Health and Social Care Support Worker: Background

What is this project about?

This project is about developing the role of support workers who deliver care to older people in the community. The idea is that a new support worker, a Health and Social Care (Generic) Support Worker, will be developed who will be skilled in the delivery of person-centred care and able to meet both health and social care support needs.

The overall aim of this project is that in the future older people in the community who have health and social care needs will be supported by Health and Social Care (Generic) Support Workers.

Why did this project come about?

The Welsh Assembly Government ‘Strategy for Older People in Wales’ (WAG, 2003) identified the need to 'develop new flexible user-centred domiciliary services which support and maintain the independence of older people'.

At the moment in Denbighshire support workers who work in the community (as opposed to in hospitals) are either employed by Conwy and Denbighshire NHS Trust, Denbighshire Social Services, or are employed by private organisations who are either profit making or non-profit making (that is private sector or voluntary sector organisations). These support workers tend to either be trained in health care activities or in social care activities. However, many people have both health and social care needs, and so some people have more than one support worker who comes to support them.

Most people would agree that many service-users, especially older people, would have better health outcomes (get well sooner) if cared for in their own homes when they become unwell. This is because hospitals can be very confusing and disorienting places. After a period in hospital some people find it very difficult to adjust to life at home when they are discharged, so getting better takes longer.

To make sure that people receive the right treatment at home there are often many professionals involved in their care, for example, District Nurses, Specialist nurses, Occupational Therapists, physiotherapists, Social Workers, GPs and many others. The day to day care of people cared for in their own homes is often carried out by support workers working closely with these professionals. The project team believes that service users will be better supported to recover from illness with the help of Health and Social Care Support Workers who understand the work of, and work closely with, all of the professionals involved in their care.

The Health Social Care and Well Being Unit were invited to submit bids for Joint Working Grant funding for projects developing joint working using the 1999 Health Act section 31 flexibilities mechanism [this has since been superseded by the National Health Services (Wales) Act 2006 Section 33]. The bid to develop a Health and Social Care Support Worker was approved. A copy of this bid is available upon request.

This project started in October 2006.

The pilot phase of the development of this role (the first group of Health and Social Care Support Workers) will run from September 07 to March 09. The role is being tried out in the Intermediate Care Response Service.

It is hoped that a second group of Health and Social Care Support Workers will be trained in the year 08/09.