1. Report Summary

Guinness Care & Support provide accommodation and support to older people with support needs at Church Street & Chelscombe and Chelwood Drive, Bath.  The Scheme Managers for both schemes are based at Guinness offices at Chelwood Drive.  A review of the service was carried out by Caroline Clark on behalf of the Supporting People Team in January 2007.

The service continues to be strategically relevant to the Supporting People programme in B&NES although there are issues about strategic demand for sheltered housing generally.  There is evidence of an overprovision of sheltered accommodation across the Bath and North East Somerset area and that much of this accommodation is being let to people with low or no identified support needs. 

There are longstanding problems of anti-social behaviour and vandalism in the Church Street area which is exacerbated by the design and layout of the flats and right of way to the High Street.  As a result four flats bordering the footpath are boarded up and have not been let since 2003/04.  Guinness are considering a number of options including diverting the footpath which runs through the middle of the scheme and appears to be the major cause of the problems.  The scheme is due to undergo an options appraisal during 2007 to look at its future.

At the last review the service achieved level B in Support Planning and level C in all other objectives.  Level B has now also been achieved in Security, Health and Safety and Protection from Abuse and the service is working above level C in Complaints and Needs and Risk Assessment. 

Feedback from residents was generally good, although all Weston residents were unhappy with the vandalism and problems in the area of the archway under the 4 boarded up flats at Church Street.  Residents at Chelscombe were particularly satisfied with their accommodation and all residents were happy with the service provided by Guinness.  Those living at Chelwood Drive were concerned about the nuisance caused by children from the neighbouring general needs accommodation.

Further investigation is needed into value for money of the services as while the unit cost is below local and regional benchmarks the cost per support hour is significantly higher.   The amount of support time given to individual service users is also well below the expected range.  This is due to Guinness only charging only 20% of the Scheme Manager’s time to support and they should consider revising this figure to bring them in line with other schemes. Value for money issues will be considered in further detail as part of the forthcoming sector review of sheltered housing services.

	Church Street and Chelscombe	Chelwood Drive
Service type and capacity:	Older People with Support Needs Sheltered Housing 10 units* (Church Street) 12 units (Chelscombe)	Older People with Support Needs Sheltered Housing 50 units (46 x 1 bedroom flats and 4 x 1 bedroom bungalows)
Annual Contract Value:	Block Subsidy Contract Max Value @ 100% Usage £4,393.56	Block Subsidy Contract Max Value @ 100% Usage £9,402.40

* although the Church Street contract states 14 units 4 of these have been out of use since 2003/04 and so have not been included.

2.         Introduction to Agency

At the time of the last review the Church Street & Chelscombe scheme was managed by Guinness Housing Association and Chelwood Drive was managed by Guinness Trust.  Both organisations are part of The Guinness Trust Group, a national provider of Care and Support to Older People.  The Group has a strong track record of working in partnership with residents, local councils, developers and other agencies and are currently working with over 100 local authorities.

In May 2005 management of the support staff ofat both schemes was transferred to Guinness Care & Support, a new company set up to help the Guinness Trust deliver the best services to residents with support needs.  Both schemes are managed from offices at Chelwood Drive in Bath.

Church Street and Chelscombe provide sheltered housing to people with support needs in the Weston area of Bath. Church Street comprises 14 one bedroom flats just off the centre of Weston Village and Chelscombe is an adjacent scheme comprising 12 one bedroom bungalows, each with a garden.   Although contracted separately Church Street and Chelscombe operate as one scheme.  The scheme has a part time scheme manager and is covered by an alarm service at other times.

There have long been problems of anti-social behaviour and vandalism in the immediate area.  This is exacerbated by the design and layout of 4 flats with an archway underneath which provides a right of way through to the High Street.  As a direct result of this the 4 flats bordering the footpath have not been let since 2003/04 and are currently boarded up.

Chelwood Drive is located in the Odd Down area to the south of Bath, comprising 46 flats and 4 bungalows.  The scheme has a full time resident scheme manager and an emergency call system is used at other times.  There is a common room for use by residents and ample parking is available.   The scheme is situated next to general needs accommodation also managed by Guinness.

5.         Service Capacity and Funding

 

Service	Units	Staffing	Funding
Total Hours	Support Hours	Maximum assuming 100% capacity	Actual 2005/06
Church Street and Chelscombe	22*	18	3.6	£4,393.56	£3,752.25
Chelwood Drive	50	35	7	£9,402.40	£5,404.17

*Since the 4 flats at Church Street have been unavailable since 2003/04 they have been removed from calculations.

6.         Strategic Relevance

The review found that the services provided by Guinness at Church Street & Chelscombe and Chelwood Drive fit with the local and national context of strategic relevance.  Support at both schemes is provided by scheme managers based at Chelwood Drive together with an alarm/on call system.   Overall the housing related support level is low and there is no evidence that anything other than housing related support is being delivered to residents from the funding in this contract.

The service was found to be strategically relevant to the SP programme in B&NES and meets some of the objectives set out in the SP 5 year strategy.  For example the service offers older people an opportunity for independent living whilst offering a safe and secure setting for the provision of general health, social and personal care in addition to housing related support services.

The B&NES Joint Older People’s Strategy sets out to promote the independence and well being of older people.  The service meets the key aims of providing “an expanded range of housing and care options for older people to have real choice and control about how and where they live” and “responsive services which reduce unnecessary admissions to hospital and residential and nursing care”.  It also provides a setting for the delivery of “improved health and care services in the community which enable more older people to remain independent and living at home”.

Legal/DCLG Guidance on group and type of service

Housing, care and support is an important part of Government’s wider regeneration and social inclusion agenda.  The service contributes to the wider government agenda for preventative services in relation to the strategy for Older People: Helping people sustain their tenancies and prevent homelessness.  Flexible care can enable older people to remain at home in the community with dignity.

The Green Paper – Independence, Well Being and Choice published in March 2005, set out a vision for the provision of social care which placed great emphasis on delivering a preventative approach and promoting greater independence.  It sets out a vision where “services should be person-centred, seamless and proactive.  They should support independence not dependence and allow everyone to enjoy a good quality of life”.  Many of the proposals set have been integrated into the White Paper. 

The service also meets in part the Good Practice Guide – Sheltered and Retirement Housing published by the Chartered Institute of Housing through the provision of self contained, easy to manage, non-institutional accommodation, peace of mind and help in emergencies and an alternative to residential care.

There is however a question mark over strategic demand across the sector.  There is evidence of an overprovision of sheltered housing across the Bath and North East Somerset area with vacancies in some schemes being filled by tenants with no identified support need.  An increasing number of sheltered housing residents are choosing to opt out of active support.   There is evidence to support the view that upper floor flats without lift access are unpopular and not suitable for older people.   Guinness are however able to show good progression for tenants from upper floor flats to either ground floor or bungalow accommodation and residents were confident that they would be able to move when necessary. 

There are obvious strategic relevance issues around the flats at Church Street, with 4 units out of use because of persistent anti social behaviour and vandalism.   Guinness have been working with the police to try to resolve this and there has been an increased police presence in the area, but residents had not noticed any real improvement yet. 

8.         Consultation

Staff and residents at both schemes were consulted as part of the review.

Staff

The Scheme Manager at Church Street and Chelscombe has only been in post for 6 weeks, but has previous experience in a similar role in another local authority area.  The Chelwood Drive Scheme Manager has been in post for 6 years and the Service Manager has been with Guinness since 2004.  All three members of staff are based in offices at Chelwood Drive.

Staff were able to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the Needs and Risk Assessment process and reported that the response from tenants is generally good.  They also had a good knowledge of policies and procedures relating to Health and Safety, Protection from Abuse and Fair Access and Diversity.  There were no unresolved complaints at the time of the review.

Staff feel that Guinness Care and Support is a good organisation to work for, and particularly like their commitment to training.  They are confident that they provide a good service to their tenants and feel that they are well supported by the organisation.

  Tenants – Church Street and Chelscombe

The residents consulted had been at the scheme for between 4 and 10 years.  They were generally happy with their accommodation, particularly those in the bungalows.  Church Street tenants commented about the lack of a lift to flats on the first floor.

Tenants like the location of the scheme close to local shops and services, but they were unanimous in their criticism of the anti-social behaviour and vandalism in the area around the archway and steps.  Two service users reported an increased presence from police community support officers in recent months but were unsure whether this has improved the situation.  Those living in the Chelscombe bungalows said they preferred to walk the long way round to avoid having to go under the archway.

There are no communal facilities at the scheme and although meetings and coffee mornings are sometimes held in the neighbouring church hall attendance is generally poor.

Tenants were happy with the service and support they receive from their Scheme Manager and had a general understanding of the support planning process. 

Tenants – Chelwood Drive

A total of 24 residents were interviewed in groups at a coffee morning.  Some had only been living at the scheme for a few months while others had been there since the scheme opened over 20 years ago.

Residents are generally satisfied with the service provided by staff.  The majority of residents were happy with the amount of support time available although one resident commented that the scheme manager no longer has time to help with filling in forms etc.   Residents also expressed concern that the on-site office has is now closed to callers but they were all aware of how to contact the Bristol office.  Those who had contacted the Bristol office were happy with the service they had received. 

Nearly all the residents consulted expressed concerns about problems caused by youngsters in the neighbouring general needs accommodation.  Guinness are aware of the problem and are trying to find a solution, but in the meantime residents have to put up with children causing a nuisance.

Overall residents were happy with the standard of accommodation, location of the scheme and access to services, but didn’t like the proximity to the general needs accommodation and the associated problems.  Two service users commented that there are no lifts to the flats above the ground floor, but were confident that they would be able to transfer to ground floor accommodation when they could no longer manage the stairs.                                                                                   

Other Stakeholders    

Consultation with the team leader of the Homeseekers Team confirmed that sheltered accommodation is automatically offered to anyone over the age of 60 regardless of their support needs. Over 50s with identified support needs will also be considered for this type of scheme.  Due to the lack of general needs accommodation it is rare than an applicant over 59 requests general needs and many feel that this will be their last move so they accept sheltered because they may need the support in the future.

She also commented that although there is a high demand for sheltered housing this is often because it is much easier to get housed in sheltered than in general needs accommodation.  Expectations of home seekers are often not met by the accommodation on offer and there are a high number of refusals because flats are too small or the location is poor e.g. too hilly or too isolated.  She also commented that although Weston is a popular area the flats at Church Street are less popular than other sheltered accommodation locally.