Homecare and Extra Care services are provided in Medway under the contract titled, The Support to Live At Home Service.
Homecare is care and support provided to residents in their own home. The support provided could include things like:
- managing and maintaining nutritional needs
- personal care (including bathing and dressing)
- managing toileting needs
- maintaining a habitable home environment.
The care and support provided is intended to help residents live independently in their own home for as long as possible.
Homecare is provided to working age adults and older people.
Extra Care is a type of housing that provides an alternative to conventional residential care and offers people the independence of their own apartment with an onsite based care provider to meet their care and support needs. Extra Care is specifically designed and purpose built for people over 55.
We provide Homecare and Extra Care services to approximately 1250 people delivering 495,000 hours of care and support every year.
Homecare and Extra Care is provided to adults who meet the eligibility criteria under the Care Act 2014.
The current landscape
We recently renewed our framework agreement for the provision of the Support to Live at Home Service. 13 Providers were appointed to the framework agreement for Homecare Services and 2 providers were appointed to provide care at the Extra Care schemes. The framework agreement started on 1 April 2024 and will end on 31 March 2028.
During the recommissioning of the service over 100 care providers expressed an interest in attending an engagement event. This demonstrates a buoyant local market for homecare services. According to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) there are 104 organisations registered to provide community based adult social care services in Medway.
There are 5 Extra Care schemes in Medway, with a mix of 1 and 2 bed self-contained apartments (both shared ownership and rented). The5 schemes are:
- Bellerophon House, Rochester (41 units)
- Montgomery Court, Wainscott, Rochester is a (62 units)
- Prospect Place, Gillingham (60 units)
- Atlas Place, St Marys Island, Gillingham, (37 unit scheme with an additional 25 shared ownership apartments)
- Rogallo Place, Horsted, Rochester (38 unit scheme with an additional 25 shared ownership apartments).
CQC Ratings
These ratings are correct as of April 2024
The CQC ratings for the 13 providers appointed to the Support To Live at Home framework are:
- inadequate: 0 (0%)
- requires improvement: 6 (46%)
- good: 6 (46%)
- outstanding: 0 (0%)
- not rated: 1 (8%).
For all community-based providers in Medway (104 locations):
- inadequate: 2 (2%)
- requires improvement: 20 (19%)
- good: 32 (31%)
- outstanding: 0 (0%)
- not rated: 50 (48%).
For all community based providers across the whole southeast region (2439 locations)
- inadequate: 13 (1%)
- requires Improvement: 211 (9%)
- good: 1362 (56%)
- outstanding: 82 (3%)
- not rated: 771 (31%).
This data suggests that CQC ratings across community-based providers in Medway compares lower than the Southeast region, with the number of providers rated as ‘requires improvement’ being higher and the number of providers rated as ‘good’ being lower.
The number of framework providers is relatively low compared to the southeast region; therefore percentage swings will be significant based on a small number of rating changes. In addition, there is a higher number of providers not yet rated in Medway compared to the Southeast.
Medway is committed to supporting all commissioned providers to improve the quality standards of the services they provide to Medway residents.
Contract management
Homecare and Extra Care framework contracts are managed by Adults Partnership Commissioning Team with quality improvement and provider support provided by The Quality Assurance Team.
The framework agreement includes Key Performance Indicators (KPI).
Data is collected monthly and reported quarterly. Regular monthly contract meetings take place between us and the service providers.
This provides an appropriate platform to ensure commissioned services meet their contractual requirements, any risks are identified early and steps taken to mitigate any risks are implemented early.
Working closely with service providers enables us to gage how the market is performing and identify any opportunities to develop the service.