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
[ENDS]