Eighty Adult Social Services Posts To Be Lost

Eighty council posts could be lost in the South Hams and Devon due to a proposed overhaul of adult social services.

{mosimage}Staff and unions are currently being consulted over Devon County Council’s plans for a shake-up of its adult and community services department.

The plans, approved by the council’s executive committee, would see changes to the way adult care in the community is assessed.

David Johnstone, Devon County Council’s director for adult and community services, said any reduction in staffing will be handled sensitively, with the authority first looking to natural wastage, redeployment and retraining opportunities for displaced staff.

He said: “There may be some redundancies, but we have a very effective redeployment and retraining policy so would hope to continue to offer employment to any staff who do not opt for voluntary redundancy.”

A council consultation document sent to service staff called ‘modernising our care management system’ describes how a ‘one size fits all’ approach to everyone having face-to-face assessments has led to ‘high travelling times, delay and high carbon footprint’.

The paper outlines a new system which would include two telephone-based services for patient referrals and assessments alongside other teams.

It states: “Based on high level assumptions, being tested in pilot arrangements, we expect the service to be more efficient and to require fewer staff to implement it – possibly about 80 posts”.

Mr Johnstone said proposals will mean that people with relatively simple care requirements will get the services they need quickly, ‘significantly’ reducing current waiting times.

Vulnerable people with more complex needs will have the most skilled and expensive resources directed to them more quickly, he added.

The 90-day consultation period ends on December 10, after which there will be a ‘period of reflection’ before decisions are made, the council said.

The reorganisation is seen as part of the council’s wider modernisation of social care in Devon which is seeing closer partnerships with health authorities.

For further information visit www.devon.gov.uk/modernisation