COMMUNITY CONNECTORS – BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Community Connectors service is a key element of a 2-year programme piloting a third sector-led community and citizen-centred approach to improving health and well-being in Pembrokeshire. There are three elements to the preventions programme:

  • Community Connectors
  • Active Citizenship
  • Community Resilience

The preventions model will be delivered by Pembrokeshire Association of Voluntary Services (PAVS) working in close partnership with Pembrokeshire County Council and Hywel Dda University Health Board.

Objectives – the new service has been designed to:

  • Achieve the “shift left” towards early action and secure upstream efficiencies
  • Improve individual and community well-being through an assets based approach
  • Help people to make prudent choices and live healthier lives
  • Improve local access to information, advice and assistance
  • Deal with referrals in a timely manner at the first point of contact
  • Develop a model based on local and national best practice and share learning
  • Meet the requirements of the Social Services & Well-being (Wales) Act 2014

Community Connectors – an overview of the service

Building on local and national best practice models such as Solva Care and Gwent Frailty, a team of Community Connectors will work across Pembrokeshire to:

  • Develop effective community links to create community-based citizen-centred solutions
  • Work with individuals to help them meet identified well-being goals and needs
  • Make appropriate referrals to third sector organisations and other services
  • Work closely with GP surgeries, primary care clusters and social care hubs to support anticipatory care planning and social prescribing
  • Map local assets and contribute to the well-being and population needs assessments
  • Maintain up-to-date information on service directories, primarily infoengine and Dewis
  • Monitor unmet need and service demand and work with partners to develop new community-led services
  • Promote and encourage volunteering and participation in the local community
  • Work with partners to deliver asset-based community development

The Community Connectors Team Leader will provide co-ordination and line management and, in addition, will:

  • Develop effective strategic links and networks to create citizen-centred solutions to meet identified needs
  • Work closely with the Pembrokeshire County Council (PCC) Contact Centre to ensure that appropriate referrals are made within the overall preventative services framework
  • Raise awareness of the role of the Community Connectors and referral pathways
  • Provide local intelligence for the population needs assessment and Well-being assessment
  • Ensure that unmet needs inform market position statements and commissioning strategies
  • Work with relevant partners to support the co-production of community-led services
  • Support the development of service directories and raise awareness of PSB partners, Contact Centre staff and the Social Care Duty team of the information resource
  • Contribute to an independent external evaluation of the Community Connectors service and be prepared to share learning at a local, regional and national level

Each of the Community Connectors will be allocated a designated area of the County –please see map appended to this document - and will be expected to work remotely in community venues. The Community Connectors Team Leader will be based in Haverfordwest, co-located in the PAVS’ office and the PCC Contact Centre in County Hall, and will also need to work out in communities with the Connectors, as required.

The other two elements of the Pembrokeshire preventions programme are:

Active Citizenship – encouraging more people to volunteer and get involved in their communities, both to provide low-level support to people in need and also to set up and run community-based activities. This will be achieved by:

  • providing an outreach volunteer advice, guidance and placement service;
  • developing innovative approaches to generic and targeted volunteer recruitment;
  • promoting different models of volunteering; and
  • establishing a network of volunteer organisers, who will take a lead on setting up local volunteer-led activities and services.

The Active Citizenship element of the programme will be delivered by PAVS’ volunteer centre, Volunteering Pembrokeshire, working in partnership with Volunteering Matters.

Community Resilience –supporting voluntary and community groups and community enterprises to deliver a wide range of locally accessible activities and services. This element of the service will focus on:

  • developing community buildings as local service hubs;
  • delivering outreach support and training for voluntary/community groups;
  • providing sustainable funding and fundraising support delivered on an outreach basis; and
  • helping new groups to become established and set up volunteer initiatives.

This element of the programme will be delivered primarily by PAVS’ Third Sector Support team.

The Pembrokeshire preventions model, which includes the Community Connectors service, will be independently evaluated to determine whether outcomes have been achieved; value for money and added value; what has worked well and what could have been done differently. Learning will be shared at a local, regional and national level.

Drivers for Change

There are several drivers for shifting investment from acute services and into community-based prevention and early intervention.

Pembrokeshire has an ageing population and this is set to continue to rise over the coming years, with the largest increase being for the age group 85 years and over, projected to rise by 93% by 2030. According to the Pembrokeshire Older Persons’ Strategy document published earlier this year, “Living in the Community” and “Social Participation” were amongst the top five priorities identified by older people in Pembrokeshire.

An extract from the Strategy states:

“People wished to remain living in their own communities. However, isolation and loneliness was highlighted in all areas of Pembrokeshire that we visited and people would like to see more opportunities to socialise in their own communities”

This is borne out by the experience of the two part-time Voluntary Sector Brokers (currently based within PAVS) whose role is to broker third sector services into care plans for individuals with complex care needs. Older people, who require clinical or social care interventions, often report feeling lonely and socially isolated. Accessing a befriending service or using community transport to attend an activity at the local community hall can make a significant difference to personal well-being which, in turn, contributes to positive health outcomes.

Timely, accessible and relevant advice, information and support were also highlighted by older people as being important. Older people consulted in the development of the Ageing Well in Pembrokeshire strategy said that they felt there was not enough information provided, solutions were very different and difficult to reach.

Pembrokeshire County Council Contact Centre currently receives 30,000 calls each year. 50% of these calls result in referrals to the Social Care team, with 16% requiring information and advice. It is anticipated that the introduction of an effective preventative service will (a) reduce the total number of calls to the contract centre and (b) enable effective referrals to the community-based service.

The proposed pilot project builds on best practice locally. The Solva Care service offers friendly, local support, taking a proactive approach to facilitating prevention and reducing escalation to critical and substantial care. This is achieved by building up a good understanding of what the community has to offer (asset-based development), providing accessible information and connecting people to services and activities in the community.

PAVS’ Volunteer Centre – Volunteering Pembrokeshire – facilitates the Pembrokeshire Volunteer Organisers Network (PVON) which has around 200 volunteer-involving organisations as members. PVON members manage a significant number of volunteers and there is no doubt that Pembrokeshire is fortunate in having such a high number of people who are prepared to give up their time to help others.

Nevertheless, PVON members report difficulties in recruiting volunteers and there are certainly pressures in terms of finding sufficient volunteers to deliver key services such as community transport and befriending. More work needs to be done to encourage people to volunteer in their local communities, with targeted recruitment campaigns for specific volunteer roles.

The Social Services & Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 requires a population needs assessment to be carried out in each Local Authority area. The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 requires the Public Services Board to carry out a well-being assessment, as the basis for the production of a Well-being Plan. Citizen engagement and service user involvement are vital if these assessments are to truly reflect the assets and needs of Pembrokeshire communities.

The Community Connectors, together with members of the Pembrokeshire Engagement Network and other partners, will provide a County-wide infrastructure for community asset mapping and citizen engagement. Qualitative and quantitative information will be collated and used in developing the population needs and well-being assessments.

The Social Services & Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 requires the promotion/ development of preventative services including those that “contribute towards preventing or delaying the development of people’s needs for care and support”. The Act also requires the promotion of well-being and engagement and partnership working with the third sector. The proposed pilot project sets out an innovative third-sector led and asset-based model for strengthening active citizenship and community resilience which, in turn, will improve individual well-being. It is, therefore, in line with the new Act.


Please note that this map is provided for information only and may be subject to change