Plans to ‘transform’ Pembrokeshire day centre provisions

THE ‘next steps’ in plans to change day centre services for the elderly and people with learning disabilities will be examined this week.

Members of the social care overview and scrutiny committee will start their new year of work with a closer look at plans to develop a ‘hub and spoke’ model for day centre provision across the county.

A public consultation favoured the option of four hubs – single points of access for a range of social care, health and information needs, including specialist support – and spokes that are links “to thriving community activities and opportunities outside of the hub.”

The hubs will potentially based in Pembroke Dock, Tenby, Haverfordwest and Crymych.

A second option featured two hubs, one in the north and one in the south, with a number of spokes.

There will also be greater development of links with Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion services.

A report to scrutiny on Thursday (January 9) says there were 166 respondents to the consultation, 105 already accessing day opportunities in Pembrokeshire.

There are around 369 people attending day centres and social education centres – 224 older people and 144 people with a learning disability.

According to the meeting’s report the next steps include developing an business case for a pilot project focusing on how a task and finish group will work with service users, staff and voluntary community organisations to develop hub specifications.

It will include detailed capital and revenue costings, an implementation plan and evaluation methodology.

This is due to take place over the coming year with a provisional time scale for implementation in February 2021, following a business case development for rolling out the model in March/April 2021.

Katy Jenkins - Local Democracy Reporter

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