"The Front Door" - Improving the first point of contact with Reading Adult Social Care

Overview - Reading Borough Council Reading Borough Council is a Unitary Authority located in Berkshire serving a population of more than 160,000 people. Further information on the profile of Reading Borough can be found at: Reading Borough Profile The Council adopted a Corporate Plan for 2022 – 2025 ‘Investing in Reading’s Future’. The plan describes our key themes which our residents, businesses and partners have been consulted upon and has been developed to support change in Reading. There are three inter-connected themes: Healthy environment Thriving communities Inclusive economy What are we looking for? Reading Borough Council is interested in working with Voluntary Sector Partners and others to enhance the Adult Social Care ‘Front Door’: the first point of contact for the Councils’ Advice & Wellbeing Hub. We are inviting you to an engagement session to tell you more about our vision and requirements, get your feedback and thoughts and answer any questions. After considering the information below, you feel like you could offer a service and would like to join the provider engagement session, then please confirm your attendance via the In-tend portal, or confirm your attendance via email with Soon Heshe, Transformation Project Manager soon.heshe@reading.gov.uk If you have any related questions prior to the engagement meeting, please contact Jamie.Ford@reading.gov.uk. The engagement session will be held on 30th November (time to be confirmed) and will be a virtual meeting via Microsoft Teams (Teams which can be downloaded to any device). A link with the time of the session and joining instructions will be sent once you have confirmed your attendance. Background Reading’s Adult Social Care Directorate has seen an increasing number of people needing our support. It will be no surprise that this puts significant pressure on services and we are keen to look at how we make best use of our resources for the benefit of all our residents. Many people approach the Council for support that is already available in the community; or could be developed with a collective approach. With early intervention at difficult times, people can continue to be independent, draw on their strengths, recognise their own resilience and the resources offered by their family, friends and local community. This may mean that they will no longer need Adult Social Care intervention and the Council will be able to focus on the people in greatest need. Using evidence of best practice and our own experience we would like to enhance our Front Door by involving the Voluntary Community Sector at an earlier stage in the customer journey. The aim of our new model: We would like to commission an organisation or partnership to be the first point of contact for people coming to Adult Social Care – in other words, the welcome service for Adult Social Care We will want this organisation to provide initial advice and guidance, signpost people to other organisations and support groups that may be able to help, ensure they access it and look at the development of small support groups and community provision to meet small groups of individuals’ needs. The organisation will need to be well connected and work closely with other organisations in Reading. They will work to a strength-based model, working alongside the person and guiding them to find support and opportunities in the community, whilst enabling them to lead an independent life. The organisation will be able to support people who need both signposting and/or support from the community as well as Adult Social Care support – so this will not necessarily be an either/or model. They may order minor equipment like grab rail fittings and refer to the Technology Enabled Care Trusted Assessor for occupational therapy assessments. They will listen and connect people, walking alongside the person on their journey and p