Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 nearly all day time support for adults with learning disabilities and older people across Shropshire has been seriously disrupted, with many building based services having to reduce or temporarily close due to the lockdown restrictions.

Shropshire Council’s primary focus has been to ensure those needing additional care and support, their families and carers, along with our workforce, are safe and well.

Day Opportunities teams and organisations have been providing alternative services and support to people during this time. This support has been varied and included regular phone calls, online digital activities and meetings, and support to get out in the community. One of these developments is ‘Good Things to do at Home’ - A project where Shropshire Council has teamed up with ‘The Qube’ and ‘Taking Part’ to create imaginative, fun and creative activities for people who would normally attend day services to do at home during the lockdown and beyond.

Our approach to re-opening building and location based services has been through following available government guidance for Covid 19 safe working practices and through consultation with our Public Health colleagues. This guidance has been shared with service providers and sets out the changes and measures required to reduce the risk of Covid 19 infection.

One of the infection control measures put in place is for individuals to choose one building based day service to access. This limits the opportunity for the virus to spread between multiple services and protects against many services needing to close (instead of one) if an outbreak occurs.

Our focus is very much on service providers, social work teams, supported living, respite and transport all needing to work together with people who use services and their parent carers. Having a person-centred conversation to reassess support needs and explore the options available.

Many providers have now been able to implement the changes required and have started to re-open their services. These changes will mean that most providers will have to reduce the numbers of people they can support in a Covid safe building or environment as well as other preventative measures that are in place such as restrictions with accessing transport. With this in mind service providers are being encouraged to plan and develop their services to be resilient to the impact of Coronavirus and to ensure that they can provide the day time support that people need.

Please contact ness.hicken@shropshire.gov.uk with any queries or questions