VFM in assessment and care management9 June 2011

Assessment and care management briefing

• This briefing is the second in a three part series on VFM in social care.

• Councils are transforming their approach to assessment and care management to adapt to personalisation and to respond to budget cuts.

• We are seeking the views of the group as to how our briefing could best help councils.

Information/Advice/

Guidance

1st Contact/ Screening

Assessment

Re-ablement/

Further Assessment

Rapid Response

Assessment RAS

Support Planning

Brokerage

Care

& Support

Delivery

Review

Reassessment

Improved websites

Single point contact centre

Lower grade staff collecting info

Improved transition for children

Pathway redesign

Workforce pay and numbers review

FACS and means-testing

Electronic assessment

Lean processes

Parallel running

ULOs

Better use of staff time

Improved web sites

Back office review

E-payment

E-monitoring of care

Greater emphasis required

ADASS self-directed support model

Spending on assessment and care management varied between 6 and 23 per cent of social care spending in 2009/10

0

5

10

15

20

25

To

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pe

nd

on

as

se

ss

me

nt

an

d c

are

ma

na

ge

me

nt

as

a p

rop

ort

ion

of

tota

l sp

en

d in

20

09

/10

(%

)

Spend on assessment and care management divided by total assessments and reviews carried out

£-

£500

£1,000

£1,500

£2,000

£2,500

£3,000

£3,500

£4,000

£4,500

Total number of assessments and reviews divided by number of assessment and care management staff

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Audit Commission work completed and in progress

• Fieldwork site visits to East Sussex, Oxfordshire and Wigan took place in Feb/ March

• Data analysis combining activity, expenditure and workforce data is in progress

• National briefing to be published in autumn• Data analysis tool for councils to be published

alongside

Early findings (1)

• Oxfordshire has already made significant cash releasing savings by reducing social worker and management posts and recruiting to “coordinator” posts. Teams have been reorganised to localities rather than specialisms/ care groups. Savings have been £1.4m.

• Wigan has carried out a timesheet exercise and workshops with staff on the role of the social worker. The council plans to save £0.6m.

Early findings (2)

• East Sussex has carried out a lean review of the social care pathway to address bottlenecks and inefficiencies. Efficiency savings of £1m are forecast.

• Data analysis is expected to highlight variation in unit costs and productivity.

Possible chapter structure for briefing

1) What is assessment and care management?

2) What needs to change and why?

3) “Where are you?” challenge

4) What can you do about it?

5) What else needs to change?

There will also be a data analysis tool to allow councils to benchmark themselves

Questions for the group

• How should we best frame the key messages to provide constructive advice for councils?

• What haven’t we considered in this briefing?