4.2.1 See and Solve: Early Help and Prevention

1. Introduction

See and Solve is an access offer which uses an asset based approach focusing on early intervention, prevention and enablement. It relies on having different conversations when people first contact us to empower people to help themselves and to live independent lives.

People will be supported to seek their own solution which promotes resilience and self help rather than automatically be provided with formal support.

See and Solve aims to resolve the majority of queries at the point of contact by identifying those whose needs can be met via the provision of good quality advice and information, those who would benefit from self assessment or supported self assessment and those who need a worker led, complex or specialist assessment.

See and Solve early help and prevention will focus on:

• Earlier intervention: preventing or delaying the need for formal health and social care intervention;
• Promoting independence and resilience: helping people to manage their own health and care, and to plan ahead
• Supporting people at home: helping people understand what support can be made available at home, as an alternative to residential care;
• Finding better value solutions: helping people access informal sources of support, and to make optimum use of assets in communities;
• Promoting choice: making sure people know about the range of local providers and what support they can offer.

Delivery of appropriate advice and information to people as early as possible helps to maintain wellbeing and independence, potentially delaying a situation where longer-term care and support may be required and enables us to prioritise the use of other resources for those with the highest level of need. Through a focus on information, advice and early help the demand for high cost interventions will reduce.  The service will engage with people at a much earlier stage allowing for solutions to be identified earlier which will support people live a more independent and autonomous life away from formal care.

2. Vision and Values

We believe that people who need care and support should keep as much control as possible over their lives and over the things that help them live their lives in the way they choose. We believe that the support they use must focus on building their resilience and helping them to stay as independent as possible while safeguarding them from abuse and neglect.

We want to enable people to make best use of their own strengths, skills and support networks, to draw on community resources and when they use funded support, to direct it themselves.

When we work with someone, we will always strive to see the whole person and consider their needs holistically with the aim of reducing dependency, for example considering the impact on an older person of age related sensory impairment.

In order to achieve these things, we will continue to embrace integration and put the needs and aspirations of the person using the service at the heart of everything we do, promoting independent living with a good quality of life  and supporting people to have ‘a life not a service’. Making this happen requires a commitment to:

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with people, partners and communities;
• Respect and listen to people;
• Work with people to plan what will keep them well, safe and in control of living the life they choose;
• Connect people with the right organisations to support wellbeing and help people remain independent for longer;
• Work creatively with partners and the community to make sure that a range of opportunities and services are available.

3. Strategic Drivers

The Care Act 2014 gives local authorities specific duties about the way in which people are supported. These inform a number of national and local drivers which influence the strategic direction of Adult Social Care in Hull. These drivers include:

1. The requirement to further integrate services with health and other partners;
2. The drive to increase people’s choice and personalization;
3. The need to promote wellbeing at all times, rather than respond to crisis;
4. The continued implementation of the personalisation agenda which requires that people have the freedom to choose how they would like their needs to be met and requires front-line staff to have the flexibility to provide support in a more responsive and individualised manner;
5. The requirement to establish and maintain a service for providing people with information and advice relating to care and support which is accessible to all;
6. The requirement to shape the market as a whole, to meet the needs of all people regardless of eligibility for state funded services.

There is a clear focus on supporting people to understand what is available in their communities rather than seek solutions through formal service delivery.  See and Solve will work with people to help them recognise their skills, abilities, strengths and talents and through solution focused interventions will empower people to have the confidence and competence to access community solutions.

4. Essential Elements for all Support Services

There are a number of elements which must be present in all support services, including See and Solve. These are:

1. All interactions must be outcome focused. The overall goal is to help people maximise their independence and wellbeing. This means that the level of support offered may reduce as outcomes are achieved and individual resilience is developed;
2. All services should adopt a deeply personalised approach where the support given is tailored to the individual’s preferences, goals and needs;
3. Assessment of need should be regarded as something which is dynamic not static. This approach means that you cannot decide a person’s care or support package on the basis of a single, one off assessment. A person’s needs and abilities will change over time;
4. All services should build on what people can do and support them to regain skills to increase confidence and independence.

5. Eligibility for Support from the See and Solve Team

Everyone who lives in Hull or who cares for someone who lives in Hull is eligible for some degree of support from the See and Solve Team. For many people, this will be help to identify their own solution and the provision of information and advice. Others will appear to have a degree of need which cannot be met in this way, and they will be offered an assessment. The assessment can be offered at any stage; while many people will benefit from the provision of information and advice, some people will present with such a high degree of need that it is immediately apparent that an assessment is required. They can still benefit from help to identify their own solution and the provision of information and advice but this can be offered during assessment and support planning. Others will present with urgent needs which put them at immediate risk and support services to reduce the risk can be offered as an interim solution prior to the commencement of the assessment.

6. The See and Solve Model

The See and Solve model will have three key components:

1. Stage one is primarily telephone based although it will incorporate some face to face meetings or online interactions. Solution focused conversations take place with an aim to resolve the query at this point. Skilled facilitators will provide advice and information to support early intervention and prevention. See and Solve Facilitators will have the autonomy to undertake low level care and support planning for example, equipment / telecare.
2. Stage two primarily involves face to face discussions which will be held in a variety of locations including community hubs. These will focus on preventative health and social care support, and will explore what is on offer from the voluntary sector or universal services to prevent, reduce or delay difficulties and to encourage independence. Social care practitioners will provide practical support where necessary to enable people to access the support available. Conversations will continue to focus on connectivity with the community and personal networks, independence and resilience. Practitioners will work to get to know the person and their community. Formal assessment is not offered at stages one and two; the discussion focuses purely on strengths, networks, wishes and aspirations.
3. Stage three focuses on short term support to prevent, reduce or delay issues and encourage independence. There is no formal time limit set upon the intervention, although if someone is still engaged with active recovery and independence after six weeks then the case is flagged and reviewed by a more senior team member. Where needed, formal assessment, care and support planning takes place at this stage.
4. People will move fluidly within the three elements as their needs dictate, and staff will move with them. This reduces the need for people to tell their story more than once and maximises the gains realised with the building of trust.
5. The support plan may identify someone needs a short term service to support active recovery and independence, needs longer term support or both. At that point, their worker will hand over their case to a worker from one of those teams.