A plan has been drawn up to set out the work of Bradford Council's Adult Services over the next five years.
The Five Year Strategy 2007-2012, being presented to the Council's Executive on Tuesday 18 December, aims to address the future challenges of the department which faces a growing number of people needing its services.
These include older people, people with physical disabilities, mental health and learning disabilities, people with sensory loss and carers.
As the number of older people is set to grow with longer life expectancies, people with physical and learning disabilities are also living longer.
In the next five years there will be over 300 young people in the district with a learning disability who will eventually transfer to Adult Services' remit.
The strategy sets out six priorities for improvement:
Equal Access for all Adults - breaking down barriers to mainstream activities such as leisure, learning and employment
Promoting independence and Well-being - through commissioning preventative and early intervention services from the voluntary and community sector
Shift to Home Based Support and Care for People with More Intensive Needs - by directing care to those with the greatest needs
Choice and Control - increasing people's choice and control of services to meet their needs
Service Redesign and Improvement - services tailored around individuals and their families which meet national and local quality standards
Integrated Commissioning Arrangements - working closely with the Primary Care Trust and other partners to ensure joint commissioning of services is based on evidence of need.
Coun Dale Smith, Executive Member for Adult Services, said: "We face a number of challenges in the years ahead, but this strategy seeks to address the growth in the number of service users we face and aims to give us closer working relationships with the Primary Care Trust, voluntary and community sector and other partners. This should equip us to confront these challenges."
The strategy also follows the guidelines of a Government White Paper 'Our Health, Our Care, Our Service: A New Direction for Community Services' issued last year which sets out the Government's intention to shift the emphasis of health and social care from acute and intensive interventions to community and preventative services.
Officer/Contact
Dave Preston
Head of Performance Development, Adult Services
Telephone: 01274 432901
Media Relations Officer
Kathy Grillo
Telephone: 01274 433526
Fax: 01274 432005
Email: press.communications@bradford.gov.uk
Date: 11.12.07
