Client: Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council – Adult Social Care Service
Date: February 2018 – September 2018
Challenges faced by the client As part of its approach to transforming service provision, Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council (DMBC) had ambitions to deliver outcome focused day opportunities helping older people and adults with disabilities to reach their full health and wellbeing potential.
The aim for day opportunities in Doncaster was “Putting people in control, promoting independence, health and wellbeing and community involvement”.
The backdrop for this aim was the increasing demands for adult social care and people’s needs were becoming more complex at a time when their resources to meet these challenges had been reducing year on year.
The Adults, Health and Wellbeing transformation programme was developed to address these challenges.
As a key part of the transformation programme, DMBC required external advisors to provide expert advice and guidance to identify options for how their Adult Social Care Day Services could be provided, focusing in particular on Alternative Delivery Models.
Support offered: MV was commissioned to provide support for both the Options Appraisal and Business Planning phases of the Alternative Delivery Model work.
Our support during the Options Appraisal phase focused on alternative service delivery models for the day opportunities that were currently commissioned and provided by DMBC. The alternatives models were set in the context of the wider market, changing needs (including data and analysis already available), the imperative to be more efficient (and save money) and the need to meet other requirements (e.g. political acceptance, risk, meeting stakeholder expectations).
The findings from this phase, and recommended in the Options Appraisal report, was that the most suitable delivery model for the in-scope services was a Public Service Mutual (PSM), owned by the staff.
This recommendation was accepted by DMBC’s key decision makers and this option was taken forward to the Business Planning phase.
During the business planning phase we led the production of a robust business plan. This included the development of a detailed financial model, forecasting the income and expenditure for both existing services and new services. We also provided advice on the most suitable legal forms and governance structures, and technical aspects of the transition such as assets, HR matters, support services and taxation.
The final Business Plan was presented to DMBC’s key decision makers in September 2018. The Business Plan showed that the service was not financially viable delivered by any model, not just a PSM, unless their budget was increased significantly.
Outcome achieved: Due to the Business Plan showing that the service was not financially viable unless their budget was increased significantly, DMBC decided not to progress with an alternative delivery model for Day Services at that point in time.
However, the Adult Social Care Service team felt that the exploration process itself, including the detailed financial modelling, had given them a greater understanding of their service and the ‘pinch-points’ within it.
Their intention was to use this increased knowledge and understanding of their service to explore operational changes and efficiencies that they could make in the short term, with a view to coming back to alternative delivery models at a later stage.