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Adult Social Care

Our Adult Social Care vision for Bexley:

  • Bexley residents having a life, not a service
  • people finding solutions their way
  • local organisations, familiar workers
  • the right care, in the right place, at the right time

Adult social care is a term for the wide range of support we provide to adults and carers.

We want our residents to enjoy the best quality of life, based on choices that are important to them. While the vast majority of people in Bexley experience a good life, some people may need help during their lives due to disability, unemployment, health problems, homelessness, social isolation or crime.

Our care and services play a crucial role in helping residents remain healthy and independent. The type and level of care can differ from person to person – it could include providing information and advice, universal or prevention services, or care and support for those with significant needs.

Find out more about the services we provide

This section uses the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF) which is how the Council’s Adult Social Care service measures how well care and support services achieve the outcomes that matter to people.

In 2019/20, of residents who used Adult services

76% told us that felt they had control over their daily life

care

19.1%received direct payments, which helps residents have greater control over their own care and support needs

47.4% reported that they had as much social contact as they would like

60.2% were overall satisfied with their care and support

72.9% found it easy to find information about support

72.6% feel safe generally

84.6% said that the services they used made them feel safe and secure

The quality of Adult Social Care matters. It matters because people who use services should be able to expect person-centred care that is safe, effective and responsive.

While some of these figures are not where we would like them to be, our Adult Social Care services are constantly finding ways to improve.

We do this by:

  • developing skills and knowledge of everyone involved in care assessments
  • monitoring the experiences of people with assessed care and support needs
  • enabling a person’s care needs and support outcomes to be met
  • helping people who are supported to be independent and have choice and control
  • helping people to be safe
  • making sure we are working within our means as an organisation

Find out more about our Adult Social Care policies.

age 65 plus

Older People (aged 65+)

In 2018/19

  • there were 13,925 requests for Adult Social Care (ASC) support received from new clients per 100,00 population
  • in 2018/19, universal services/signposting, ongoing low-level support and short-term support to maximise independence were the services provided most frequently to new clients of ASC
  • in 2018/19, 67% of older people who received a short-term social care service to maximise independence went on to no longer require support at a lower level
  • 464 per 100,000 council-supported older people’s needs were met by a change of setting to residential or nursing care

In 2019/20

  • 2.4% of older people received rehabilitation services after discharge from the hospital, this is lower than the national figure which was 2.6%
  • 90.7% of older people were still at home 91 days after discharge from hospital into rehabilitation services

Residential Care

The Care Quality Commission is the independent regulator of health and social care in England. They make sure health and social care services provide people with compassionate, high-quality care and encourage services to improve. You can find out more about what they do

In 2021, the Care Quality Commission rated residential care in the borough:

  Outstanding Good Requires improvement Inadequate
All care homes 3% 77% 20% -
All old person's homes 5% 75% 20% -
Old person's nursing homes - 75% 25% -
Old person's residential homes 12.5% 75% 12.5% -
Learning disability/mental health residential homes - 80% 20% -

Carers

In 2018-19, carers in Bexley took part in the Survey of Adult Carers in England.

adult carers

62% of carers have been caring for over 5 years

23% of carers have been caring for over 20 years

  • 61% of carers reported that caring had caused them feelings of stress
  • 57% of carers said that their caring responsibilities caused them no financial difficulty. 8% said that caring caused them significant financial difficulty
  • 36% of carers who receive services are very or extremely satisfied with the support they had
  • 30% of carers were looking after someone aged 85+
  • 48% of carers were looking after someone with a physical disability
  • 25% of carers spend 100 hours or more per week looking after the person they care for

Learning Disability

In 2019/20, 0.4% of adult residents had a learning disability. Out of adults with a learning disability:

  • 75% of working-age supported adults (16 to 64) were living in settled accommodation, while 22.9% were in unsettled accommodation
  • 17.7% of working-age supported adults were in paid employment
  • 27.8% of supported adults were receiving direct payments
  • 2.8 per 1,000 adults were receiving long-term support from the local authority
learning disability
adult social care and mental health

Mental Health

In 2018/19:

  • 264 per 100,000 people were admitted to the hospital for mental and behavioural disorders due to the use of alcohol
  • there were 5,636 per 100,000 new referrals to secondary mental health services
  • 23,986 per 100,000 people attended contacts with community and outpatient mental health services 

In 2019/20:

  • 0.76% of residents were registered as living with a mental health condition, this is lower than both London and England figures
  • 26.3 per 100,000 people aged 18+ were admitted to hospital for mental health conditions

Out of adults 18 to 69 who were in contact with secondary mental health services:

  • 74% were living independently, with or without support
  • 74% were living in stable and appropriate accommodation, which is higher than both London and England figures
  • 12% were in paid employment

Bexley Care and other trusted partners

Bexley Care brings together the physical and mental health services provided by Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and adult social care within the London Borough of Bexley, acting as a single integrated care provider to improve patient outcomes and experiences.

People receive care within their community from local teams known as Local Care Networks, including voluntary and individual assets to help people achieve independence, choice and wellbeing. Care plans are personalised for individual needs and services are developed locally to meet this individual need, while providing joined-up and proactive care.
 

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

In 2018/19, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust is the main provider of Mental Health services in the borough, rated overall as ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission. They also received a rating of ‘Good’ for each of the following questions:

  • Are services safe?
  • Are services effective?
  • Are services caring?
  • Are services responsive?
  • Are services well-led?

CCG, Bexley Voluntary Service Council and Community Connect

We partner with the CCG and BVSC to link residents with support through ‘Community Connect’. This means GP’s can help residents choose non-medical options to improve their health and wellbeing alongside existing treatments.

Residents can access voluntary services for care and support with:

  • isolation and/or feeling lonely
  • financial or housing issues
  • being a carer for someone
  • a recent medical diagnosis
  • stress and anxiety
  • getting more involved in your community

If you are 18 and registered with a Bexley GP you can access the Community Connect service. You can get a referral from your GP practice or you can self-refer directly. Find out more.

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