Acorn to Oak Homecare operate in the Gloucestershire locality with no current view to expand outside of that area, A2O hold several contracts a description of which as follows;
- Gloucestershire Health and Social care pseudo framework ran by Gloucestershire county council; covering individual packages of care for customers in Gloucester, Stroud and Cheltenham. Acorn to Oak homecare are known by the local authority as a provider of choice, who manage customers individual needs and expectations, using a holistic approach to care planning and placement management, they are regularly specifically asked to take on individuals packages of care due to the individuals having; multiple placement breakdowns or due to individual need for English speaking / Female care teams. Every individual receives an initial assessment and is assigned a case worker, those with Complex needs are identified as such and are reviewed and discussed weekly with representatives from all parts of the service. Acorn to Oak Homecare work with all parts of the local authority teams well and have good professional relationships with brokerage, commissioning, finance and ecm. Regularly meeting with and supporting pilots and workshops, most recently The Department of Health and Social Cares ‘Fair Cost of Care exercise including market sustainability plans.
- Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust ran by the NHS Home First Service; Covering Short term placements of 6-8 weeks, enabling the individual to complete recovery period at home; Regaining their ability to live as independently as possible. Staying in hospital for longer than necessary has a negative impact on how well patients recover. Ensuring that patients are given the chance to continue their lives at home is vital for their long-term health and wellbeing.
The support provided includes: washing, dressing, cooking meals, accessing community services, arranging delivery services, improving mobility and balance so individuals can safely use steps or stairs, walk in and outdoors, or use transport. During this time clear goals are set to support Reablement and or move to a longer term placement; in order to achieve this Acorn to Oak Homecare works in partnerships with NHS teams, including Coordinators, Mental Health and wellbeing workers, OT’s and Physios and playing an active part in the weekly multi agency clinical supervision discussing and reviewing each individuals ‘Goal Plan’.
- Hard to Reach areas and Innovation in Gloucestershire service ran by Gloucestershire county council; Acorn to oak hold a ‘Run’ in the Forest of Dean, supporting individuals in hard to reach areas. This service ensures that individual are able to receive a service wherever they live, Acorn to Oak work closely with the LA’s commissioning teams to achieve successful management of this provision.
- Private Agreement Provision; Acorn to oak has an amount of private customers, all of which have been referred by professionals, Acorn to Oak has a business model set around Local Authority customers, it is not felt appropriate to charge ‘Private Payers’ more than the rates achieved through the Local authority therefore rates and level of care delivery are kept uniform.
The Service has an extremely robust Business Continuity Plan which has been tested and proven over the last 2 years, they have however had the emergency measures within the plan in place for longer than they were deemed acceptable for, this is unfortunately felt to be currently industry standard although that does not make it ‘ok’. The service has recognised that change is required to ensure the service is able to flourish in what they now deem to be; the ‘New normal’ and plans are in place to adapt the business model appropriately to achieve this.