Improving wellbeing – and the bottom line

Last week's 2020 Commission report warned of a huge rising bill for adult care. Sophie Dickinson reports on how Lincolnshire CC and its partners are tackling the county's own care challenges while cutting costs in an initiative that has attracted the attention of the Government. Excellent Ageing hopes to transform the health and wellbeing of older people in Lincolnshire over the next ten years. It has attracted interest at the highest levels of the new government, with the county council's chief executive Tony McArdle invited to an hour-long meeting with chancellor George Osborne at the Treasury. The quality of life in Lincolnshire attracts many people to retire to our county and the population is expected to rise dramatically over the next 20 years, far faster than the rest of the country. Already 40% of the population is over 50, compared to 34% in the UK as a whole and this is set to rise in Lincolnshire to 49% by 2033. With public sector funding squeezes this creates a challenge. Excellent Ageing is about doing things differently to meet this challenge. We will be exploring how best to use the total resources and assets within the county to deliver real improvements for older people, their carers and families. This requires public, private and voluntary sectors to work more flexibly together. Older people are an asset to communities in the county, bringing skills, experience and time to contribute to local life. People moving to Lincolnshire also help support the county's economy and play a valuable role as volunteers, carers, employers and local leaders. However, older people often need help and support in their later years and can have complex health needs. The council and its partners are looking at how to provide the right support to meet this increased demand when there will also be less money available in the public sector. To make this happen we need to engage and work with communities who are the key to building support at a local level for our older population. Initial findings also show: households with someone over 50 are likely to contribute £2.5bn to the economy the majority of our 284,000 over-50s live a happy and active life there remains a huge gap between benefit entitlement and benefit take-up pockets of deprived older people are scattered across the county in urban and rural areas older people will be working longer in the future current provision of services for older people is fragmented, siloed and not cost effective 85% of people in Lincolnshire own their own home (compared to 66% national average) a ‘hidden community' of as many as 30,000 exist in static caravans on the east coast of Lincolnshire there is a proven link between increased well-targeted local prevention activities and improved health/reduced admissions to hospital by 2025 it is predicted an extra 4,843 older people will enter residential care – costing £2.7m – based on current service provision early estimates suggest that total public sector spend in Lincolnshire is maybe as much as £6bn with approximately £700m spent on older people. There is strong commitment from the county council, NHS, police, district councils, university, businesses and voluntary organisations to forge new radical ways of working together which will deliver better outcomes. Budgets will be used collectively to realign resources to make the best possible impact. Crucially, partners are also talking to older people themselves to find out how they think better services can be provided at less cost, helping them stay active and healthy for longer. We also recognise that there is some excellent practice already underway in our county which we can build on, particularly our First Contact service, the Carers Partnership and the pioneering work of organisations like Age UK and CABs. We are borrowing the approach and best practice developed in last year's Total Place pilots to develop solutions which can deliver a transformation in our county in the short, medium and longer term. Working groups have been set up during the autumn to look at themes and explore potential ideas with volunteers, professionals and community members. By January 2011, there will be a robust set of recommendations setting out how we can improve outcomes for older people and reduce costs. The aim is to reduce the estimated spend on older people in Lincolnshire by £200m over the next ten years, while radically re-shaping services to deliver better outcomes for people. We have a clear vision by 2020. Older people will have more choice and control, receive effective help when it is needed and be respected within their communities. Locals will be supported to help themselves and realise the Big Society vision for the county. This is a ground-breaking project which offers us as a real opportunity to reshape what our county offers to older people. Sophie Dickinson is programme lead for Excellent Ageing at Lincolnshire CC

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Improving wellbeing – and the bottom line

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