Local account introduction by Clair Bell video transcript

Caption: Clair Bell, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public

Clair Bell is sitting in her office talking about the service and local account.

"Hello everyone, my name is Clair Bell and I am the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health.

I would like to thank you for watching this video. I do hope you can also take some time to look at our ninth local account, a summary of achievements, improvements and challenges across adult social care in Kent.

We are doing things slightly differently this year. As we are including updates in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Highlighting the hard work of our teams, resilience of our partners and communities.

We are also making a renewed commitment to promoting equality and diversity for those we support and importantly for our staff. But the local account is not just a way to celebrate the good things. It is an opportunity for us to respond to what you have told us.

You have told us that leading a fulfilling life, maintaining independence and staying in your own home remain important even when you need extra help. You have also told us want your voice to be heard when choosing your own support and the support of those close to you.

Over the coming months we will be developing a person centred plan for social care, building our strategy with you to make sure people are at the heart of everything we do and to shape the best advice, support and guidance to enable people to stay as independent as possible.

We want to focus on what people can do, not what they can’t. However the council cannot achieve this alone.

There have been some wonderful examples of partnership working during the pandemic, and we are committed to working with our partners in health, in the voluntary sector and private sector and with our borough and district council colleagues to put people first.

We are always looking at innovative ways to improve our services, respond to change and to work with and listen to the people of Kent.

We need to work with you to do this, tell us how things have been, tell us your experiences. And we want you to help shape things looking forward.

You may have experiences you can share with us because you have already used adult social care. You might be caring for someone or need some extra support. Or you might want to get involved because you have some good ideas on how we can do things differently.

If you want to help shape what we do you can join one of our smaller focus groups in adult social care or our larger virtual involvement group. You can take part in upcoming surveys, be part of an interview panel or get involved in new innovations and other virtual opportunities.

How much or how little you get involved, will always be your choice. So if you are interested in helping to shape what adult social care does please do get in touch by emailing our Stakeholder Engagement Team at makingadifference@kent.gov.uk.

With your help we will continue to actively involve people in Kent, to build a sustainable service for the future.