Staffordshire sensory impairment and communicator guides

• The Staffordshire sensory team provide advice, support and guidance to adults living in Staffordshire who:

• • Have sight loss or impairment
  • Are deaf or hard of hearing
  • Are deafblind / have dual sensory loss (people who have a combination of hearing and sight loss that impacts on their day to-day living.

• Local authorities are required to act under Section 7 of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 (for children) and section 78 of the Care Act 2014 (for adults). They must:

• • Contact and keep a record of all deafblind people.
  • Ensure assessments of need for care and support are carried out by people with specific training and expertise.
  • Provide appropriate services for deafblind people.
  • Provide specially trained one-to-one support workers when necessary.
  • Provide accessible information for deafblind people.
  • Ensure that a director-level member of the local authority senior team has overall responsibility for deafblind services.

Current commissioning arrangements

• The council currently support approximately 30 individuals across Staffordshire with their sensory needs.

• • The Council currently in the first year of a 4-year flexible framework agreement with two Communicator Guide Providers:
  • Deafblind UK (Previously known as About Me)
  • Action Deafness

• Commissioners undertook robust engagement and coproduction activities with key partners to shape the service that would achieve the outcomes for our Sensory service users as well as our Providers. Over a three-month period, home visits to our sensory citizens and their families were undertaken to hear their views, as well as close working with our MPFT Sensory Team, Social Work Assessors and sensory support Providers to support in coproducing the right service.

• The framework split into three geographical delivery areas - North Staffordshire, South Staffordshire, and East Staffordshire. The current agreement is due to expire on the 31st March 2026.

Commissioning intentions as at August 2023

• The Communicator Guide Service for people with high level/complex dual sensory needs is an ongoing requirement for residents across Staffordshire. It is a statutory requirement for Social Care to meet those needs.

• Current Communicator Guide service users can have extremely complex high level communication needs. In the future the Council may commission an enhanced service to better meet these higher-level needs.

• The precise nature of future commissioning arrangements has not yet been determined.

Principles of service provision

• Communicator Guides offer support to adults who have developed sight and hearing impairments, often as they get older. These difficulties can cause people to become increasingly withdrawn and isolated. But with the right help, deafblind people can live fulfilling lives at home and in the community

• The Communicator Guide Service supports sensory impaired citizens within Staffordshire by providing suitably trained and qualified 'Communicator Guides.’

• The service supports people who draw on care and support either in their home or in the community in accordance with their personalised individual support plan to achieve their agreed assessed outcomes.

Key market messages

The market for communicator guide services in Staffordshire is small, and while there have been new providers that appeared in recent years, providing more choice for people who draw on care and support, establish a service in the county can prove challenging with the current available cohort and high start-up costs.