Vision

Darlington Borough Council’s future commissioning aims and vision will be focused on changing behaviours to promote independence developing evidence based early interventions to prevent peoples care needs increasing and devising new delivery models through joint work with our partners.

We will achieve this through a particular focus on using available resources more effectively and seeking to work with a more diverse range of partners including voluntary and community sector organisations small and medium size enterprises and entrepreneurs. This position statement is intended to provide the information needed to support that effort.

Coming Soon

Our vision for Adult Social care in Gateshead is set out in detail in the Integrated Adults and Social Care Strategy 2023-28 Integrated Adults and Social Care Strategy 2023-28 – Gateshead Council.

In summary, our vision is to work with our communities to enable residents to live thriving lives, be independent and individual, support themselves and each other, and access personalised quality support when they need it.

Our vision is about:

• The people, partners and place of Gateshead.
• Valuing people for who they are, the strengths and potential they have, supporting them to improve and maintain their wellbeing to lead healthy and happy lives, where they are in control and able to make the best choices for themselves and their families.
• Equity, and recognising that not everybody in Gateshead is starting from the same point and some people will need more help than others.
• Recognising and rewarding the people working in the social care and health sector, whilst building a well-trained and resilient workforce that has a range of exciting and interesting roles, career pathways, progression and opportunities at all levels.
• Putting people at the heart of everything we do, ensuring the voice of people with lived experience is heard and working with them in true partnership to co-produce our Adult Social Care offer.
• Working in partnerships such as Gateshead Cares Alliance (health partners, Local Authority and voluntary sector) to ensure that our services are aligned to reduce duplication, improve services and are responsive to what people need and work in an integrated way to achieve the best outcomes for individuals.
• Ensuring Gateshead is a great place to live irrespective of illness, disability or caring responsibilities.

Thrive

Gateshead Council’s overarching strategy ‘Thrive’ has ambitions to make Gateshead a place where everyone thrives. It drives our major policy decisions, aiming to redress the imbalance of inequality and championing fairness and social justice. We know that over half of people and families in Gateshead are either just managing or just coping, but more than 30% are in need or are in vulnerable situations. We want to work differently, with partners and others, to target our resources to get the best outcomes for those people and families who require more support. There is a commitment to five pledges which can be found on our Thrive webpages (link)

Our vision is that “We all want to live in the place we call home with the people and things that we love, in communities where we look out for one another, doing things that matter to us.” with the following priorities:

• I want information and advice to help me support myself
• I want to be  part of my community and not feel lonely
• I want to be as independent as possible and to choose how I’m supported
• If I need them, I want access to good quality services with skilled staff.

All of our work is underpinned by our Foundations of practice:

• Community Led Support and Strength Based Practice
• Co-production
• Commissioning
• Workforce
• Partnerships
• Safeguarding

Our focus over the last couple of years has been the implementation of our Community Led Support approach. Our commissioning strategy is focused on ensuring that this approach is fully embedded in all that we do. Our aim in the longer term is to develop asset based commissioning however we acknowledge that we need to get co-production right in the first instance with a phased approach to asset based commissioning.

The Council Plan 2024 – 2027 provides the Council’s overall vision and priorities for the period described;

We will thrive – “Our vision for Middlesbrough is a thriving, healthier, safer and more ambitious place where people want to live, work, invest and visit. We will support our residents to live fulfilling lives, to ensure that our communities thrive.”

We want to promote independence and develop evidence-based early interventions with a focus on prevention, commissioning the right care and support in the right place for people. Our commissioning aims therefore focus on:

• engaging with partners to develop new delivery models
• working proactively with providers
• developing holistic, evidence-based early interventions
• demonstrating best value

Achieving these aims in challenging financial circumstances requires us to continue to make savings and place a much greater emphasis on treating public spending as an investment, supporting the local economy and generating returns which can be reinvested.

To do this, we will develop and improve our communication with partners, encouraging creativity and innovation, share ideas and best practice and engage with our communities to better understand what local people want from services.