MJ Awards nominations - Keeping in touch

As the cost of living crisis continues, health and wellbeing services have seeing growing demand alongside spiralling costs to deliver services.

It’s important that the council and partner organisations can find ways to manage demand and support those who are most in need.

The Keeping In Touch (KiT) programme has brought together key voices from the voluntary and community sector, the NHS and the council to discuss some of the core issues leading to high demand and look at solutions on how they can be addressed. 

Some of the key themes identified included a focus on short term emergency and high need support, growing isolation and disconnection and residents not being prepared for some of the key challenges they face as they age leading to crises, with a need to better educate people on ways to prevent issues happening on the future.

There were also complaints from residents about the number of different individuals visiting to provide their care, leading to limited continuity or any overarching understanding of their needs.

Helping earlier, preparing for issues

The Keeping in Touch (KiT) project seeks to address these issues by offering support much earlier in people’s health journey, helping them become more resilient and prepared for the issues they will face in the future as they age.

By doing this they can live their lives as they wish, for as long as possible. Reducing, delaying and preventing their need to depend on more formal care in years to come. 

Delivery of the KiT programme is very much in collaboration with the voluntary and community sector along with a range of health and social care organisations across the borough.

Some of the council’s key partners involved include Age UK Berkshire, The Link visiting scheme and the NHS Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust. 

At the heart of the KiT programme is a 1:1 coaching approach where coaches from the voluntary organisations meet with residents to listen to their concerns, before assessing and devising a personalised plan to help them prepare for the future.

Treating people as individuals

Each client is treated as an individual and agrees how and when they “keep in touch” through their journey, with the coach remaining available to support immediate needs and catch up with them regularly. 

Cllr Stephen Conway, leader of the council and executive member for housing, said: “By working with partners like the Link Visiting Scheme and Age UK Berkshire, we’ve been able to get support to those most in need, including those who might not have approached us for help directly.

"The benefits of the approach are already being seen with feedback from those accessing KiT being incredible positive and feeling they are getting the support they need. 

“By using this early intervention approach we hope we will continue to see long term improvements to residents lives, as well as a reduction in emergency demand, freeing up resources to better support those with higher levels of need.” 

'Issues are picked up before crisis is reached'

A representative from Wokingham South Primary Care Network, said: “KiT is an essential scheme in that the welfare needs of vulnerable adults are picked up as they arise and before a crisis is reached; this is especially important for people who don’t like to ‘bother’ anyone.

"KiT has quickly become one of the schemes I regularly refer into, and I’m sure it must feel like a lifeline to those that use the service. 

“The team are excellent at building rapport and trust with clients, which enables them to suggest appropriate interventions to improve health and wellbeing. It’s an absolutely fantastic scheme that is a credit to the incredible team that deliver it.”