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Older people's quality of life improved through National scheme

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH News Release issued by COI News Distribution Service. 22 October 2008

Almost 100,000 older people have benefitted so far from a £60 million scheme to keep them in their homes and out of hospital and residential care, according to a report published today by Care Services Minister Phil Hope.

Partnerships for Older People Projects (POPPs) was launched in 2006 with the aim of helping older people to remain independent and prevent or delay the need for more intense care.

The projects help older people by, for example, doing their shopping or gardening, making sure they get help in collecting prescriptions and advice on taking medicines and targeting those who may be at risk of hospital admission.

The interim report of the pilot projects found that:

99,988 people had received or were receiving a service as part of POPP in 29 pilot sites;

elderly people using the service found their quality of life (mobility, washing/dressing, pain, anxiety) improved;

for every £1 spent on POPP interventions, 73p will be saved on the cost of emergency hospital bed-days; and

because POPP services have led to fewer days in hospital, the overall cost of care has been reduced by £410 per person.

Following the successful interim report, Local Authorities will today have a guide to help them introduce POPP projects in their areas.

Speaking at the National Children and Adult Services (NCAS) conference, Phil Hope said:

"In 20 years' time a quarter of the entire adult population in England will be over 65 and the number of people over 85 will have doubled. We want to ensure that older people can live as independently as possible and have great quality of life - POPP schemes can help them to do just that.

"I want these services to be available in more areas of the country - every older person has the right to be helped to stay healthy, active and independent. That's why we have today issued a toolkit to help every local authority, to set up high quality services that will make a real difference to older people's lives."

The Making a Strategic Shift to prevention and early intervention' toolkit is a practical 'how to do it guide' to bringing in the kind of prevention and early intervention services and approaches to those being delivered by the POPP pilots. It includes: a Prevention and Early Intervention DVD, which demonstrates how the POPP pilots are improving outcomes for older people, a summary of the key benefits and a more detailed compendium of best practice for operational managers.

POPP Case Study

One woman who was helped through the POPP project in Poole, was Freda, an 82 year old woman who fell and injured her leg. The leg needed regular dressing, however, Freda suffers from short term memory loss and as a result was missing appointments at the surgery. As her leg was not getting the correct and regular treatment it deteriorated so much that it was being considered for a skin graft. The Practice Nurse referred Freda to POPP, and with the assistance of a Help and Care Volunteer Driver Freda was able to keep her appointments at the surgery and her leg has now healed. Had POPP not been involved and found a means for her to keep her appointments, she would have been admitted to hospital for a skin graft.

Notes to Editors

The National Evaluation of Partnerships for Older People Projects (POPP): Interim Report of Progress and the toolkit can be found at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/SocialCare/Deliveringadultsocialcare/Olderpeople/Par

'Putting People First' was launched alongside a £520 million Social Care Reform grant, to be issued over the next three years to support social care transformation. Putting People First which the Government published in December 2007 set out a vision for the transformation of social care - the need for the state, as well as those responsible for designing, commissioning and provision of services to empower citizens to shape their own lives and the services they receive. Making a strategic shift to prevention and early intervention is one of the central objectives of Putting People First.

The Government provided ring-fenced funding of £60 million (£20m in 2006/07 and £40m in 2007/08) for Councils with Social Services Responsibilities to establish innovative pilot projects in partnership with PCTs, the voluntary, community and independent sector

The 29 POPP pilot schemes are in:

City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
Dorset County Council
East Sussex County Council
Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council
Leeds City Council
London Borough of Brent
London Borough of Camden
Luton Borough Council
Manchester City Council
Norfolk County Council
North Lincolnshire Council
North Yorkshire County Council
Northumberland County Council
Poole Borough Council
Sheffield City Council
Somerset County Council
London Borough of Southwark
Wigan Council
Worcestershire County Council
Calderdale
Croydon
Devon
Gloucestershire
Kent
Leicestershire (including Rutland)
North Somerset
Rochdale
Tameside
West Sussex

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