28.01.26
Growth in the over-65 population is expected to place significant additional pressure on local public services with projections suggesting demand could rise by as much as 20% over the coming years.
The choices facing local systems are fairly stark:
- Increase spending to meet rising demand (increasingly unrealistic in the current financial climate).
- Support more people without increasing spend (will result in thinner services and poorer outcomes).
- Focus on prevention and early intervention (the only option that changes the demand curve over time).
In Warrington, partners are working collaboratively across primary care, secondary care and adult social care to better manage future pressures. While demand may not fall, the aim is to contain growth, keeping demand closer to current levels rather than allowing it to escalate unchecked.
Here's a good example of this challenge affecting Adult Social Care:
Currently, 49% of contacts to Warrington’s ‘One Front Door’ service require no further action from Adult Social Care.* Even if this proportion remains stable, population growth alone means the volume of contacts will continue to rise.
So the question becomes: how do we reduce unnecessary contact while ensuring people still get the help they need?
That was the challenge we explored in Warrington last week. Facilitated by myself and Kathryn, the workshop focused on access barriers to information, advice and guidance (IAG), grounding the discussion in what matters most to people and carers, while remaining realistic about system constraints.
From this workshop, partners agreed that the Living Well Warrington platform could be improved further to create personalised pathways that guide people to the right support at the right time. We will now develop the spec for this project.
Like much of Made Open’s work, this workshop sat outside a formal commission, reflecting our commitment to influencing positive change wherever we can.
And that's why we are so chuffed to hear that Living Well Warrington has been shortlisted for two HSJ Digital Awards - "Driving Prevention and Early Intervention through Digital" and "Reducing Health Inequalities through Digital " - building on the high commendation received at the HSJ Awards in 2025. It's a recognition of all our efforts.
* One Front Door is a single point of contact for residents and professionals needing access to the borough’s intermediate tier health and social care services. A high-volume of calls to OFD are often escalated up to Adult Social Care).
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