Welcome to the prevention and early intervention website pages

The material here is designed to support local authorities and health partners make the kind of strategic shift to prevention and early intervention envisaged in Putting People First and Transforming Social Care.

The information is based on learning from a number of sources, but in particular from:-

• Partnerships for Older People Projects (POPP)
• Linkage Plus

The emerging learning from these programmes and other initiatives has now been written up and can be found in "Key messages" and "A guide to making a strategic shift to prevention and early intervention". Before embarking on making changes, there is a tool to enable local authority and health systems to self assess their strengths and areas requiring some attention. The evidence base about the effectiveness of prevention is growing stronger and there is therefore a separate section on the site where some of the key material is contained. The shift towards prevention is a strong theme in a wide range of national policy initiatives and a section outlining the linkages between them is also available.

Some of the key messages about making a strategic shift to prevention and early intervention include:-

• Promoting the independence and quality of life of older people are priority outcomes
• Prevention is an approach which is relevant across the full spectrum of need - the agenda is not just about 'low level services'
• Older people need to be fully involved and supported to co-produce service change
• Invest rather than spend - i.e. consider the different 'returns' that investment in particular interventions will deliver
• Develop a balanced portfolio of investment across the full range of possible interventions
• Pay particular attention to commissioning proactive ways of providing information and advice to older people, including for those who can afford to fund their own care.
• Develop a whole system approach which extends well beyond health and social care is likely to be most effective
• The Social Care Reform Grant provides additional resources to support Councils' ability to make a strategic shift to prevention and early intervention