Doncaster residents on social plans 'anxious' to restart care arrangements

DMBC adult social care boss Phil Holmes told a recent scrutiny meeting that many people on plans had paused their arrangements during the pandemic and family members had stepped in to look after them in some cases.

He said care home bosses and owners in Doncaster have ‘done a good job’ in managing the risk of Covid-19 which massively impacted providers across the country.

“The underspend in adult social care sounds reasonably reassuring on the face of it but there are a number of points that we are actively trying to manage,” Mr Holmes said.

“Home care provision for example, a number of people paused their services and some have restarted, others haven’t so we’ve got work to do to engage with those people.

“In some cases, family carers will be going back to work so we need to see how that pans out.

Figures show the adult social care budget is showing an underspend which is mainly down to people pausing their care arrangements and a downward trend in occupancy during the height of the pandemic.

Health bosses within DMBC and the NHS are said to be planning and working together in order to anticipate winter pressures over the coming months.

Mr Holmes said winter pressures in the NHS ‘could create some level of risk’ and demand could rise in relation to flu ‘exacerbating Covid-19’ in the community, impacting on social care.

He also called on people to get in touch with the council if they had any problems and the department was there to ‘help people, not manage money’.

He added: “Although we know Doncaster wasn’t as badly affected as some parts of the country in relation to Covid-19 in care homes, tragically there have been some significant impacts. Not in all of our homes but a reasonable number which has reduced occupancy and new demand in care isn’t going up quickly and some are anxious about these settings.”

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