Agenda item

Rohan Wardena, Transformation Programme Lead: Adult Social Care, Health and Housing to demonstrate the ‘Help Yourself’ portal and to speak about the protection available for buying services outside of BFC monitored and quality assured services.

Rohan Wardena, Transformation Programme Lead: Adult Social Care, Health and Housing presented information and gave a live demonstration of the Help Yourself digital marketplace portal to the Panel. He spoke about the protection available for buying services outside of Bracknell Forest monitored and quality assured services.

Members were given the opportunity to view the portal on the screens in the Council Chamber or to interact with the portal using their own laptops and were guided to the landing page by typing “Bracknell Forest Help Yourself” into the Google search bar.

Alternatively the URL is www.helpyourself.bracknell-forest.gov.uk

Rohan Wardena, Transformation Programme Lead: Adult Social Care, Health and Housing provided the Panel with some background information to the Help Yourself portal.

The vision had been to set up a digital platform that would:

• Help connect people to their communities.
• Enable people to stay healthy for longer.
• Enable people to be well informed and feel supported to stay independent. 
• Be a useful resource for everyone to use.

It was explained that the portal helped to connect people to a wider range of care and support options, giving them more:

• Choice and control over their care.
• Supporting greater independence.

Focussing on people helped them makes the best use of collective assets.

Specifically within Bracknell, it was explained that the care market was fragile with fewer providers than in other areas and less provision to meet demand.  Bracknell does not enjoy the same level of price competition and full employment making it difficult to attract people into the care sector which was a factor in driving up the cost of care.  These factors forced the Adult Social Care team to consider a wider range of options through the use of personal care budget direct payments rather than traditionally commissioned services.

There had been an increase in the number of people taking up the direct payment option from 29% now to 47% which equated to 333 people, over a short period of time.

The digital market place was not a completely new idea.  Previously there was i-Hub but this hadn’t been used. 

The main objectives for the Help Yourself Portal were that it should be:

• A replacement for i-Hub
• An easy to use single source of information for everyone
• A marketplace platform to connect people to a wider range of support options
• A free resource for local organisations to promote what they do
• A resource for staff and partners to use to help connect people to activities, services and useful information
• Provide online tools to help people plan and make positive changes to their lives
• Provide information to help make informed choices and stay safe
• Organisations should own their own content

The Help Yourself Portal had been operational since Nov 2017.

When it was launched it had limited promotion and was to support the new conversations approach.

The portal had developed over time as a result of agile working.

On average now for 6 months there were:

• 600 visits a week of which 400+ were unique visitors. 
• 33% came back within a week.
• 94% of users were external (not Council) users.
• Requests for support could be drop-boxed and there were a couple of requests per week.
• The portal was getting used, and it is valued.

Members were then given a live demonstration overview of the main features of the portal:

For clients, the use of the portal was the start of a journey.

The Help Yourself Portal was deliberately not branded Bracknell Forest Council .  It was a community resource and as such did not need to be overtly Council branded.

The main features were designed to help people to find what they need. There is (a):

• Create an account function.
• Range of tools to guide people to information.
• Range of information and advice, helping people to connect.
• Wellbeing planning tool to make changes to their lives.
• Search function.
• Print function.
• Location map display where clients could find things near to them.
• Shortlists could be created.
• The portal featured products and equipment.
• Clients could connect to organisations that can provide equipment to buy. 
• Practitioners working and supporting people could identify a range of options. create a brochure, email it and print it off.
• Information on providers where clients could see the latest CQC ratings.
• Price information for comparative shopping.
• Clients could register a personal assistant to support them.
• The portal provided information that could be used to provide bulletins to feedback to providers with information that could be used to add to their services.
• Filters to tailor content delivered.
• Keyword search.
• Postcode search.
• Community maps.
• Client type support for a condition or disability.
• It pulls in public health work and initiatives such as get active, get learning.
• SMS text facility which sends the chosen organisation’s contact card. 
• Email and print off information.

Going forwards, the ambitions for the portal feature developments are that it could:

• Become a marketplace that supports end to end transactions
• Host jobs.
• Host volunteer networks.
• Enable people to book and pay for activities.
• Provide information and advice.
• There was a suite of ‘Tips’ guides being built.
• There was potential for this to be a product in its own right in other organisations

In order for people to stay safe online using this site, the ‘staying safe online’ prompt always appeared on the main landing page.

The Wellbeing planner tool was being used.  There was a steady stream of use.  The voluntary sector organisations liked this light touch tool to guide people to content however, it was not just adult social care that was covered.  All of the determinants mentioned by Sir Andrew Morris were covered such as housing, transport, leisure, learning, work, training and volunteering, money and benefits and more.

Following Members’ questions, Rohan Wardena, Transformation Programme Lead: Adult Social Care, Health and Housing clarified:

• Anyone could log on to the portal.  Organisations could post a local service by setting up an account.
• The portal was not a curated site and was not stringently managed but there was a watching brief on this position
• The portal was the first generation iteration of this platform and would continue to be developed to account for people with sight issues.  The portal was not intended to be a sole source of support to people with additional needs and people requiring additional support would be assisted by community connectors and social prescribers working with them, connecting them to the things that would enable them to be more independent and get on with their lives.  The portal was not intended to replace face to face or telephone connections.
• If there was a problem with content on the site, it could be taken down from public view although there wasn’t a heavy handed process.
• There was a reference group set up to monitor the site.  This group should determine how problems are handled, but it was not intended to be too prescriptive.

It was observed that there was no information about the community connectors on the portal.  Rohan Wardena, Transformation Programme Lead: Adult Social Care, Health and Housing agreed that this should be included.

The Chairman acknowledged that the portal was a fantastic resource and an interactive support that enabled people to use technology such as tablets in a collaborative way. 

Members commented that it was a very valuable resource that made provision for a wider range of activities for disabled children etc.