Kent County Council shift to online ‘self-service first’ model for care and support assessments.

Kent County Council has introduced Looking Local’s BetterCare Support.

BetterCare Support is an innovative solution which allows for positive, person-centred and strength-based support, providing effective and efficient communication between residents, their needs and Adult Social Care staff.

The platform guides users through their care and support assessment by using a series of short animations for each of the 10 eligibility outcome areas of the Care Act. These animations support people to accurately communicate their needs in suitable detail to best answer what level of care they need (if any). The “laddering” process offers the shortest route possible through the system, putting users in control of only assessing the areas where they feel they need support.

The self-led tool provides people with greater choice and control over their care and support options, including tailored information and advice to support people to make informed decisions. This information connects people with activities, groups and services in their community to meet their practical, social and emotional needs.

The platform enables service providers, like Kent County Council, to make informed decisions about care packages without the need for a home visit, creating substantial savings for councils whilst also providing a more efficient service for residents.

Pilot in West Kent

During the pilot, Kent County Council saw a total of 1,500 users on the site, spending an average of 12 minutes to complete a care and support assessment through BetterCare Support. Out of these 1,500 users, 580 referrals were submitted – indicating that 62% of people did not need to contact the council directly for further support. In this regard, BetterCare Support has been able to triage away a large number of people who do not have eligible needs but where a human intervention to determine the same answer would have a much higher cost for the council.

The West Kent locality team has seen a marked improvement in the fullness and quality of assessment responses since piloting BetterCare Support. The team have found that the platform gives them a great starting point when engaging with clients, especially compared to previous ways of working.

1,500 users on site

580 referrals submitted

12 minutes average time spent to complete an assessment

Kent’s process

The big product development for Kent has been the new feature to route submission notifications to the relevant locality team based on the user’s location. This process enables councils with a large geography to ensure that assessments are delivered to the correct locality team, with no manual triage needed.

Kent County Council are using BetterCare Support as their online self-assessment tool for residents to find the right help themselves and/or submit their self-assessment to Adult Social Care for further input and intervention. 

Testimonial

“For people who think they may need social care support, the BetterCare Support digital platform is a great way for people to start their assessment at a time that suits them. The self-assessment provides the flexibility to allow people to start the process, save it, and finish it at a convenient time at any time. The information people add to the assessment generates guidance about local support which can be used without the need to use social services. They also have the option to submit their self-assessment to Adult Social Care.

This self assessment provides accessible information that is available 24/7, preventing people telling their stories more than once. It is a clear, transparent, and simple process for people to navigate through. The self-assessment offers people a tailored summary of self-help options and is supported with short, animated videos throughout. The self-assessment can be completed by the person themselves or someone on their behalf with consent, whether that is someone in their social or professional network. We continue to work with Looking Local to further develop the self-assessment ensuring that it continues to provide the right level of support to people who use it.”

Renu Purvis, Project Manager of the Innovation Delivery Team

Janice Grant, Assistant Director of West Kent Adult Social Care, and Renu Purvis, Project Manager of the Innovation Delivery Team, describe their process – “the BetterCare Support tool generates a list of support options for the person to use, at which point they may progress into adult social care and be provided with further information, advice, and guidance or a Needs Assessment to determine eligibility and funded care and support.

On receipt of the self-assessment, Adult Social Care staff at the area referral service use the assessment to provide the right information at the right time for people.”

“It is useful to see self-assessment submissions with the self-help options already provided to the person, and this avoids repeating self-help options when we contact them.”

Case studies

  • Self-assessment for bathing, Social Care Officer presented at joint meeting, with the person having to tell their story once.
    • Outcome – Needs Assessment for bathing aids.
  • Self-assessment for mobility in and out of the house, including unable to use the shower room downstairs completed by daughter in law for mum. The Social Care Officer called mum and completed Contact Assessment.
    • Outcome – shower assessment, half step with integral rails for front and back of property with banister rail.
  • Self-assessment completed by daughter. Father has Alzheimer’s, lives with 91-year-old wife and brother who has additional needs. Wife undertook all care needs but was unable to continue as her mental health was deteriorating. Father has become aggressive, violent and losing his temper and wife is living in constant fear and on the verge of a breakdown. Call made to daughter, who was grateful for call back. Joint visit to parents with daughter present who said “the weight has lifted”
    • Outcome – Progressed to Community Team for Need and Financial Assessments for home placement for father.

Going live with BetterCare Support

October 2023 – July 2024

Since rolling this out County-wide in October 2023, Kent’s data is showing that fewer people require a Care Act Assessment. Citizens can start their assessment journey independently without the need to contact Adult Social Care (ASC), the platform provides them with self-help options in the first instance and an option to submit their self-assessment to ASC for further support. Kent intends to further enhance the offer of the self-assessment by writing to people currently on waiting lists in each locality so that where possible people can start the journey themselves by completing a BetterCare Support self-assessment, reducing waiting times and improving support and satisfaction for Kent residents.

2,522 self-assessments undertaken via BetterCare Support

1,250 submitted to the council for review

191 presented eligible needs and were issued a full Care Act assessment

Kent have achieved this positive take up by continually raising the profile of the platform across all different areas.

Engage

Engaged with partners (particularly in Health) so that everyone is aware of the solution and can support people to use it.

Train

Hosted webinars and training events for staff, external partners and key stakeholders to attend.

Update

Regular updates are included in their internal communication via their ASC monthly newsletter, health bulletins, registered network of providers as well as district and parish council updates. 

Communicate

Staff developed a communication and engagement plan, and promotion so far has included the Adult Social Care Summit held in June 2023, digital roadshows and workshops with partners and key stakeholders.

Testimonial

“BetterCare Support has been received positively in that staff are able to support people by signposting them to it rather than waiting for an assessment. We have worked with GP practices across the County to raise awareness so that social prescribers, link workers, non-clinical professionals within the GP can support people to either help them complete the self-assessment and/or signpost them to it wherever relevant. Staff working within GP practices have reported that they will use this solution to support patients that present themselves at GP practices who do not have medical needs and do not require a GP appointment.”

“The self-assessment has proved that often those that submit their self-assessment require further IAG which is provided by our ASC Connect Service. When people are contacted following their submission of the self-assessment, often the outcome results in further IAG and/or signposting to other services that the person can source themselves.”

Renu Purvis
Project Manager, Innovation and Partnerships Team ASC Kent county Council