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Hampshire Domiciliary Care Providers Limited

Chair’s Report - Oct 2009 – March 2011

Introduction

Hampshire Domiciliary Care Providers was formed in October 2009 from a previous provider organisation to represent the interests of Domiciliary Care Providers in Hampshire and to provide support to its member organisations.

Since its formation, the organisation has gone from strength to strength. We now have a membership of over 90 Providers and a committed Board of volunteer Directors who do a lot of work on behalf of members and the whole sector. As well as receiving funding from membership, we also receive some funding from Hampshire County Council and are hopefully of receiving a small amount of funding from Portsmouth City Council.

 

Activities and Achievements of HDCP to date

  • Chaired regular liaison meetings with Hampshire County Council Adult Services (and Hampshire PCT) to discuss pricing, contracts, personalisation, safeguarding and training etc. Unfortunately the PCT representative has only attended one session! We were successful in achieving a half percent fee increase in March 2010 as well as bank holiday charge rates for 25th & 26th Dec & 1st January 2011 as well as the actual bank holidays.
  • Chaired regular provider meetings with Portsmouth City Council to discuss pricing, contracts, safeguarding, training and other provider issues. Also led a pricing working party and met with Portsmouth City Council for discussions about a fixed price for 2011/12.
  • Held regular network meetings in most areas of Hampshire so that providers can discuss areas of concern and common interest with each other and representatives from Hampshire County Council Adult Services.
  • Held an Information Day in March 2010 which was very much focused around the new Care Quality Commission (CQC) registration system which came into force in April 2010. We had a presentation from Adrian Hughes from CQC and a workshop by Gina Rayner – independent consultant.
  • Held small workshops for members in April and May 2010 to help prepare them for CQC Registration
  • Held an Information Day in October 2010 which featured an update from Rita Daly from Skills for Care, an update from Adrian Hughes from CQC and a presentation from Mick Moorhouse from Hampshire County Council Adult Services about future developments. We also had a presentations on Personalisation and Advanced Directives from members of Hampshire County Council and also a very thought provoking session from Interactive Diversity.
  • An Information Day in March 2011 which focused on an update from CQC and the Provider Compliance Assessment, the new pension legislation coming in April 2012 and a presentation from Hampshire County Council Adult Services on the new Preferred Provider List.
  • Attended PaCT planning meetings to ensure that the training offered by PaCT – Hampshire County Council’s training provision for the independent care providers, is meeting the needs of home care providers.
  • Represented the interests of Providers at the Skills for Care Hampshire and Isle of Wight sub group and the multi-agency Hampshire Safeguarding Board, as well as a Hampshire multi-agency Mental Capacity Act group.
  • Kept members up-to–date with developments in the sector via the Website, email and newsletters.

 

Conclusion

The Home Care sector is facing very, very difficult market conditions at the moment. We are being pressurised by local authorities to cut prices because of pressure on their budgets. At the same time we are facing cost pressures from rising fuel prices,  4-5% inflation and increased regulation. More than ever, Domiciliary Care providers need to work together to fight for sustainable prices so that our organisations are able to continue to provide a much needed service to residents in Hampshire.

We would urge all domiciliary care companies in Hampshire, who have not already done so, to join the HDCP. For more information, please visit the website www.hantsdcp.org, email info@hantsdcp.org or phone Jackie Stubbs on 023 8025 5794 for more information.