Plans for a new home care service are being considered in Caerphilly County Borough as demand increases “month-by-month”, councillors have heard.
‘Care At Home’ would provide domiciliary and respite care for adults and children, while boosting service capacity to meet future demand and minimising disruption to existing recipients of care.
Caerphilly Council commissions more than 12,000 hours of domiciliary care a week, with support provided by in-house staff and external providers.
A report says the overall value of commissioned home care, including the respite sitting service, stood at £7.3 million in January.
Under the proposals, existing providers would retain the hours they have at the point of tendering, and only new hours would be brokered to Care At Home.
Councillor Carl Cuss, Cabinet Member for Social Care and Wellbeing, said: “The health, social care and wellbeing scrutiny committee was very supportive of our inhouse provision and plans to not reduce it any further.
“My ambition is to bring in more inhouse providers and it’s very important to get a hold of home care going forward.”
Councillor Barbara Jones, cabinet member for finance, added: “I’m pleased with how we are dealing with this in a very sensitive manner. It’s vital that we minimise any disruption.”