Caerphilly Cares
Posted on : 23 Mar 2022
The Care Service that was developed by Caerphilly County Borough Council in the height of the Pandemic is now celebrating one year in operation.
The ethos of Caerphilly Cares is about a changing relationship with our residents and communities, it’s about mobilising assets within communities, promoting independence and increasing people’s control over their own lives.
Since its inception, the Caerphilly Cares Duty Team has received over 1,200 calls and 500 emails asking for help. The team has made 330 referrals to appropriate partners & services to provide relevant support. Of the 1,200 calls received, over 850 have been direct from residents who have learned of the service over the past several months.
Further to the daily one to one support provided by the team, help has also been provided in supporting the Benefits Team in taking calls around both the Isolation Grant and Winter Fuel payments as well as supporting people with transport for their vaccinations.
There are several key themes identified through caseloads to date, the most common ones being:
- Financial insecurity
- Mental health (all tiers)
- Bereavement
- Physical mobility
- Drug and Alcohol dependencies
- Fibromyalgia
- Obesity
- Isolation
- Domestic Abuse
If Caerphilly Cares had not been implemented, the pressure on other Council Services is likely to have been far greater. And whilst this is not clearly demonstrable at this point in time, if Caerphilly Cares had not been implemented over 1,700 people could have ‘slipped through the net’, 788 people would not have had their income maximised and over 2,000 people would not have had food.
Cllr Shayne Cook, Cabinet Member for Social Care commented, “The figures in this report highlights just how important our Caerphilly Cares Team is to the community. The team offer a triage service for those county borough residents in need of support for issues such as food poverty, debt or rent arrears, isolation or loneliness and much more.”
The full report can be read here: https://democracy.caerphilly.gov.uk/documents/s38871/CC%20Evaluation%20Scrutiny%20report%208.3.22.pdf?LLL=0