LINks - the Housing LIN's essential weekly bulletin (w/c 26 October)
Welcome to LINks, the weekly e-bulletin from the Housing LIN (Learning and Improvement Network) where we put a selection of latest information, resources and events under the spotlight. In this week's issue, we would like to draw your attention to the following:
New Housing LIN Technical Brief - Care and Support in Housing with Care for Older People
The landscape has changed considerably since the 2010 version of the Housing LIN Technical Brief on Care and Support in Extra Care Housing (2010 Technical Brief) was written. This week, at the West Midlands Housing LIN meeting at Bournville Gardens (opens new window), the new retirement village in Birmingham, we launched a new Policy Technical Brief Care and Support in Housing with Care for Older People. Written by Sue Garwood, it updates policy in this area and covers aspects of the Care Act 2014 relevant to the world of housing with care. In particular, it outlines key policy changes in the following areas: commissioning, procurement and funding; charging; safeguarding; mental capacity; and care registration.
This free Technical Brief forms part of a trio of documents: Approaches to Procurement and Delivery of Care and Support in Housing with Care which contains a range of new and updated case studies; and an edited version of the 2010 Technical Brief in which the outdated policy and case study sections have been removed, but other areas of principle and practice have been retained where terminology has sometimes changed but the key points remain the same.
Read this here:
And if you found these of interest, check out our new Care and Support at Home webpages at:
http://www.housinglin.org.uk/Topics/browse/CareAndSupportatHome/ (opens new window)
Building the right support: A national implementation plan to develop community services and close inpatient facilities
NHS England have published a national plan and service model which sets out how people with a learning disability and/or autism will be supported tolead more independent lives and have greater say about the support they receive and radically improve learning disability services. Following the Winterbourne View Review, the plan predicts that, as these services are put in place, there will be a reduction of up to 50 per cent in the number of inpatient beds, meaning that some units will close altogether. The plan highlights the need to work closely with housing to develop innovative models of community based care and support at home for people with a learning disability. To facilitate this, NHS England will also make £15m capital fund available over 3 years.
Find at:
http://www.housinglin.org.uk/Topics/browse/HousingLearningDisabilities/ (opens new window)
Housing with Care: Guidance on regulated activities for providers of supported living and extra care housing
Following consultation with the housing sector, the Care Quality Commission has published guidance to help providers of housing with care distinguish between the two categories of personal care that need to be registered with them: "personal care" and "accommodation for persons who require nursing or personal care". The CQC uses the term Housing with Care to include supported living schemes, extra care housing and shared lives.
Spotlight: Housing an Ageing Population
This market report from Savills highlights the twin challenge of unlocking the equity and making more efficient use of the housing stock. It outlines that although older households are sitting on a large amount of wealth, without the ability to sell or borrow against it, housing equity becomes just a number on a piece of paper. With housing market transactions improving but still below pre credit-crunch levels and mortgage market lending still relatively tight for both older borrowers and first-time buyers, opportunities to unlock this equity will remain constrained without further innovation in the sector.
More at:
Housing: Just what the doctor ordered
Sitra and NHS Alliance have published a handbook to guide housing and housing support organisations through the process of developing relationships with Clinical Commissioning Groups and NHS providers, and the types of offers that may interest GPs.
Find at:
Public Health: Housing workforce holds the key
Public Health England have also commissioned Sitra to carry out a study on the impact of the housing workforce on health outcomes, build case studies and develop a suite of training to enable housing providers to develop their staff to become part of the wider public health workforce. In addition, they have published a selection of case studies that demonstrate the existing range of initiatives where housing providers are contributing to public health outcomes.
Getting serious about prevention: enabling people to stay out of hospital at the end of life
This paper by the National Council for Palliative Care calls for action to prevent unnecessary and costly hospital stays at the end of life. It is intended to help commissioners as well as providers and contains key recommendations on how they can enable people to stay out of hospital at the end of life when they neither need nor want to be in hospital. The report also contains examples of good practice where good planning and co-ordination enable people to be cared for out of hospital at the end of life, and examples from people with personal experience of end of life care.
Telecare News Headlines
This week's news headlines from the Telecare LIN can be downloaded in two formats (doc; pdf) at:
- Telecare News Headlines: 29 October 2015 (doc - 122Kb) (opens new window)
- Telecare News Headlines: 29 October 2015 (pdf - 382Kb) (opens new window)
Forthcoming Housing LIN events/meetings
Please note that we are currently planning a series of free regional events and meetings, as follows:
- North West Housing LIN annual conference on Tuesday, 3 November in Warrington
- North East Housing LIN annual conference on Wednesday, 11 November in Durham
- Eastern Housing LIN regional meeting on Thursday, 12 November in Chelmsford
- London Housing LIN regional meeting on Monday, 16 November in Morden
More information and registrations to attend these events can be found at:
www.housinglin.org.uk/Events/ForthcomingEvents (opens new window)
If you are not already registered to receive notifications about our events and meetings in your region, create your own Housing LIN account by logging at:
www.housinglin.org.uk/useraccount/ (opens new window)
Stay networked with the Housing LIN for latest news, views and resources on housing with care matters.