Perth & Kinross Council’s Joint Business Management and Improvement Plan 2014/15 and Annual Performance Report for 2013/14 details progress made against the Housing and Community Care’s service targets, and the strategic objectives for the year ahead.
Collaborative working with our partner organisations has delivered changes to the care pathways and development of new ways of working which allow people in hospital to return home sooner. The new Rapid Responses service provided alternatives to hospital admission, helping to ease the pressure on delayed discharges. Through the Reablement Service four out of ten people no longer required an on-going service as they became more independent in their own home.
The wider roll out of the Housing Education programme has resulted in a 13% reduction in the number of young people presenting as homeless. Youth Prevention Officers have devised and delivered the Think Twice programme to various secondary schools, reaching approximately 700 school pupils.
The range of accommodation provision enabled a tailored approach to support the transition of young people from highly supported accommodation, such as Wellbank, into Tayview or flat sharing arrangements with floating support, with the ultimate aim of independent tenancies. This effort saw the percentage of young people maintaining a tenancy rise to over 90% for the first time, giving them the stability to pursue education and employment opportunities.
The Housing options approach continued to expand with the launch of the Housing Options Self-Assessment during 2013, with a strong focus on early intervention and prevention. This action prevented 189 households from becoming homeless and enabled the service to avoid an estimated expenditure of £500,000 for temporary accommodation during 2013/14.
A significant part of the Safer Communities Team’s work is carried out in partnership with Neighbourhood Services, statutory services, the voluntary sector and the communities themselves. In 2013/14 no Antisocial Behaviour Orders were made in Perth and Kinross.
For 2014/15, the key priorities will be establishing with our health partners the new adult health and social care partnership arrangements. This will include reshaping care for the growing population of older people , developing arrangements to support carers, preventing homelessness, addressing the impact of alcohol and drug misuse through a recovery approach and planning and delivering efficient services, offering quality and value for money.
Convener of the Council’s Housing and Health Committee, Councillor Dave Doogan, said: “Significant efforts have been made to achieve the targets set out for 2013/14, and I am pleased to see the progress made over the last year. Particularly the effort to prevent homelessness in younger people. The challenges faced by care services are building, and yet despite this the Council is still having a positive impact on the lives of the residents in the area who need our help.
“We have developed very strong relationships with our partner organisations across Perth and Kinross, and it is these relationships that allow us to deliver continuously improving services. The year ahead will present new challenges to be overcome but I am confident that what we see here are strong foundations will allow us to meet these challenges head on and achieve what we are setting out to do over the next twelve months.”
