In January we reported that the Local Area Coordination (LAC) team, set up in 2012, had reached a significant milestone with the recruitment of a 17th officer, meaning that every ward had got a named co-ordinator.

Local Area Coordinators work across Derby to support residents in the local community to ‘get a life, not a service’, helping people make sense of things, connecting them to what is going on in their local area, exploring community based solutions, supporting them to build personal resilience and encouraging them to be less reliant on traditional services. They don’t provide a formal social care or healthcare service, instead, they ask, ‘What would make a good life for you?’ and help people find a way to lead that life.

Over the years, the team has been subject to many external and internal evaluations, each intended to make clear the extent and nature of the benefits of the LAC work in Derby – to citizens, to services and to finances.

Now, a new evaluation has been released that shows that the approach supports residents to feel –

  • less isolated and more connected to family & friends
  • more supported and better able to cope with family life
  • more confident about their future
  • Better able to contribute to community life
  • More connected to their local community
  • More confident to make their own decisions
  • In control of their financial situation
  • Safer and happier in the place that they live
  • Ready to take part in education, volunteering and work
  • Less reliant on crisis and specialist services
  • More in control of their health and what keeps them well

Whilst also reducing –

  • Visits to GP surgery and crisis services
  • Dependence on health and social services
  • Health inequalities
  • Safeguarding concerns around isolated people
  • Evictions and costs to housing
  • Harmful behaviours
  • Costly packages of care

Across all these evaluations, the benefits of the work have been consistently demonstrated. The team are now preparing to change the focus from asking ‘if Local Area Coordination works?’, to understanding how it works best, where it can have most impact on reforming and supporting our local health and social care systems and how it can best support the growth of truly resilient individuals, families and communities.

Councillor Roy Webb, Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Housing said:

I’m delighted that this new report proves once again what we already knew. Local Area Co-ordination works and investing in it is producing real tangible results for people’s lives.

The Local Area Coordination approach, of helping people to help themselves, has really been transformative and has shaped our response throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to do so long after it is over.