Home Maintenance Services, Age Concern Swansea

Background

The project offers practical help for older people who find it difficult to manage low level home maintenance. We help them remain independent and safe in their own homes. It is a free information, advocacy and support service for people over 55 to solve problems about low level, low cost maintenance work and repairs to their property.

What is the problem you are trying to solve?

It is based at the Age Concern walk in advice centre at 69/70 St Helen’s Road, Swansea but serves older people across the City and County of Swansea – 81 000 aged over 50. We are meeting housing related needs of a significant number of disadvantaged older people. Six wards within Swansea are identified as having high needs (Jarman and Townsend indices and other studies) and five areas are identified by the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation - Castle, Penderry and Townhill. Swansea has a significantly higher than Welsh average number of people over 65 claiming income support. Local households occupied by people over 75 are less likely to have central heating – below the Welsh average. Swansea residents have higher than the Welsh average claims for attendance allowance and disability living allowance. Nearly half (45%) of pensioner households in Swansea are lone pensioners, and half of these live in rented accommodation, and are less likely to have capital to pay for housing needs. Source: Needs assessment: older people in the City and County of Swansea, 2006

What local organisations are involved?

There are regular liaisons with Care and Repair Swansea, and the Local Authority’s Supporting People Ppogramme, as well as contact with local Housing Department. Referrals come from health workers, Social Services, British Red Cross, and personal calls and referrals from Age Concern Swansea’s other services.

How many people are running this project and who are they?

There are two staff: a Home Services Coordinator and a Home Services Assistant. In addition, there were ten volunteers delivering 147 volunteer hours during 2005-6.

What local population are you targeting?

Older people, aged 55 years and over, living across the City and County of Swansea. There is an open referral system and no other eligibility criteria.

How many people are you targeting?

There were 1200 referrals during 2005-6.

Interventions

What interventions are you using to address the problem?

A full assessment of the situation identifies the whole problem, who is responsible (owner, landlord, housing association etc), and also any needs for disability equipment, fire safety or security checks. Then either the in-house handyperson volunteer will carry out the task or assist in arranging for reputable tradesmen to carry out repairs and see through to satisfactory completion of the work. We undertake home risk assessments for trip or fall hazards, and the need for welfare benefits.

Is the project design based on evidence? If so, please state reference.

Age Concern services are based on their Services Information Framework Resource Packs, in this case, number 22: Handyperson Schemes, March 1999. Needs mapping exercises will begin in 2007 with forms to be filled in for all clients, and information returned through the local authority to the Welsh Assembly Government to inform future planning.

Outcome

What outcomes or planned outcomes are you measuring?

We carefully observe the physical wellbeing of users (comfort and safety in the home) and psychological wellbeing (anxiety indicators). We are also measuring satisfaction with the service.

No standard outcome measures are in current use in this service, but we are working with other Age Concern organisations to agree appropriate measures that are consistent with those used by statutory services in Wales.

Do you have any outcomes or results yet? If so, what are they?

Evidence from our corporate complaints and compliments procedures indicated 100% satisfaction with the service, 86% as excellent. Two hundred satisfaction questionnaires were sent out between July and Dec 2006, and 46 were returned. We received the All Wales Community Fire Safety Award for the highest number of referrals for fire service safety checks in 2005-6.

Is your project relevant to a government target or guideline?

Two of the key objectives of the Strategy for Older People: to promote the health and wellbeing of older people, and to promote services which enable older people to live as independently as possible ¹ .

Swansea Council targets in Moving forward: City and Count of Swansea Council’s Improvement Plan ² , parts HLS/003 (percentage of housing repairs completed within target time) and SCA/002 (rate of older people helped to live at home).

Feedback

What obstacles did you have to overcome to set up this project?

Clarifying the role and scope, compared with local “care and repair” services.

What have you learned about the project so far?

We realised the huge need for detailed assessment of the problem – not just providing a handyperson scheme. Problems are often complex and need expertise and time to come to a satisfactory conclusion for the client, sometimes 3-5 months.

What would you do differently?

Separate people for the assessment work and the repair work.

References:

1. Welsh Assembly Government. The Strategy for Older People in Wales.2003. http://new.wales.gov.uk/about/strategy/strategypublications/strategy_olderpeople/?lang=en (accessed 12 April 2007).
2. City and County of Swansea. Moving forward: City and County of Swansea Council’s Improvement Plan 2006-07. 2006. http://www.swansea.gov.uk/media/pdf/3/a/Improvement_Plan_2006-07_-_Moving_Forward_(Full).pdf (accessed 12 April 2007).