’ sense of belonging and identity within the Local Authority. Our annual Service Day in the spring and Appreciation Day in the winter have become firm events in the calendar which are well attended and support the family feel of Foster Wales Conwy.
This year, with the cost of living crisis, the service continues to fund Maxx cards (discount scheme), Conwy Ffit passes and any access to free events are gratefully received by foster carers. We know that these offers are effective, as foster carers in turn support recruitment events and participate in social media posts.
How we can improve
In terms of the challenges experienced and improvements we need to make, we have struggled to recruit to two full-time Recruitment Officer posts, which would enable us to target local recruitment events, develop our local presence further, and hold regular drop-in sessions at clubs, leisure centres, libraries, etc. We also need to focus on developing our social media presence and analyse the activity it generates. We want to liaise with local businesses and promote our enhanced payment model and Foster Friendly Employer status. As part of Foster Wales we’ll ideally develop a more regionalised recruitment campaign with our neighbouring Local Authorities.
Our areas of need are:
- Short breaks
- Keeping siblings together
- Teenagers
With successful recruitment campaigns, those foster carers able to take on teenagers will require additional support, therefore to work in partnership with the Principal Psychologist for Children Looked After will be essential in developing a model of care.
Our action plan
Over the coming months we’d like to ensure that we:
- Have two Recruitment Officers in post, developing and growing our recruitment strategy
- Develop short breaks recruitment, led by the Recruitment Officer and Short Break Social Worker
- Develop a model of care to meet the needs of teenagers
- Bed in the Duty Officer role to enhance the capacity of the Supervising Social Worker in undertaking assessments
Are you thinking about becoming a foster carer? Visit the Foster Wales Conwy website to find out more.
Participation and Engagement: The Dementia Listening Campaign
The North Wales Regional Collaborative asked us if we could contribute to the ongoing work of the Dementia Listening Campaign by undertaking a community engagement exercise. This was to take place in one town in the county, with the aim of gaining residents’ views on the dementia services and facilities available in their community. Any feedback would inform Public Health Wales’s future activities.
A steering group was formed, and Llanfairfechan was nominated for the event. The engagement work was fully supported by Conwy libraries, in particular Llanfairfechan Library, Llanfairfechan Town Council, the Conwy Community Well-being Service, the Older People Service and Councillors Penny Andow and Mandy Hawkins.
We held a community engagement and information day in the Llanfairfechan town hall in September 2023, a coffee evening in the community library in October, and had stalls at the Older People’s Forum at Llys y Coed and at the Llanfairfechan Christmas fayre. We met with local community groups to discuss the campaign and promote a questionnaire that had been devised for the event. We also spoke to residents in local shops and cafes and via any other opportunities that arose.
Our action plan
The overall response we received from local residents and community groups has been very positive. By December 2023, 178 people had completed the questionnaire. Once we have received the analysis and report from the North Wales Regional Collaborative we’ll be able to study the results and identify the improvements we need to make.
In 2024 we’d like to arrange a feedback event for the residents of Llanfairfechan to thank them for their involvement and discuss how their views have informed the regional report. We also need to set up a local action group for Llanfairfechan to take forward the priorities highlighted in the report by and for their community.
This engagement work started in 2023 and will contribute to the ongoing work of Public Health Wales to improve dementia care and encourage the development of dementia-friendly communities across Wales.
Other consultations and engagements we have conducted include:
- Residents and family members in three care home settings and one domiciliary care agency.
- Citizens and families in relation to the new respite facility at Bron y Nant, and supported individuals who use the service (and their family members) to be part of the interview process for new staff.
- All residents in extra care housing schemes across Conwy.
- People who use the community support services provided by the Conwy Disability Service.
How we can improve
We will continue to look at different types of engagement and consultation methods including online, telephone, surveys and feedback forms, in addition to meeting with groups and individuals, in order to inform our work and gain the views of people who access our services.
Our action plan
Future consultation work is planned with Community Well-being Services to engage with citizens in the wider community via:
- Open mornings
- Courses in the community
- Delivering activities to care home settings
- Webinars and Facebook
- General feedback forms
- Quality assurance surveys in the Family Centres
We also want to gather feedback from citizens who are receiving domiciliary care services from agencies, using an outcome-focused care approach.
Gaining feedback on Llys Elian from the residents’ family and friends
Twice a year we make contact with family and friends of residents of Llys Elian, which is our only Council-run residential home for people with dementia. We ask them to complete a short survey to give us feedback on the service their loved ones receive. Here is a snapshot of results from the survey we ran in September 2023.
For every question that we asked, we received 100% satisfaction levels from the participants.
- Everyone who responded agreed that they and their loved one is listened to by Llys Elian’s management and staff, and that they’re able to make choices about the care and support they receive and opportunities available to them.
- All agreed that their loved one is able to take part in meaningful occupation and activities and are happy in relation to their health and overall well-being.
- All were satisfied that their friend or family member feel safe and are protected from abuse and neglect.
- All felt that their loved one’s privacy, dignity and confidentiality are maintained by the service.
- Llys Elian is viewed as a comfortable environment, where their loved ones can personalise their space
- Visitors are made to feel welcome and are able to contribute to their loved ones’ care and support.
Comments received via the survey demonstrate how valued Llys Elian is by residents’ friends and family:
It’s an amazing home. The management and all the staff, in every area are caring and kind. Couldn’t wish for a safer, more caring home. The family of our loved one residing at Llys Elian will be forever grateful for their wonderful care. Diolch/Thank you.
As a family we are very happy to see mum settled in an environment that suits her mental needs and her personal needs. The fact that she is now able to socialise in Welsh has made a huge difference to mum’s frame of mind. Thank you.
Consistently high standards of care and interaction with my dad. Llys Elian are our family.
Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)
We have mentioned our MASH team in previous reports and can now confirm that the team have moved a pilot phase into business as usual. The team have also expanded and have gained an additional Social Worker to assess children’s safeguarding referrals. A Business Support Officer is now also part of the MASH team. This has allowed us to improve processes, including how we record MASH meetings and how we are involved in other safeguarding processes such as Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) and the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC). We now see regular input from Probation, Health and Education in our meetings. Attendance from other agencies has resulted in more robust decision making.
Here are some contacts figures:
This measure has been designed to capture the volume and demand for information, advice and assistance as defined in the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014.
How we can improve
We have started work on developing dedicated intranet and public website pages for the team. However, further work is required on this before we are able to finalise the content. We are keen to continue the increased attendance of key partners at our MASH meetings. Attendance can still be on an ad-hoc basis. We will continue to work with our key partners in an attempt to secure a more permanent presence at our meeting. This will then allow additional consistency in our decision making.
Our action plan
Over the next year we will:
- Continue to progress the MASH intranet and public website pages.
- Continue to develop and improve processes within MASH to see more consistent use of the Red, Amber and Green (RAG) ratings when making safeguarding decisions.
- Work with our internal management information team to ensure that we maximise the use of our data to analyse themes of safeguarding reports in order to develop a more robust response and intervention.