The service has been brought in house from 1st June 2021. There have been significant issues uncovered from the previous service delivery that is taking a lot of resource to investigate and resolve. These issues include over and under payments, and poor service quality.
Market Context
The Shared Lives scheme provides a unique form of support in the community, based within the homes of people specifically recruited and trained for this purpose.
The support can be for long term care (from many months to years), support, and accommodation or for short breaks to give the family carer a break from their caring responsibilities. Some adults visit the Shared Lives Carers for several hours during the day to take part in specific activities.
By living or being part of the approved Shared Lives Carer’s family and circle, people can be part of each other’s lives and enjoy activities together. The scheme supports adults in ways that help them move towards independence.
Market Rating
There is minimal provision for this market, therefore work is required to evolve the service. The longer-term vision is yet to be determined. The current demand is stable and focusing on growth and quality.
| Market Quality | Market Supply | ECC Demand |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate | Low | High |
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 |
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| ECC Ambition | Market Workforce | Market Maturity |
| Increase Supply | Moderate | Evolving |
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ECC rating of the market, assessed on 31st March 2024.
| Essex ASC Market (ECC Funded) | |
| 2022-23 Forecasted Spend | £1 Million |
| No. Adults | 45 |
The information shown in the table(s) above is correct as of 31st March 2024.
Progressing towards vision by stabilising the current service that has moved in house through intensive intervention. This will then allow for targeted growth, and aiming for an increase in new placements.
The COVID impact highlighted is:
- Reducing, service is returning to BAU within guidelines. For the adults in the service, support networks and life experiences are settling back to what they want and need.
Current market risks:
- Recruitment is required to allow for resource to grow the service to expected volumes – a challenging recruitment market across the social care sector makes this difficult.
- Post Covid it may be more challenging to recruit family carers as shared lives carers/hosts.
- Vaccination requirements in this sector may impact recruitment further.
Our current area of focus is:
- Recruitment of service staff to allow the targeted service growth to be achieved.
- Recruitment of shared lives hosts.
- Continued service stabilisation and quality development.