Services for older people in Southwark
Sarah McClinton
Deputy Director Adult Social Care
15th December 2011
• Snapshot of Southwark population
• Vision for adult social care
• ‘My Support Choices’ – prevention, early
intervention and support services in
Southwark
Older people in Southwark
• 25,000 over 65s – 9% population
• 16,000 live in social housing
• 10,000 claiming housing benefit and
pension credits
• 9000 live alone
• 19% BME - rising
• 11% Southwark households in fuel poverty
Life expectancy in Southwark
• Average life expectancy for men is 77.6 years
(national average 77.8)
• ….for women it is 82.9 years (national average
82.3)
Life expectancy at age 65 is higher than
London and national averages:
• Men aged 65 can expect to live another 18.4
years
• Women aged 65 can expect to live another 21.7
years
Southwark’s Adult Social Care Vision:
We have a heavy reliance on residential and nursing placements and we
want to change this. People have the right to support to live
independent lives and to make choices for themselves.

Single point of contact for people who need care and support

Better information and signposting – ‘My Support Choices’

Services to tackle social isolation and practical help

Help to get back on your feet – more short-term help or ‘reablement’

People eligible for support can now choose how they would like to use their
‘personal budgets’

Intensive support will be for the most vulnerable

Safeguards in place for those who are at risk of abuse.
My Support Choices
Launched last week. Mrs Lowing, a housebound wheelchair
user, who has recently become an internet user said:
"The internet has changed my life. I can do my own shopping
online now and this gives me a sense of normality. I have
upcoming major surgery and I have been able to find out lots
of information online. Some of my fears have been taken
away.”
My Support Choices
My Support Choices
•
A new online guide to adult social care and other services in the community.
•
In Southwark we want to help people keep well and live safely and independently and
we want to make sure people can find out about the support available to help them
remain as independent as possible.
•
Our website is designed to help local people easily explore the options and choices
available that meet individual needs, all in one place.
•
It has been developed with input from staff and users helping make it a user friendly
system.
•
Being online means that the information can be updated constantly and more can be
added
•
Informed by the focus groups earlier in the year which helped identify some of the
concerns that older people have and also the kind of straightforward information
people need to help them remain independent.
My Support Choices
•
Use My Support Choices to find out more about:
–
–
–
–
specialist alcohol services including dedicated helpline, support and treatment
social opportunities, connecting people
community alarms – safeguarding people at home
to find a volunteer or neighbourhood helper to help with gardening and other
home maintenance tasks
– find out about accessible facilities in the community eg libraries, leisure
activities
– short term support to help older people regain confidence
•
Our aim is to ensure that people are able to find information that they need
easily and quickly, rather than having to telephone the council with queries,
or for advice and information only.
•
This will maximise our resources to work directly with those people in most
need.
Support going online
•
Support Choices is easy and quick to use but we recognise that some
people are slightly apprehensive about going online and so if local residents
need help going online we are encouraging them to visit their local library
where staff are able to help or one stop shop which offer free access to the
internet with staff on hand to help.
•
Dedicated sessions are being set up in libraries to help local residents
familiarise themselves with Support choices
•
Digital divide – 8 million people nationally don’t use the internet but this
figure is reducing rapidly. Research shows helping older people use digital
media reduces social isolation.