Outcomes Based Home Care Commissioning Toolkit

Supporting the development of outcomes focused commissioning of Home Care Services in Wales

“People in Wales working together to promote well-being through care and support at home.”

Welcome to the Home Care Toolkit. The development of the Home Care Toolkit was commissioned by the National Commissioning Board for Wales, working in partnership with the National Provider Forum. Its purpose is to facilitate the development of an outcomes focused approach to the commissioning of home care services. The Toolkit is the National Commissioning Board’s contribution to the implementation of the ‘Care at Home Strategy’ led by Social Care Wales.

Toolkit contents

Tools in development:

  • The contribution of Electronic Call Monitoring Services
  • Costs of Home Care

The toolkit consists of a broad range of tools which will be added to as the need for additional tools are identified. The reason for such a broad range of tools is that the move from a task and time service to an outcomes focused service will involve a considerable change both in terms of practice and culture. Some of the tools such as change management and engagement can also be applied to other services.

The “Practical legal guidance for commissioners and procurement officers on the successful procurement of modern outcome based collaborative procurement” was commissioned to support the home care toolkit but can be read independently to understand the procurement of a broader range of community services. It provides important legal advice on the procurement of home care services. See Procurement of Services section, open link here

The development of outcomes focused home care services is making progress but there are no examples where all the boxes can be ticked in terms of having an imbedded approach to outcomes focused assessment and care planning and outcomes focused service provision underpinned by an outcomes focused approach to procurement. Some commissioners and their providers can tick some of the earlier boxes but not all of them. We have included examples outcomes focused developments. These are not held up as perfect examples of good practice but they do illustrate progress on the journey. See examples of procurement documents below.

The National Commissioning Board would like to encourage commissioners and providers to forward examples of good practice to this website. This may be an example of pre- market testing or an approach to quality assurance or of how social workers/ nurses work with providers and service users to put in place outcomes focused solutions / services.

We would also welcome short topic papers designed to stimulate discussion. There are a few examples included. 

All the tools are available below. Some have been translated into Welsh whilst the other are in the process of being translated. Please note that as each tool can be read in its own right the introduction is duplicated. You may wish to start with the purpose of each tool. The introduction provides a visual illustration of how the tools relate to each other and includes a list of contents for each tool to help you navigate through them.

Home care documentaion


Links (Resources): Top Tips for Sustaining Homecare (ADASS, LGA & UKHCA) / Messages on the future of domiciliary care services (IPC / Oxford Brookes University)


For more information contact: Maria Bell

  About

The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) represents the interests of local government and promotes local democracy in Wales.

Tel : 02920 468680
Mail : enquiries@wlga.gov.uk
Business Hours : Mon - Thurs 8:30 - 5:00, Fri - 08:30 - 16:30