Adult Services

  • Executive Director – Helen Coombes
  • Director of Adults Community Social Care – Mairead Gill-Mullarkey
  • Director of Quality Improvement and Principal Social Worker – Mark Howe
  • Director of Adult Care and Provider Services – Paul Lee
  • Director of Commissioning and Market Shaping – Clare Mattinson

We have launched Living Better Lives in Lancashire, our vision for adult services. Our aim is to support people to stay well and live independently in a place they call their home for as long as possible. We do this by working with people to find out what goals they want to achieve, focusing on what they can do, rather than what they cannot.

We take a three-step approach to supporting them:

  1. Encouraging people to use resources and support at the heart of their community to stay well. This can include support of friends or family members, carers, accessing voluntary, community, faith and enterprise (VCFSE) groups, information and advice support such as our carers support, and early help services such as our Technology Enabled Care and AskSARA services.
  1. If further support is needed, we use short-term interventions to help people regain their life skills, avoiding the need for long-term care or treatment. Short-term care is offered for up to six weeks and could include, hospital discharge support, reablement to help people to rebuild skills to live independently and other support offered through our short care at home service.
  1. We will provide the best long-term solutions for those who need more formal support, once the first two steps have been considered. This may include support in a supported living facility, our Shared Lives Service, homecare or residential care.

For more information about our vision, visit our Living Better Lives in Lancashire intranet page.

  • We deliver Adult Social Care through these core services:
    • Countywide Services for Learning Disability and Autism, and Mental Health
    • Three Area-Based Community Services for Older People / Physical Disability
    • Hospital Discharge Teams
  • There are more than 70 teams in these services, including staff in specialist roles. They use their diverse expertise to support people to live independently.
  • We have a Wellbeing and Early support function (WES), which ensures we support people in line with Living Better Lives in Lancashire. This ensures people are directed to community resources and information, advice, guidance and early help first. If they need further help, WES supports people to get short-term support or more formal, long term support if needed.
  • We have a large Business Support function that supports our teams.
  • Although we manage our services centrally, we ensure close joined-up working with local partners in each area to ensure people get the best support from ourselves and our partners.

Our Adult Social Care services are essential to people with care and support needs and their carers. Here are some of the key functions and roles of our social care services:

  1. Assessment and Support Planning: We assess people's needs to determine their eligibility for care and support services. This includes creating personalized care plans that outline the type and level of support required.
  2. Provision of Services: We commission a range of services, such as home care, residential care, day services, and support for carers. Our goal is to help people maintain their independence and quality of life.
  3. Safeguarding: Our safeguarding teams ensure the safety and well-being of vulnerable adults. Local authorities have a duty to protect people from abuse and neglect, working in partnership with other agencies.
  4. Integration and Coordination: We work closely with health services, housing, and other community services to ensure a coordinated approach to care. This integration aims to provide seamless support to people who need it, especially those with complex needs.
  5. Quality Assurance and Improvement: We monitor and improve the quality of care services. This includes regular assessments and inspections to ensure standards are met and addressing any areas of concern.
  6. Workforce Development: We support and develop the social care workforce. We provide training and development opportunities to ensure staff have the necessary skills and knowledge.
  7. Data and Performance Monitoring: Collecting and analysing data to monitor performance and outcomes is vital. This helps in making informed decisions and improving the effectiveness of services.

These functions are guided by legislation such as the Care Act 2014, which sets out the legal framework for adult social care in England. We also have Statutory Duties under the Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act.

Our Disability Service supports adults with a range of physical and learning disabilities. It provides domiciliary care, which helps people to live independently in their own home, day care services, employment support, enablement, and Short Breaks services, which are residential centres that support people for a short time and give carers a break from their caring role. It also runs Lancashire’s Shared Lives scheme, where adults who need care are placed with families who are paid an allowance to support them.

Our Older People’s Care Service provides high quality care tailored to meet people’s needs. It runs residential care homes and daytime care centres. The residential homes and centres provide specialised support for people living with dementia and those who need help with rehabilitation. They also provide more general support for people with a variety of care needs.

Our Safeguarding and DoLS team is responsible for keeping vulnerable adults safe and works with partners to help identify any potential safeguarding issues. It coordinates investigations where abuse or neglect has been reported.

We work with contracted service providers, such as residential care homes to identify and address issues of concern, poor performance, poor quality and contractual breaches. We support people and their families to find alternative care provision in the event of a service failure or closure.

The service works in partnership with organisations such as the NHS, district councils and the police and are a key partner in the Lancashire Safeguarding Adults Board.  This board has an independent chair but is hosted by Lancashire County Council.

Our Commissioning and Market Shaping service works with the care market, VCFSE and wider partners. It ensures the right services and support are available in the right place to meet the needs of Lancashire's residents. We commission a range of services, such as home care, residential care, day services, support for carers, Technology Enabled Care and the AskSARA portal, which helps people find equipment to support them to live independently.

This service also provides contract management and quality improvement. We work with contracted service providers, such as residential care homes to identify and address issues of concern, poor performance, poor quality and contractual breaches. We support people and their families to find alternative care provision in the event of a service failure or closure, working with the Safeguarding and DoLS team on these cases.

Our commissioning and Market Shaping Service also includes the Care Navigation team, which helps to source care and support to meet people's needs.

Our Quality and Improvement team supports operational teams to deliver best social work practice.  We develop best practice guidance, support new ways of working, provide a quality and assurance framework, develop and deliver social work practice training, support audit, moderation and supervision, and lead on the preparation for inspections.

Our Business Development team supports the directorate with service planning, strategic workforce, financial intelligence, data analysis, performance, financial savings and monitoring of the Better Care Fund, risk management, delivery of the Adult Social Care Academy and policy development.  

Further information

For more information, please visit www.lancashire.gov.uk/socialcare

If you have any questions, please email any of the Directors