Investing in communities
Why the need for this new approach?
Who will benefit?
Out of Area Treatments (OATs) have become an area of major concern for Government, commissioners, service providers and service users alike. There is a serious shortage of provision for individuals who need high levels of support in residential facilities or supported housing that will help them move on from secure hospital settings.
Service users Service users who require high levels of support to live independently in the community will benefit from having suitable services that allow them to be supported in their own community. They will no longer have to be placed far away from their homes, taking them away from family, friends and community networks.
As a result, people are being placed in services that take them away from family, friends and the communities they are used to. On top of this, the numbers of people being admitted to medium and low secure services is increasing year on year, with the problem showing no sign of abating.
What will Building Futures services provide? Using £15.2m capital investment from the Futurebuilders fund, services will be developed across five sites for people who are likely to have a combination of needs which may be characterised by mental illness, personality disorder, learning disability, substance misuse issues and/or challenging behaviours. They will:
Have needs which require high levels of support to live independently in the community.
Continue to present medium levels of risk to themselves or others without appropriate levels of support.
Present a level of risk that is over and above that which can be safely managed in existing community facilities.
Turning Point’s Building Futures services will use person centred approaches to assess and plan the care a service user needs. They will benefit from a service that is shaped around their individual needs. Service users will not have to be placed somewhere that is more secure than their needs, resulting in a more independent lifestyle where they can experience choice and social inclusion. Commissioners Turning Point is working proactively with commissioners to identify local needs and design services that fit into whole systems, filling gaps in the local care provision. These services will address commissioners’ need to create appropriate pathways of care. They will reduce the need to place service users in costly out of area placements, or in secure hospital settings that do not provide appropriate ‘step down’ care. Turning Point will work in close partnership with existing local providers, therefore keeping patients within existing NHS networks.
Where will services be developed?
About Turning Point
The five areas that have been identified for these innovative new services are:
Turning Point is the UK’s leading social care organisation. We provide services for people with complex needs, including those affected by drug and alcohol misuse, mental health problems and those with a learning disability.
1. North East of England 2. North West of England
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3. Manchester 4. South Yorkshire 5. West Midlands
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As a social enterprise, Turning Point is committed to finding new, innovative ways of working with commissioners to transform social care services for the people that use them. Turning Point is a registered charity, number 234887, a registered social landlord and a company limited by guarantee number 793558 (England & Wales). Registered office: Standon House, 21 Mansell St, London, E1 8AA. www.turning-point.co.uk
About Futurebuilders Futurebuilders is a government-backed fund offering support and investment to third sector organisations to deliver public services. They offer a combination of loans, grants and professional support to build the capacity of third sector organisations who want to deliver better public services.
South Yorkshire will be the first service to be ready to accept service users, opening in 2009. The remaining services will be ready by 2011.
www.turning-point.co.uk/futurebuilders