Availability of care in Wokingham Borough

Healthwatch Wokingham Borough created a report to address the feedback they had received about how bewildering local residents find navigating the care environment in the area.

The report covers:

a) Adults with learning difficulties who need residential care

b) Residential care homes

c) Residential care homes able to deal with Dementia/Alzheimer’s & nursing

d) Home care provision

e) Sheltered housing

f) Domiciliary care agencies

g) Extra Care Housing Schemes

h) Services for people with mental health conditions

Healthwatch Wokingham Borough sent out 212 surveys to domiciliary care agencies, micro providers and residential care home providers requesting data on numbers and type of users, although despite follow up phone calls, the response rate was statistically too small to make any generalisations. However, the headlines from what care providers told them are:

 Breakdown in communication between NHS acute care, primary care, community care and home care service providers leads to lack of coordinated care.

 Workforce issues cause problems with capacity.

 Current Council funding not always meeting care expenses. There needs to be more flexibility with care packages for funded/part funded care and an overall review of the commissioning process to ensure sustainability, continuity and equity.

 The demand for residential care is increasing. Clients are far older and are more dependent than they used to be. There is significant difficulty in recruiting 'Registered General Nurses' of the right calibre and this is a major challenge over the last 2 years.

When asked what would improve things for Care Providers they said:

 One stop shop for all information

 Agencies and other professionals to stop reorganising themselves and giving themselves different names when they are doing the same thing

 More choice of facilities for those thinking about care options

The report does not include any recommendations or a response from the services concerned.