by Sarah Davis, senior policy and practice officer at the Chartered Institute of HousingHousing has too long been neglected by the care and health sectors as a part of the solution to the needs of some of the most vulnerable individuals. It is time that local authorities, PCTs and housing organisations worked together more strategically to commission and to deliver joined up services to prevent increasing health and care needs and to improve lives.
The right kind of housing, that maximises independence and mobility, in good neighbourhoods that allow for easy access to facilities, and engagement with others, are key fundamental elements that can underpin both the prevention and the personalisation agenda in care and health.
Maintaining transformation
The current economic climate and the subsequent tight restrictions on public investment mean that the efficiencies and savings to the public purse will need to be increased, and this poses additional challenges for hard working care sector providers to maintain the challenging transformation of services.
Increasingly it is recognised that the sector cannot 'go it alone' and that they need to utilise the opportunities and resources of all partners to tackle the transformation of services and increase savings.
The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), the professional body for those involved in housing, and the Department of Health's Housing Learning and Improvement Network (LIN) have collaborated on a new report that seeks to take the aim of transforming services together further.
The report highlights examples where professionals across the sectors have together developed services that meet shared challenges, whether it is the increasingly ageing and frail population through extra care and other services, or young care leavers, for whom good housing and support can provide the stepping stone to independence and the confidence to engage with education, training and employment.
Bringing us together
It can still be hard to join the dots, with restrictions on funding and different regulatory drivers. But the policy context and the performance framework for care, health and housing, now have more areas of overlap than previously and the common local framework of local strategic partnerships (LSPs) should be bringing all the partners together as never before.
In the report all of these opportunities are drawn out together with examples at all stages of the strategic process to help professionals to see the possibilities they could follow to achieve common aims of maximising the outcomes for shared customers. The report will be available free to download from CIH and Housing LIN websites later in November.
Maintaining transformation
The current economic climate and the subsequent tight restrictions on public investment mean that the efficiencies and savings to the public purse will need to be increased, and this poses additional challenges for hard working care sector providers to maintain the challenging transformation of services.
Increasingly it is recognised that the sector cannot 'go it alone' and that they need to utilise the opportunities and resources of all partners to tackle the transformation of services and increase savings.
The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), the professional body for those involved in housing, and the Department of Health's Housing Learning and Improvement Network (LIN) have collaborated on a new report that seeks to take the aim of transforming services together further.
The report highlights examples where professionals across the sectors have together developed services that meet shared challenges, whether it is the increasingly ageing and frail population through extra care and other services, or young care leavers, for whom good housing and support can provide the stepping stone to independence and the confidence to engage with education, training and employment.
Bringing us together
It can still be hard to join the dots, with restrictions on funding and different regulatory drivers. But the policy context and the performance framework for care, health and housing, now have more areas of overlap than previously and the common local framework of local strategic partnerships (LSPs) should be bringing all the partners together as never before.
In the report all of these opportunities are drawn out together with examples at all stages of the strategic process to help professionals to see the possibilities they could follow to achieve common aims of maximising the outcomes for shared customers. The report will be available free to download from CIH and Housing LIN websites later in November.
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