THE Northern Devon Healthcare Trust could be the first trust to enter the home care market after the successful launch of ‘Devon Cares’ on July 18.

Devon Cares, along with its network of providers, will manage domiciliary care in the three zone, which includes Holsworthy in ‘Zone 1’.

It is a completely new approach to home care for northern and mid Devon, which will see care providers being brought together and given the backing of the NHS.

Devon Cares will not deliver care directly but will instead work with a network of providers to organise and manage care. They will encourage providers to work collaboratively and to work with the NHS to solve issues regarding quality and capacity.

The council announced in March that they would appoint the Trust as northern and mid Devon’s ‘prime contractor’ for home care under their ‘Living Well at Home’ contract.

Since that time, work has been underway to get the new service set up and put in place.

Andy Ibbs, director of strategy and transformation for the Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “We are really excited to be working with local domiciliary care providers to continue to improve home care across northern and mid Devon. As far as we know, we are the first NHS trust to enter the home care market.

“We believe working with care providers will allow more joined-up care between home and hospital. It will also allow us to address many of the care capacity problems and blockages facing the wider health system in Devon.”

The service will allow the Trust to ensure care providers are working hard to ensure peoples health and their ability to live independently in their own homes is maintained.

Through this contract, care workers and other staff will also benefit from improved working conditions — there will also be more opportunities to develop skills through training and clearer career paths.

It is hoped that being part of Devon Cares will help boost recruitment and retention in the local home care market, including Holsworthy, and give providers greater certainty so they can plan for the future.

Mr Ibbs said: “This is a really exciting opportunity for the Trust, for our providers and for our patients.

“This is a completely new approach to domiciliary care that we hope will bring real benefits to people in northern and mid Devon.”

Devon County Councillor Stuart Barker, cabinet member with responsibility for adult social care, spoke on behalf of the three commissioning authorities, and said: “Good quality community-based care is essential to help support vulnerable people to live independently at home for longer.

“Our new contracts are an important step in helping to improve the quality and supply of personal care services, and to bring greater pride in the sector.”

The improvements that have been made to the contracts and the support and training on offer for staff will extend to care workers employed under contract to Devon Cares.

Cllr Baker added: “Devon Cares is a key partner in helping us to deliver better services, and by working closely with the many existing local providers we hope they can help us to drive improvement, increase efficiency and boost supply across the county.”