Cornwall Council has now been awarded the grant from the Accelerating Reform Fund which will support more people to access Shared Lives, more carers to have respite from their caring role and give more people assistive technology to support them to live independently at home.

Cornwall Council cabinet lead for adult social care and health, Cllr Andy Virr said: “The purpose of this grant is to accelerate progress towards people having more choice and control and support to live independent lives.

“I’m pleased to see that it’s supporting some important schemes that help residents who really need it. Providing support to carers is vital so giving them easier access to training, while their cared for is also being supported is a great idea, as well as making use of empty hotel rooms to give them a break when they need it.”

The Department for Health and Social Care launched the £42.6 million Accelerating Reform Fund to embed the principles of the ‘People at the Heart of Care’ white paper and boost the quality and accessibility of adult social care by supporting innovation and scaling, and kickstarting a change in services to support unpaid carers.

The fund has been awarded to Cornwall for the following:

• Increasing capacity in Shared Lives
• Investing in Carefree, an app that provides carers with free short breaks by working with hotels and Airbnb’s (subject to an admin charge)
• Training for carers who support people living with dementia
• Providing more technology enabled care e.g. sensors that track how often people are moving around, eating and drinking etc
• A support planning tool for social care workers that will help people be more involved in their care and support

The council is working in partnership with organisations who provide services such as Cornwall Carers Service, Shared Lives South West and Promas.

CEO of Shared Lives South West, Dominic Spayne, said: “We are looking at growing Shared Lives, so there’s a lot of resource we need around marketing, recruitment and research to try to understand where more potential carers are coming from and how can we communicate with them, because it is quite a niche service.

“The council have been really supportive in putting forward the application for funding and I’m excited to give more people the opportunity to experience the benefits of a Shared Lives home.”

Watch this short video to find out more

Promas are providing the training for carers supporting people living with dementia and they are holding sessions over the next 6 months that people can book onto. More information can be found on their website https://promas.co.uk/courses/

Carers can find out more about support available to them by contacting Cornwall Carers Service