Wirral Council has extended a £52m contract that aims to ease hospital pressure and support people living at home.
Councillors at an adult health and social care committee on January 23 approved a contract for five years costing £4.9m a year to Medequip Assistive Technology to provide the Wirral Independence Service. There will be options to continue this for another five years bringing the total cost to £51.7m.
The current service helps provide specialist equipment to mainstream and specialist schools as well as paediatrics. In a report, the council said: “The overarching aims of this service is to support people to live independently in their own homes as long as possible, support the reduction in hospital admission and support timely hospital discharges.”
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The service works on helping those who are visually or hearing impaired, those who need bathing equipment, beds or commodes, helping prevent falls, providing a shop and an online ordering system. Council officers said they are regularly recycle equipment and keep tabs on those loaned out.
Councillors were also updated on the local authority's budget for the next financial year from April 2024 to March 2025. Health and social care is one of the biggest spenders out of Wirral Council’s budget with increasing costs of care is expected to add the biggest pressure next year.
Costs of care are expected to add £10.5m to the council's budget while an ageing population is adding £2m in costs. Over the next five financial years, the overall increase in costs is expected to be more than £80m.
In response to queries about the budget, Wirral's Health and Care director Graham Hodkinson said the report was based on the assumption there will be an additional council tax charge of 2% to cover adult social care costs for the next financial year. This would raise £2m for the council and can only be spent on this.
He said many councils were in similar positions, adding: "You can see the kind of growth is far in excess of the kind of savings that we can achieve as a local authority so what that means is that over time there's less money available for other services because the statutory social care elements for children and adults take a greater slice."
Councillors also approved a £4.3m contract for four years that aims to engage with people who are disconnected from services as well as a new model on how to deliver its Direct Payment service.
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