Plans for a new strategy for Adult Social Care have been announced by KCC, focusing on how it intends to deliver more person-centred care and support for individuals, their carers and families.

Its proposals are outlined in a six-week consultation launched this week.

Clair Bell, KCC’s Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health

KCC says it intends to change its approach over the next five years so that residents who may need help from more than one service would have only a single point of contact.  Information would then be shared with other relevant services without the need for the client to outline their requirements again.

The ambition is to offer a “seamless” experience for the people KCC supports by ensuring its services work more closely together. People will also have accessible information, guidance and advice as early as possible.

KCC says it will work with communities early on to help people feel empowered, resilient and able to develop their independence with access to trusted support. This could mean informal support arranged by the person, or support that is arranged by the voluntary sector or Adult Social Care.

The council says it has already met with staff, community partners, clients, carers and members of the public to hear ideas on how it can help people make better informed choices about what support is right for them.

Clair Bell, KCC’s Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, said: “Our intention is to put the person first and keep them at the heart of everything we do.

“We want to develop working relationships people can trust and help them to achieve outcomes that are important to them. That means finding innovative ways of helping people and making sure that any support offer is tailored to each individual.

“Our support will be more personalised, easy to access, more joined-up and consistent for the people we support, improving their overall outcomes and experience of adult social care and how we link with our partners.

“The voices of the people we support will be heard as individuals, making sure we focus on equality, diversity and inclusion as a guide towards continuous improvement.

“Over the last few months, we have been checking what has been working well and seeing where we think we can improve. Our ideas are outlined in the draft strategy and we hope as many people as possible will take part, fill in the questionnaire and let us know whether we are on the right track.”

The consultation, which closes on 24 October, can be found here: letstalk.kent.gov.uk/adult-social-care-strategy

Anyone requiring any of the documents in an alternative format or language can email alternativeformats@kent.gov.uk or call 03000 42 15 53 (text relay service number: 18001 03000 42 15 53). This number goes to an answering machine, which is monitored during office hours.