Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

The number of people benefitting from Carmarthenshire’s Reablement service continues to rise. The most recent figures available show that the number of people supported in their own homes by Carmarthenshire County Council’s Reablement staff, increased from 156 in quarter two 2010-11 to 213 in quarter two 2011-12. The Reablement service was introduced by the council in recent years to support people who require help to regain their independence, confidence and skills following a period of illness, disability, or loss of self-confidence. The service supports a return home from hospital or care home, and prevents unnecessary admissions to hospital or care. It is provided free of charge, and is provided until the service user meets their own personal targets for regaining confidence and independence. Sheila Porter, Head of Primary, Community and Social Care, said: “The service has been designed to support people to remain living safely in their own homes. It promotes choice and quality...

Carmarthenshire has been judged as the council that is coping best with providing social care services against a background of national budget cuts. Independent organisation Demos, in association with Scope – a charity for disabled people – has produced a league table after looking at all 22 Welsh local authorities. Carmarthenshire County Council was ranked number one on the list, which was published online last week. The assessments were based on a range of factors including budget changes to older people’s care and changes in user charges for various social services. Speaking of the ranking, Bruce McLernon, director of social care, health and housing, said: “Despite the very difficult financial environment local authorities are working in, we in Carmarthenshire have continued to make social care a priority. “An additional £3.4m was allocated for adult social care in 2011/12, and at the same time we have continued to develop a partnership strategy strongly geared towards working proac...

Hundreds of people working in the fields of social care, health, housing and children’s services in Carmarthenshire have received recognition for long service and special achievement. An award ceremony was hosted by Carmarthenshire County Council to honour its own employees, and also those working for independent providers. In all, 112 people received awards for achieving 20, 25 and 30 years long service with the council. A further 200 people were recognised for new qualifications they have gained in the last year, ranging from line management qualifications to NVQs, Diplomas and Degrees. The ceremony, held at Kidwelly’s Princess Gwenllian Centre, also celebrated the achievements of Carmarthenshire’s Social Care Workforce Development Partnership, which provides learning and development opportunities for the county’s social care workforce. Over 160 organisations and groups are members of the partnership which join together to create a supported framework for more than 5,000 employees. I...

Carmarthenshire County Council has been recognised at a top award ceremony which celebrates good practice in the social care sector. Two of its projects were announced as finalists for the Social Care Accolades 2011, held in Cardiff recently. The council's work in recruiting and supporting newly qualified social workers in Adults and Children's Services was recognised in the 'Effective Recruitment and Retention' category. A joint initiative with Barnardo's Cymru to provide more support for children and families affected by drug and alcohol misuse was also recognised in the 'Supporting Effective Intervention with Children and their Families' category. The project employs a full-time social worker to work with families to provide direct, timely support and rapid access to specialist services. Bruce McLernon, Director of Social Care, Health and Housing, said: “It was a huge achievement to have two finalists in the strongest categories of the awards, and althoug...

More than £3million has been added to Carmarthenshire County Council’s social care budget for the next financial year. The extra money will help ease the pressure on services and will help meet increasing demand for services including home care and supporting people with a learning disability. The department is currently projecting a £1.4million overspend at the end of the financial year, the majority of which - £746,000 – has been spent on delivering extra home care packages. The figures were discussed as part of a revenue budget monitoring report at a meeting of the council’s Executive Board. Cllr Pat Jones, executive board member for health and social care, said the overspend was a clear indication of the increasing demand on services, and added that the extra money for social care in the next financial year would be well spent. “We are providing more care packages now and the demand is not going to go down in the near future,” she said. “We do not make an overspend lightly, but we ...

Carmarthenshire County Council Day Club services are being redesigned to enable better use of resources for those in need of higher levels of care in the community. Five Day Clubs in the county will be affected by the plans, but whilst there will be some reorganisation for staff, many service users who currently use the day clubs will be offered a higher level of service within the council’s Day Centres, and others will be offered places at local independently-run luncheon clubs and social groups. The small number of staff who currently run Day Clubs will be offered redeployment opportunities elsewhere within the council, these could include opportunities within the council’s Day Centres where vacancies have been identified. The Day Clubs affected are Ystradowen Day Club, Ystradowen; Noddfa Teilo Day Club, Llandeilo; Gwendraeth Day Club, Pontyates; Caemaen Day Club, Llanelli; and Teifi valley Day Club, Newcastle Emlyn. The review of day services is a progression of decisions made by Ex...

The search is on for high-performing teams within Carmarthenshire County Council’s social care department. The authority hopes to take part in the prestigious 2011 Social Care Accolades awards. Led by the Care Council for Wales, the biennial awards are a national showcase for excellence and celebrate good practice across Wales. The Accolades are awarded to teams, partnerships and organisations who have transformed social care services by investing in the learning and development of people. The winning work is then shared with other organisations in learning workshops helping to raise standards in the sector across Wales. The authority was recognised at last year’s awards as part of its partnership work with Carmarthenshire People First, which reached the award finals for creating a unique training programme known as ‘Keeping Yourself Safe’. The programme saw four people with learning disabilities taught how to teach a course to other adults with learning disabilities on ways to report ...