Housing compliance is slowly becoming one of the biggest issues in the housing sector. The demand for social and temporary housing keeps rapidly increasing but the availability of compliant homes is decreasing.
Currently, housing is one of the top wider social determinants of health that individuals across the UK must face every day. It is believed that many housing crises are happening currently, but one of the biggest we are facing is the availability of fully compliant social and temporary housing.
In the last year alone over 100,000 households were living in temporary accommodation including over 120,000 children. Currently, 68% of families have been living in temporary accommodation for over a year. The housing charity Shelter has argued that due to the housing issues and risks we are currently facing, temporary housing is slowly becoming the new social housing. The 2023 Homelessness Monitor has reported that 85% of councils across England are facing an increase in people experiencing homelessness.
What is causing this increase in demand for social and temporary housing and why is compliant housing so difficult to find and use?
At Access Adam Housing, we know how important it is for local authorities and councils to seek fully compliant housing to place individuals and families in and help them get back on their feet.
This article will explain what housing compliance is, and why it is important, as well as highlight the housing risks when homes are not fully compliant or when compliance housing isn’t taken seriously.
This article will also address what the government has put in place to overcome the challenges of housing compliance and how our housing management software offers a unique solution to make these housing issues more manageable and ensure you only ever work with 100% compliant housing providers from now on.
Prevention and early intervention in health and social care is undoubtedly crucial to ensure we delay future care needs, reduce hospital admissions and readmissions, and reduce the pressure on the NHS, and clinicians, and social care providers.
But, you are probably aware there has been a shift towards implementing more proactive care to catch illnesses and conditions earlier to reduce hospitalisations, discharge delays and have a better and bigger positive impact on people’s lives so no care need is left unmet.
The shift towards proactive care is important as it is driven by the desire to improve outcomes, enhance quality of life, and create a more sustainable and efficient health and social care system.
With more than 10% of patients being on waiting lists for treatments for up to a year, making the shift from reactive care to preventative and proactive care is essential to delay and reduce the need for further care and support in the future. Digital telecare is a great way to achieve by offering the opportunity to increase independence and decrease the dependency on social care providers and the NHS.
But what exactly is the difference, and why is the shift important, how will being more proactive help local authorities, hospitals, and most importantly the individual?
At the Access Group we are aware of how important the shift to proactive care is and want to make this shift as easy as possible to minimise disruption.
This article will review the difference between reactive, preventative and proactive care to highlight the importance of being more proactive to address every unmet need and ensure no one is left without the high quality care they need, as well as what the challenges are when making the shift to proactive care and how best to overcome them.
Digital procurement comes in a range of forms that are used consistently across the public sector. However, local Authorities can experience numerous challenges when trying to implement successful digital procurement in their local community.
More and more local authorities are moving towards e procurement instead of sticking with traditional methods of procurement. But, what is digital procurement? Why is it important and what are the benefits for the public sector?
At the Access Group we are aware of the varied challenges local authorities currently face and how important it is to overcome them to provide the best services possible for residents. We know that going digital helps to streamline and shorten processing time and how that provides better care and support quicker.
With the NHS aiming for the majority of health and social care services to have digital foundations in place by March 2025 we know the stages of digitally transforming processes and the challenges that can arise, as well as the benefits your local authority can experience once your processes are digitalised.
This article will explain all there is to know about digital procurement and how it can help local authorities overcome the challenges they are facing when commissioning the health and support services their community needs whether its compliance, quality assurance, or managing costs and resources.
Both e-procurement and traditional procurement methods are used in many different ways across the health and social care sector. The digitisation of data and processes is just one way local authorities are trying to improve their care delivery, and digitalising procurement and brokerage is no different.
But what is the difference between e-procurement and more traditional methods of procurement, is the change of working worth it, and does it help deliver better quality care?
By the end of this article all these questions should be answered and you should have a better understanding of the benefits of digitsing processes in health and social care.
Since 2018, the UK government have created a number of whitepapers to outline plans to improve local areas through community and health initiatives. The NHS Long Term Plan focuses on enhancing wellbeing in communities and aims to reach its goals through digital transformation to further improve patient care with more digital solutions.
At Access Adam Care Commissioning we are aware of the challenges local authorities experience organizing, commissioning, and delivering high quality care, as well as how the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated these challenges further. We know it’s important that companies develop technology which allows services to be agile, accessible, flexible, and secure, to connect services together so communities have the ability to support one another.
This article will explore how digitally transforming your procurement methods can help improve community health and wellbeing as well as what the key differences are between traditional methods of procurement and e-procurement methods and the impacts each have on local communities to deliver better person-centred care.
Individual Service Funds and Direct Payments have gained considerable attention in the last few years. But, what do each mean? How do they work? Does one work better than the other? Or do they work differently depending on the individual care need?
With the most recent Care Act publishing guidance on how best to use both it can be difficult deciding which is best for you and your local community.
Whether you are an individual with a disability, a family member, caregiver, or a professional in the social care sector, delivering person-centred care that is adaptable to every individual’s care needs is essential to help encourage independence, prolong future care needs, and build a support system which truly matches every care need across a local authority.
At The Access Group we know and understand the importance of co-production with a patient or individual and understand how it is crucial that they have a choice over their health and support plans.
This article will review what difference between Individual Service Funds and Direct Payments are, how they work, the pros and cons of each, as well as how best to overcome the barriers that may arise when you try to decide which personal budget is best for you.
If you work in an Integrated Care Board (ICB)an Integrated Care System (ICS) wanting to find out how to manage Continuing Healthcare (CHC) more effectively, you are probably interested in what software is available to help you manage that.
You may already be aware of some of the platforms currently available including BroadCare software and Access Adam Care Commissioning software (previously known as adam htt). This article will review both highlighting how each software works, the pros and cons, and how they can be used to mitigate and manage risks for every ICB and continuing healthcare department to help commission, broker and deliver the best person-centred care possible.
Co-production might be a concept you are aware of if you work in either healthcare, social care or related services. Co-production has been growing in popularity over the years. It is an approach to find new ways to collaborate and exchange both training and resources to help deliver better person-centred care.
However, due to the pandemic a lot of local authorities and NHS Trusts stopped using a co-production approach due it taking time, money, and often there being mixed opinions within a team on what would benefit the community.
Now it has started to become a priority again with more and more local authorities looking to use the approach. But, how can it be implemented again without the problems that occurred before?
The new procurement bill has caught media attention quite significantly over the last few months since parliamentary debates started. You may be aware of what some of the initial debates were over but now you might be confused where we are in the procurement bill timeline.
Since debates have started there have been many amendments and changes and now we are nearing the third reading. But what does that really mean and how long will it be until it becomes law and local authorities need to act upon it?
At The Access Group we think it is vital that all local authorities not only know and understand the procurement bill, but they know how it will impact their community and how best to prepare for the procurement changes.
By the end of this article all of that should become clear. Here we will discuss what the procurement bill is, why is it important for local authorities, where we are currently in the procurement bill timeline as well as how best local authorities can prepare for the change in legislation.
Outcomes based commissioning in social care is a change from older unit based commissioning. As you are probably aware unlike older approaches to commissioning care, outcomes based commissioning focuses on results instead of actions. But you may be wondering why is it important and how can it benefit your local community? Or you might be questioning how outcome based commissioning works compared to older approaches? Or wondering how other local authorities are implementing outcomes based commissioning?
At The Access Group we know how important it is to deliver care that is person-centred. We understand that through care commissioners and care providers working together towards the same outcomes better results are possible, which improves the quality of life for people in your local community.
We have worked hard with a variety of local authorities to help deliver the best outcomes based commissioning across the care continuum to bring together care services across the community including health, primary care, secondary care, monitoring, support and commissioning.
This article will review the importance of outcomes based commissioning and how following a population health approach can help local authorities commission care that is important to their community to help individuals remain as independent as possible whilst delaying their future care needs.
Strength based approaches are not abnormal across a variety of different sectors. In the social care sector this helps to focus on individuals’ strengths to maximise their independence for longer.
You may be wondering what a strength based approach in social care is? Or you might be wondering why it is important and what it’s benefits are. This article will answer these questions by reviewing the six key principles of a strengths based approach in relation to social care.
At The Access Group we want all local authorities and providers of care to be able to meet their duties under the Care Act. We think it is crucial therefore that you are provided with all the information needed so both care providers and care commissioners deliver the best approach possible to offer individuals the support they want and need when they need it.
