Following a successful bid to Central Government, Derby City Council has been awarded funding to help scale its Local Area Coordination offer across the entire city.
The proposal highlighted the successes of Local Area Coordination since it was launched in Derby in 2012 and proposed the ways in which the service could be harnessed across the city. The service will now be able to offer an all-age service.
Given the current pandemic, the Council also applied for additional funding in order to support the city’s most vulnerable residents and help to ease the pressure on healthcare services. The service will work closely with the Derby COVID Community Response Hub in order to support urgent needs and coordinate residents who are eager to help their neighbours.
The service will be based in neighbourhoods across the city and aims for coordinators to get to know local people and those who need help. They do not offer formal social or healthcare support but work to make life better and more comfortable for those in the community.
The service offers help including, but not limited to:
- accessing information, advice and support
- building your own local network
- finding practical ways to resolve problems
- how to be part of your community
- identifying your personal strengths, goals and needs
The service is partly funded by Derby and Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group, which works in partnership with the Council to support residents to build relationships and resilience, enabling them to rely less on primary and secondary health services.
Over the last two years, the Council has worked to test if the Local Area Coordination approach could translate specifically to young people leaving the care system. Those supported over this period have consistently self-reported much better outcomes in the criteria set by the Department of Education than at the beginning of the programme.
Not only do individuals self-report better outcomes but results from key stakeholders across the city demonstrates that those making use of the service come to rely on other, strained services less. Instead, they build stable relationships and connections with their local communities.
However, the service does not just support young people specifically. Local Area Coordination has in Derby has also been used to build family resilience for those who are at the edge of care, often supporting them to avoid interventions.
Councillor Roy Webb, Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Housing, said:
It is reflective of the fantastic results that the team have produced so far that we have been awarded funding to extend our services to the rest of the city. We’re very proud of the tangible impact that Local Area Coordination has on people’s lives. It goes without saying that services such as these are more important than ever right now. This award will work directly to support those who are most vulnerable at a time when they need it most.
You can read more about Derby’s Local Area Coordination service on the Council’s website.