Report highlights future challenges for adult services in Shropshire

A report highlighting the changes that are taking place in the way adult social care services are provided in Shropshire has been published by the council. 

The Shropshire Council Local Account for Adult Social Care is an annual report which sets out what the council has achieved, what challenges lie ahead and what areas will be the focus for improvement. 

The report includes facts and figures which outline the scale of the demand for care services in Shropshire, while budgets are being drastically cut back by the Government. 

Figures include: 

• 56,826 people in Shropshire are living with a long-term illness
• About 1,000 people have a learning disability, 850 of whom receive care services from the council
• Shropshire’s population rose by 8% from 283,173 in 2001 to 306,100 in 2011
• The number of older people living in Shropshire has risen by 20% from 51,192 in 2001 to 63,400 in 2011 (compared to 10.9% nationally). 

The total amount spent on adult social care – including residential, domiciliary, nursing and day care – by Shropshire Council in the financial year 2012/13 was £86,996,000. 

Lee Chapman, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for adult services – transformation and safeguarding, said:

“Like all councils we are facing challenges and we are changing the way we do things.  Over the next three years Shropshire Council faces a considerable financial challenge, with an estimated overall shortfall in funding of £80 million. 

“At the same time, other pressures are growing – we have an ageing population, an increasing number of people with long-term conditions, and younger people with more complex disabilities. 

“We know that we need to take a fundamentally different approach to tackling the challenges ahead of us.  We are looking at every part of the council, including adult social care, and redesigning everything we do, by putting people and their needs at the heart, concentrating on what has the most impact on people’s lives and focusing on the communities where people live.” 

The council has signed up to the national initiative, Making it Real, to make sure people who use adult services have an input to how things are changing. 

Lee Chapman added:

“It’s really important that people are informed and involved in the process to make things better.  The Making it Real project uses a set of markers so we can check how things are going with people who use adult social care services and their families.” 

The Local Account for Adult Social Care can be found on the Shropshire Council website by clicking this link.