Devon takes step forward to turbo-charge adult care improvement

Devon has moved closer towards bringing in an external firm to amplify savings in adult social care and to keep more people out of care homes and hospitals.

Major funding pressures facing Devon County Council brought about by cuts in government funding mean it is having to find ways to save cash fast, and adult social care makes up virtually half of its entire budget.
Even though the department has saved more than £67 million in the past three years, members of an influential health scrutiny committee were told the council needed to go “further and faster”, but would struggle to do so on its own.
The health and adult care scrutiny committee (Wednesday 22 October) heard about a proposal to strike a contract with Newton Consulting, a firm that specialises in helping councils improve their health-related departments.
The expectations are that the firm could help save Devon a cumulative £106 million over the three-year contract period being proposed, and that the firm worked on the basis of only being paid if cash savings from its work could be validated by the council.
Newton would locate staff within the council to ascertain where it thought improvements could be made, and would “upskill staff”, identify ways for services to be commissioned more efficiently, and help ensure there were fewer hospital admissions and quicker discharges back to the community.
Donna Manson, Devon County Council’s chief executive, stressed the adult social care department at the council was already the “best in the country” when it came to delivering a compelling service within tightened budgets.
She added that the council had worked hard to ensure its adult social care department was “in a position to benefit from this kind of partnership [with Newton Consulting]”.
The move to work with a so-called improvement partner comes amid a host of changes happening with the NHS in Devon.
Not only is it still facing high levels of oversight from central government due to its £94 million deficit, the county’s integrated care board is set to be merged with Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, which the council said means “uncertainty” in terms of its relationship and ability to collaborate on something like adult social care.
Furthermore, data showed Devon County Council is a poor relation when it comes to income from the NHS, with the council receiving just £4.8 million per 100,000 people in the 2023/24 financial year compared to an England average of nearly £9.3 million. Torbay Council secured nearly £29.6 million.
Solveig Wright, the deputy director for adult social care, said the council wanted to work with Newton Consulting because of the “sheer scale of what we need to achieve”.
“There is a fair amount of expertise in our team, and we have saved £67 million since 2022, but now we are at the point where the scale of transformation exceeds what we have the capacity to do in the time available,” she said.
“The reason we have looked externally is because of what you get from such an organisation, such as their nationwide expertise, firepower, and ability to link us with other areas.”
Ms Manson added that “we need to change how we work” as the NHS locally might struggle with that due to the high levels of organisational change likely to occupy it in the coming years.
Some members of the scrutiny committee questioned how a contract with Newton might work, with officers clarifying it would be for three-years, but with notice periods for both parties to end it early if required, and that Newton would only be paid if it delivered results.
Officers also stated that specific performance targets would be established to enable the council to monitor progress.
Councillor Jess Bailey (Independent, Otter Valley), the chair of the scrutiny committee, welcomed the potential collaboration with Newton, and the committee voted in favour of endorsing the proposal to hire them, a decision that now needs to be taken by Devon’s cabinet.
Cllr Bailey also outlined how the scrutiny committee would keep tabs on the progress of the proposed collaboration, with a smaller overview group keeping receiving regular updates and the entire committee hearing formal updates at each of its meetings.