Bristol to invest £9m in extra social care services

Bristol City Council has announced it will invest more than £9m into adult social care over the next three months.

The local authority said the extra money will help meet the increased demand for social care services, which has been caused by the current coronavirus pandemic. 

The additional funding will support:

• Funding the facilitation of rapid discharge from hospital within one hour when someone is medically fit for discharge, and resettling at home or in an appropriate care setting
• Providing cover for frontline staff, including bringing in agency staff on an increased hourly wage if needed
• Working closely with the independent sector including nursing homes and home support to ensure they have the capacity and resilience to deal with the extra pressures over the coming months
• £750,000 of extra resources to some key organisations to support volunteers and existing capacity, to ensure people return home safely and well and are in receipt of appropriate care.

In March, Bristol received just over £13 million of the £1.6 billion allocated by central government to local authorities towards the cost of financial pressures resulting from the coronavirus crisis.

‘This is crucial funding that will enable Bristol City Council to go some way to alleviate the pressure on vital frontline services that are providing care to some of the city’s most vulnerable people during this time of crisis,’ said Cllr Helen Holland. 

‘We are working extremely closely with our local NHS and voluntary and community sector, who are also providing extra hospital discharge capacity back into our community.’

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