Empowering Transformation in Adult Social Care: Imosphere’s path to realising value for local authorities

Imosphere is leading the charge in facilitating a transformative journey within the realm of Adult Social Care (ASC) for local authorities (LAs) across England. Our resolute commitment is to empower LAs to navigate the intricate landscape of ASC, where challenges continue to grow in complexity. Whether LAs aspire to expedite processes, boost productivity, minimise errors, or foster flexibility in budget resource utilisation, Imosphere's innovative product strategy lies at the core of realising the full potential of these ambitions for our partners.

In our mission to empower LAs and stakeholders in Adult Social Care, Imosphere’s arsenal consists of two key assets: the Formulate model and our Adult Social Care Toolset. These aren’t just tools for streamlining processes; they are instruments designed to bring about tangible, measurable benefits that directly impact the quality of adult social care services.

Imosphere’s dedication to this sector has deep roots, dating back to the early 2000s. Over the years, we have forged strong partnerships with local authorities, co-developing best-practice tools for assessment, resource allocation, and support planning. This collaboration has propelled Formulate to become the premier choice for estimating personal budgets in the ASC arena.

In this comprehensive exploration, we delve deeper into how Imosphere’s pioneering tools can revolutionise your LA’s approach, presenting a multitude of advantages for various stakeholders across your local authority.

Value to your IT Team

Your IT team is the linchpin of any technology-driven transformation. We understand the challenges they face during system implementation. That’s why Imosphere’s tools are meticulously designed for seamless integration with the most widely used care management systems, including Liquidlogic LAS, Mosaic, CareDirector and Azeus. The specific integration solution developed for each of these systems significantly lightens the IT team’s workload, ensuring a smoother, more efficient implementation process. With Imosphere by your side, you can achieve your IT objectives without overextending your team’s resources.

Our configurable, off-the-shelf solution eliminates the need to develop local tools and minimises demands on your technical staff – reducing costs and empowering your IT professionals to redirect their time and effort towards other projects and initiatives, driving innovation across the board.

Value to users/assessors

Frontline assessors play a pivotal role in shaping the quality of care provided. Imosphere’s strengths-based Toolset is a game-changer for them. It offers an off-the-shelf solution that is not only user-friendly but also locally configurable, obviating the need for time-consuming development and maintenance. By removing this burden, our tools empower assessors to focus on delivering a person-led, strengths-based approach.

Imosphere’s tools also align seamlessly with The Care Act and capture crucial national reporting requirements. Regular updates based on emerging standards and best practices ensure that assessors remain at the forefront of care assessment methodologies, delivering improved outcomes for service users.

Value to commissioning

Commissioning in Adult Social Care can be a complex process with many moving parts. Local policies and costs change regularly – presenting a significant challenge in ensuring these changes are quickly reflected in the amounts of money being allocated for care on the front line.

Imosphere’s solutions offer a powerful tool for linking emerging commissioning decisions directly with personal budget allocations, transforming the way you manage costs and engage with providers. Our tools are not just about improving processes; they can fundamentally reshape the way you approach commissioning.

By streamlining these processes, Imosphere’s tools can make the commissioning process more efficient and effective. This, in turn, enhances the quality of care delivered, fostering better relationships with providers, and improving overall outcomes for service users.

Furthermore, Imosphere’s tools offer the option to enhance your control over care home placement costs, ultimately contributing to improved financial management.

Value to Senior Management Team

Your Senior Management Team (SMT) plays a multifaceted role in ensuring the success of Adult Social Care initiatives. Imosphere’s solutions deliver tangible benefits to your SMT, starting with a significant improvement in financial management. By promoting accurate budget-setting across all complexity levels, Formulate can help ensure that your LA’s financial goals are met efficiently. Additionally, you gain the reassurance of being part of a national network, allowing benchmarking of your configured costs and commissioning decisions against other local authorities and promoting best practices.

Managing demand

Imosphere tools will help your LA embed strengths-based practice within the front door, making referrals more effective and reducing demand on services by:

• Increasing the amount of preventative support you are providing
• Reducing the number of contacts leading to a full assessment
• Reducing the number of assessments leading to long-term care

By including Imosphere’s Self-assessment solution, you can truly see the value of the ‘golden thread’ of information which is core to the ethos of the Imosphere forms. Helping the citizen tell their story only once and supporting the flow of information through the social care pathway in a proportionate manner will allow your workforce to spend time working with citizens to deliver their outcomes.

LAs currently using our tools are actively reducing:

• Average time taken to complete an assessment
• Average time between contact, assessment and care planning
• Waiting lists

Compliance and quality

Legal compliance is a top priority in Adult Social Care and our tools have you covered. Imosphere’s solutions ensure that your practices align with The Care Act and other relevant regulations, reducing legal risks significantly.

Moreover, they enable LAs to easily provide comprehensive documentation for responding to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and challenges, further reducing administrative burdens. Formulate supports a smooth transition, ensuring continuity and high-quality care for vulnerable individuals.

Enhanced budget accuracy

Local authorities leveraging Imosphere tools are assured of the accuracy of Estimated Budgets. These budgets consider local service costs and policies, resulting in more precise Actual Personal Budget allocations. Long-term care costs remain in check, avoiding artificially inflated, inaccurate Estimated Budgets. Internal costs and processing times also decrease as moderation panels and processes are reduced or eliminated entirely.

The value to your LA of introducing the Imosphere solutions can be measured through:

• Comparing previous Estimated Budgets with Imosphere-generated Estimated Budgets
• Enabling monitoring of the relationship between Estimated Budget and Actual Budgets
• Tracking the number of moderation panels held and time spent discussing individual cases at panel meetings before and after ‘go live’

Savings through budget reviews

Imosphere’s tools support the review of existing or proposed Personal Budget levels, promoting cost savings where safe and reasonable. This approach allows LAs to manage long-term care budgets effectively while ensuring care allocations align appropriately with assessed needs and outcomes.

LAs can ascertain the value of their savings through measuring:

• Number of reviews completed six weeks after the initial package or hospital discharge
• Number of annual reviews conducted
• Changes in Personal Budgets over time

Reducing judicial reviews

The Imosphere tools for Adult Social Care are used by over 25 LAs across England, designed in accordance with relevant legislation to ensure defensibility and transparency. This helps LAs reduce the number of judicial reviews related to the assessment form or Resource Allocation System (RAS).

This can be measured for Imosphere users by seeing a reduction in:

• The count of Judicial Reviews related to the assessment form or RAS
• The average response time to Freedom of Information (FOI) queries regarding the assessment form or RAS

Working together to revolutionise Adult Social Care

Imosphere’s Adult Social Care Toolset and Formulate model can be tailored to meet your LA’s specific needs. To fully harness the potential of Imosphere’s tools, implementation is a proven and structured approach that enables you to measure the impact of our solutions, gather valuable data for ongoing success, and lay the groundwork for even more significant improvements in Adult Social Care.

By working with Imosphere, you’re not just investing in tools; you’re investing in a brighter future for Adult Social Care. Join the growing community of local authorities and stakeholders who have harnessed the power of Imosphere’s tools to create more efficient, effective, and person-centred Adult Social Care.