Sheltered Housing Review

Interim Report of Commissioning Review

November 2010

Issue Date
Version/Issue Number
Document Status
Effective From Date
Document Sponsor / Name
Job Title
Division / Strategic Commissioning
Authors / Name / Kelly Neale/Rachel Newman
Job Title / Service Development Officer/Supporting People Principal Officer
Team / Strategic Commissioning
Contact Tel: / 01253 651956
Review Date

Amendment Record

Date / Issue No. / Section/Page / Details of Change / Authorised By:

Amendment Notes

  • Documents at draft status are to use letter designations to denote issue status: a, b, c, etc.
  • Documents at full issue status are to use number designations to denote issue status: 01, 02, 03, etc.
  • On full issue the draft amendment record should be deleted from the above table.
  • Notification of the amendment must be sent to the person maintaining the Central Register.

1. Background

2. What is sheltered housing?

3. PolicyContext

4. Local Population

5. User Views

6. Suitability of schemes

7. Demand for Housing Related Support

Planned contacts

Unplanned contact

8. Combination of scheme suitability and demand for scheme manager service....9

9. Community Centres...... 10

10. Finances...... 11

11. Considerations12

12. Possibleoptions…….………………………………………………………………….13

13. Next steps ……………………………………………………………………………...15

1. Background

The sheltered housing service comprises 806 properties across 20 sites within Blackpool and is managed by Blackpool Coastal Housing. The sheltered housing service receives funding from the Supporting People Programme for the provision of housing related support to scheme residents. The residents are supported by scheme managers who fulfil the tenancy management role and also the ‘warden’ style role.

It has been decided that in the short term there is a need to review the feasibility of each sheltered scheme due to the following factors:

  • As a result of the change in the lettings policy (ie people moving into flats above sheltered should be aged 40 years old or over as far as practical) , there may be more people requiring support services in future moving into the properties above sheltered, possibly extending some schemes.
  • There are some schemes that are unsuitable due to their location.
  • Some sheltered schemes are located close to former Council operated residential homes. These schemes shared communal facilities with residential homes but since the homes closed they no longer benefit from community centre facilities and therefore they are not receiving a full range of sheltered services.
  • Some facilities within schemes are no longer needed for their original purpose and could be converted to laundry facilities or to meet other identified needs.

In the longer term there is a need to change the balance of service provision. There are currently a high number of sheltered homes that meet relatively low level support needs whilst in future the ageing population will create a significant demand for more flexible tenure-neutral support services. The move towards more flexible services will include ‘floating’ support and community alarms fitted in general needs housing that do not require older people to move to particular locations to receive services and allow them to stay living in their own homes.

This Task Group was established by the Sheltered Housing Review Group to assist with the review of Sheltered Housing. Its role was to develop options for the re-modelling the Council’s sheltered housing accommodation taking into account the current level of available resources.

The task group has reviewed the suitability of the Council’s sheltered housing stock against agreed criteria to consider which stock could be decommissioned and which may not be “fit for purpose”.

2. What is sheltered housing?

Sheltered housing is a general term used to describe accommodation provided specifically for older adults. Schemes usually have the services of a warden or scheme manager, though increasingly this person lives off site, or the service is provided as 'floating support', with periodic visits from a member of staff. Each property will have an alarm system so the resident can summon help in an emergency.

In Blackpool, Sheltered Housing is delivered by a scheme manager who does not live on site but is based on site during office hours. Scheme managers on the whole cover two schemes but some cover one larger scheme.

3. Policy Context

The national strategy for Housing in an Ageing Societyproduced by CLGpredicts that older households, where the main householder is over 65, will make up about half of household growth by 2026. By that time, there will be 2.4 million more older households in England than there are today. In particular, we will see:

• The 75+ age group growing faster than any other.

• An older population which is increasingly diverse, with more older men and more older people from black and minority ethnic groups, each with their own needs and aspirations.

• Over a million people predicted to suffer from dementia by 2025.

• Double the numbers of older disabled people in England from 2.3 million in 2002 to 4.6 million by 2041.

• Increasing affluence among older people – likely to increase polarisation by wealth.

Additionally, Putting People First (PPF) is the Government’s national policy on the transformation of adult social care which is being planned and delivered at a local level across England and Wales. The 4 key themes of PPF are:

  1. Choice and control by the user or carer on how social care needs are delivered.
  2. A joint strategic move by the Local Authority and NHS from reactive, critical care to a framework of proactive Prevention and Early-Intervention.
  3. Accessible universal services for the whole community.
  4. Supporting those with social care needs to remain independent and contributing to the local community.

In the current financial climate amid the Comprehensive Spending Review there are significant budgetary constraints that need to be taken into account. In addition there are continued pressures on the Supporting People funding.

Local Strategies

Both the local Supporting People Strategy and Older People in Blackpool Accommodation Strategy identify core issues as:

  • There are a significantly high proportion of older people who require support to enable them to retain their independence within their own home for as long as practicable.
  • Need for a floating support service for older people.
  • Enable older people to remain within their own accommodation.
  • Enable older people to maintain choice and control over their own lives.
  • Provide alternatives to residential care.

The local Housing Strategy however gives a commitment to free up family homes which would see older adults being supported to move into smaller accommodation.

4. Local Population

The current population of Blackpool is 143,700. This is expected to rise to 157,600 by 2025. Of the current population, 31,614 (22%) are older adults over the age of 65. This is expected to rise to 25% of the local population by 2025. The largest increase is expected to be in the 65-84 age group.

Of this 22% older adult population, 2% live in Blackpool Costal Housing sheltered accommodation.

5. User Views

Current residents of sheltered schemes were asked to contribute to a consultation event regarding sheltered housing in Blackpool. Around twenty-five residents were in attendance at the forum. Members of the Sheltered Housing Forum were asked the following three questions:

1.Why did you move into sheltered accommodation?

A range of responses were stated including medical reasons, planning for the future, peaceful and quiet location wanted, security, ground floor accommodation, independence, warden control system and 24/7 emergency cover. Some people felt that they were independent and did not need the scheme manager and this had not played a part in their decision to move into sheltered housing.

2. What do you want from your scheme manager?

A person who is approachable and informative and can provide a signposting service. Replacement scheme managers to cover annual leave instead of Vitaline. More time could be given for visits and that a surgery take place once a week on site. Some felt that it should be the scheme manager’s role to organise activities for sheltered tenants however others at the forum thought that this should not be organised by the scheme manager but by a specific activities co-ordinator.

3. What would you like from the sheltered service?

Communal computer room and space for personal services, adapted visitor flats, more activities that are well promoted to utilise under used community centres and schemes that are purely sheltered and not mixed with general needs accommodation.

6. Suitability of schemes

Consideration was given to the suitability of all the sheltered accommodation managed by Blackpool Coastal Housing. The scorings were carried out by the review group and the Sheltered Housing Manager confirmed the scores that had been given from her own personal experience of the schemes.

All schemes were scored between 1 to 5 based on a number of criteria:

  • Location – access to facilities
  • Location – level access
  • Location –secure by design
  • Facilities – environment
  • Popularity – voids
  • Popularity – offers per property
  • Popularity – length of time to let
  • Residents views

The information for scoring was gained from the asset management register, supporting people data and the STATUS survey.

Table 1

Scheme name / General score / Scheme name / General score
Horsebridge / 19 / Ashfield Court / 26
Ibbison / 23 / Sevenoaks / 26
Kilmory / 23 / Warren Drive / 26
Argosy / 24 / Kipling / 27
Lowmoor / 24 / Lennox Gate / 27
Stronsay / 24 / LostockGardens / 27
Tarnside / 24 / Bostonway / 29
Washington / 24 / Dunsop / 29
Kincraig / 25 / Cherry Tree / 30
Spencer / 25 / Aysgarth / 32

Key to the chart

Lowest
Mid
Highest

As per Table 1 the results showed that schemes at Horsebridge, Ibbison and Kilmory scored lowest which would indicate that they were not ‘fit for purpose’ as sheltered accommodation in this context. Cherry Tree, Dunsop, Aysgarth and Bostonway, however, scored the highest in the review in terms of suitability. All scores can be drilled down to show how the final scores were achieved.

7. Demand for Housing Related Support

Planned contacts

Scheme manager service

There are 12 scheme managers covering 20 sheltered schemes with 806 properties.

Data provided by Blackpool Coastal Housing has been analysed in order to understand the extent to which the scheme manager service is being used. Snapshot data has been taken from March 2010 and May 2010 round sheets. All data is broken down in Appendix 1.

March 2010 figures / May 2010 figures
Tenants receiving a visit only / 25% / 28%
Tenants receiving intercom only / 39% / 35%
Tenants receiving a combination of a visit and intercom service / 28% / 29%
Tenants receiving no visit or intercom service / 7% / 7%
Total receiving warden service / 53% / 57%

7% of people receive no warden or intercom service at all, half of these living at Aysgarth.

  • Out of the 25% of tenants who receive a visit service only:
  • 10% receive 1 visit a week
  • 4% receive 2 visits a week
  • 2% receive 3 visits a week
  • 1% receive 4 visits a week
  • 8% receive 5 visits a week
  • Out of the 39% of tenants who receive an intercom service only:
  • 10% receive 1 contact a week
  • 6% receive 2 contacts a week
  • 4% receive 3 contacts a week
  • 2% receive 4 contacts a week
  • 17% receive 5 contacts a week
  • 16% of people receive a combination of a visit or an intercom service 5 days a week.

The remaining 12% of people receive a combination of services on some days.

During this 3 month period it can be seen that there has been a 3% increase in visits to clients in sheltered housing and a 4% decrease in intercom contacts. The total receiving a visit service at some point during the week is 57% of tenants compared to 53% earlier in the year. The increase is mainly in people receiving one visit a week rather than 5 visits a week.

The STATUS survey 2010 states that in total,94% of tenants state that they have a scheme manager. Around seven in ten sheltered tenants (71%) are visited by their scheme manager at least once a day. The majority of tenants are satisfied with all aspects of their scheme manager.

Unplanned contact

Blackpool Coastal Housing provided estimated figures for calls received by managers over a one month period. Some schemes only had figures for one or two weeks therefore all figures have been averaged to a weekly figure for comparison.

Number of calls to manager
No of weekly calls / 365

Vitaline are contracted by BCH to cover sheltered schemes in various circumstances:

  • Out of hours.
  • In hours when the scheme manager cannot take the call.
  • Up to 6 schemes at any one time during office hours to cover for leave, sickness, inspections and other unexpected circumstances.
  • 4 courts are covered by Vitaline at all times with Vitaline passing messages onto the allocated scheme manager. The scheme manager still carries out all planned visits and contacts.

Vitaline calls during June – data broken down in Appendix 2

Time of day / Incoming / Outgoing / Total
Monday – Friday 8am – 4.30pm / 870 / 2125
Weekday out of hours / 555 / 88
Weekend out of hours (4.30pm Friday night -8am Monday morning) / 462 / 114
1887 / 2327 / 4214

The mobile warden had to visit schemes on 371 occasions.

A questionnaire was sent out to Sheltered Housing residents during 2009 to find out their views of Vitaline covering their service provision when a scheme manager was unavailable and out of hours.

In excess of 90% of respondents answered positively regarding:

  • Vitaline as an alternative service to the Scheme Manager.
  • Vitaline staff being polite, friendly and easy to talk to & treating people with courtesy and respect.
  • Confidence Vitaline would help if they had a problem & would not let them down in an emergency.
  • Vitaline providing extra security and peace of mind & security from Vitaline being a local 24 hour service.

For those who had used the Emergency Service:

  • Over 90% had a very positive contact with the Vitaline Call Centre.
  • Over 90% felt Vitaline would not let them down.
  • 97% felt their Mobile Warden was competent and efficient.
  • 93% received the help they thought they needed.

In addition the STATUS survey 2010 states the following in relation to the emergency call system. Tenants were asked if they have an emergency call system in their home. The overwhelming majority (99%) state that they do have this service. More than half (52%) of tenants had used the service in the past 12 months. Of those sheltered tenants using the emergency call system, more than half (57%) said their call was answered by Vitaline, with 27% citing the scheme manager, while 17% were not sure who answered their call.

More than nine in ten (91%) tenants are either fairly satisfied (29%) or very satisfied (62%) with the speed of response of staff to answer their call. Just 7% of tenants expressed a degree of dissatisfaction. The majority (97%) of tenants are also satisfied with the helpfulness of staff.

Care packages

There are 110 tenants within sheltered accommodation currently receiving care packages. Many of these also receive a scheme manager visit as well as their care being provided. Several people have care provided 3 times a day each day and still have a manager visit. There is certainly some overlap between the services.

8. Combination of scheme suitability and demand for scheme manager service

Below is the combined scores for the scheme suitability and demand for a scheme manager service.

Scheme criteria colour band / Manager demand colour band / Manager demand %
Aysgarth / Aysgarth / 3
Bostonway / Bostonway / 24
Sevenoaks / Sevenoaks / 28
LostockGardens / LostockGardens / 37
Spencer / Spencer / 37
Ibbison / Ibbison / 42
Washington / Washington / 52
Kilmory / Kilmory / 52
Lennox Gate / Lennox Gate / 55
Horsebridge / Horsebridge / 56
Argosy / Argosy / 68
Dunsop / Dunsop / 70
Kipling / Kipling / 76
Lowmoor / Lowmoor / 82
Kincraig / Kincraig / 85
Warren Drive / Warren Drive / 87
Tarnside / Tarnside / 91
Stronsay / Stronsay / 92
Ashfield Court / Ashfield Court / 100
Cherry Tree / Cherry Tree / 100

Dunsop Court

Dunsop Court is the only sheltered scheme that is deemed to be an enhanced service. Blackpool Coastal Housing explain the reasons for this service being enhanced and therefore a more expensive service as follows:

  • The scheme is staffed seven days a week– according to the data from the scheme during May 2010 only 14 out of 44 tenants were receiving visits at weekends.
  • There are a smaller number of units per Scheme Manager than other schemes, Dunsop is 1 Scheme Manager for 66 units, the other schemes average 1 Scheme Manager for 85 units.
  • The supervisory and direct management costs are allocated based on staffing costs, rather than number of units, due to this being a more accurate driver of costs. The nature of the client group at Dunsop (higher needs) requires greater involvement of the supervisors and management than for other schemes of a similar size. This means a higher supervisory and management cost per unit for Dunsop than for the other units.
  • One of the elements, other than the direct implications of thehigher needs of the clients at Dunsop, that requires greater staff and managerial time relates to managing the building safely. As many of the clients have poor mobility this is key issue, in particular regardingfire safety.
  • Vitaline provide a support service to Sheltered Housing, part of this is for the covering staff downtime (sick, leave, training etc.), this is allocated based on staffing cost as above. The level of work required by Vitaline is higher per unit than for the other schemes. – Vitaline have shown that during June they took 68 calls from Dunsop in hours and 79 calls out of hours. Compared to other schemes this is regarded as a low number of calls.

9. Community Centres

There are three schemes that have no community centre – Ashfield Court, Kipling Court and Washington Court. Average weekly usage of the community centres were provided by Blackpool Coastal Housing reflected in the bar chart below.