Care Services Minister Phil Hope travelled to the north London Borough of Brent in the first of a series of visits highlighting good practice in care and support services.
The minister visited Kingsbury Resource Centre, created by Brent Council to provide a range of activities for older people to help them socialise and keep active. The overall aim is to prevent hospital or care home admissions and ensure that older local residents have the right type of care and support to allow them to live safely and independently in their own home.
“Kingsbury Resource Centre shows that helping people stay active and independent is key to a people-centred care and support system,” said Mr Hope.
The Minister spoke to local councillors and Brent community services officials about the Government’s plans to create a national care service for all adults in England. He then had a question and answer session with a group of regular centre attendees before touring the facility.
Currently, 125 older people from across the borough use the centre, with more on the waiting list. Between 30 and 40 people attend every weekday. Most attend one day a week, but others with greater care needs come up to three or four days.
There is a private room which is used for medical visits, visits from a hairdresser, massage and nail-cutting.The centre is fully wheelchair accessible and has a changing area and toilet for people with disabilities.
Regular activities on offer include art and crafts, cake making, games, quizzes and bingo, keep fit sessions, current affairs discussions and internet training. There is also aromatherapy, tai chi, yoga and gardening. Outings, parties and a range of cultural and faith events are held throughout the year.
“We have five buses that go out and collect the individuals from their homes,” said Resource Centre Manager Bharti Pattni. “When they arrive we serve tea and coffee and biscuits and then they come into the main day room.
“Lots of them love to play dominoes. Some of them have sing-alongs in one of the other rooms. They don’t get bored. You never see people doze off. Everybody sits down together for lunch, it’s very sociable.”
A look at the lunch menu illustrates how the centre’s work reaches across the whole of Brent’s diverse ethnic and cultural mix. There are columns headed “Asian vegetarian”, “Asian non-vegitarian”, “Caribbean” and “English”, offering dishes ranging from methi paneer to callalloo and saltfish or savoury minced beef.
“It has made a big difference to my life,” said Mrs Murif, who has been coming to the centre for five and a half years. “I don’t want to sit at home and watch the TV. It’s like when I went to work. Deciding what to wear, what to bring for lunch.
“I’ve made friends here. We have a chat and a debate. What’s in the news and the papers or whatever. I’ve been painting on a Monday and do exercise on a Thursday.”
“We do knitting, sewing, computers,” said Mrs Murif’s friend Cecilia Sam. “I like the computers very much. In my day we didn’t even use calculators. Now I can do everything. I use it to email my children and grandchildren. And the staff and the managers here are excellent. They make you feel at home.”
“It is their centre, not ours,” said Mrs Pattni.
The centre is part of the Partnerships for Older People Projects (POPP) initiative. Brent Council was one of 29 Local Authority-led partnerships selected by the Department of Health for funding under the scheme. In the Brent POPP pilot, the Integrated Care Co-ordination Service (ICCS) was established, funded by the Department of Health and Brent Primary Care Trust.
The ICCS service is provided to people aged 65 and over who may be at risk of avoidable hospital admissions or premature admission to residential care. They may be causing concern to GPs or others because they are at some risk in their homes due to medical, physical or social issues.
The ICCS takes a holistic approach with health and social services such as GPs and social workers working together to identify those who would benefit from the early intervention of the ICCS team.
Lesley Braithwaite, POPP Project Coordinator, said: “Identifying people’s needs before they become critical, and working across the complicated health and social care system to try and solve them, has been demonstrated through the POPP project. It saves money in acute care like hospital stays and A&E admissions and helps maintain people in their own homes safely and with improved confidence and well-being.”
Research has found that the Kingsbury Resource Centre saves between 14 and 29 hospital bed days a year, and between three and eight accident and emergency attendances. If this were replicated nationally, it could save as much as three percent of the NHS budget.
Brent’s Councillor Reg Colwill, Lead Member for Adult and Community Care, said: “We know this is what people want, and we know that it is not only appreciated by carers, the people who have used the service and staff, but that it is also cost effective. Prevention works.”
“Not only does it improve people’s quality of life, but it is cost effective and helps prevent A&E admissions,” said Phil Hope. “The Government will soon set out a blueprint for a new National Care Service that builds on the best elements of the current system. We are committed to creating a system that is fair, simple and affordable for all adults.”
Mr Hope’s visit to Brent was the first in a series in the run-up to the publication of the care and support White Paper. The visits will showcase the best parts of the current care and support system.