Adult Social Care Local Account 2024/25

Our focus for adult social care has been on managing demand, meeting the challenges of the adult social care reform, addressing workforce shortages and on improving the delivery of services. Key achievements against our service priorities are shown below.

Prevent, Reduce and Delay the need for support: Information and advice

• strengthened our offer of good and accessible advice and information
• revised our webpages and increased online accessibility
• provided more opportunities to provide feedback on our services and engage through easy access online feedback
• started the redesign of our Adult Social Care pathways focusing on prevention and early intervention
• introduction of our Gateshead Connects Pilot

Prevent, Reduce and Delay the need for support: Homefirst, promoting independence through enablement and technology

• grown and strengthened our PRIME service to offer more enablement opportunities
• worked with our local VCSE partners to maximise prevention, and develop our Community Led Support model
• worked with TEC partners to develop our TEC statement of purpose, including identifying solutions and strategies to common problems being faced by those needing our services
• developed and launched new Direct Payments Support Service

Caregivers and the Voice of People and Communities

• recommissioned our Caregivers Support service
• published our co-produced Adults Caregivers Strategy and delivery plan
• improved our online content to make information and advice relating to caregivers to make it more accessible
• co-designed our Co-production Framework  - Working Together for Change

Workforce and Commissioning

• developed our recruitment offer and workforce brand, including retention of our workforce
• signed up to the Social Care Workforce Race Equalities Standards (WRES)
• equipped our workforce with the right skills and knowledge to deliver strengths-based practice and successful enablement approaches
• continued to develop opportunities for development and career pathways
• implemented our new home care model to deliver outcome-based support closer to people and their communities
• published our All Age Autism strategy
• completed demand and need assessment for specialist and supported accommodation and published our Market Position Statement supplement
• recommissioned a number of statutory services