A Caring Gwynedd

Looking after vulnerable individuals is one of our main responsibilities, and our ambition is to support the residents of Gwynedd to live full and safe lives in our communities by: 

  • Safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults.
  • Supporting residents to participate and engage with their communities, and to reduce poverty and its effects.
  • Ensuring that children, young people and their families live happy lives and reach their potential in terms of their education, health and well-being.
  • Ensuring there is information available for the residents of Gwynedd to assist them in making informed decisions about their health and physical and mental well-being.
  • Enabling the residents of Gwynedd to live independently in suitable accommodation with dignity for as long as possible in their community.
  • Supporting unpaid carers.
  • Providing high-quality care and support in the right place at the right time.
  • Supporting our communities to ensure accessibility and to develop into an Age-Friendly Gwynedd. 

A Caring Gwynedd Projects

We will work in a preventative way to support and safeguard individuals locally by promoting their well-being and encouraging them to participate in their communities. Amongst our plans are: 

  • Contributing to health and care developments in Bangor and Penygroes.
  • Extending our network of community hubs for individuals with learning disabilities, focusing initially on Canolfan Dolfeurig, Dolgellau.
  • Publishing a programme of events and opportunities for individuals and carers across the county.
  • Ensuring that Gwynedd is an age-friendly county and that residents of all ages can have a good life in their local community. 
  • Sharing information more effectively with our communities and improving our engagement methods when developing services.

The care needs of the county's individuals are changing, and people are living longer.  Therefore, we need to adapt our services to enable people to live independently within their communities. Amongst our plans are:  

  • Extending our day care and respite provision and provide more options of suitable accommodation for individuals with a wide range of needs, such as Extra Care Housing.
  • Collaboration across sectors to ensure that our domiciliary care services are tailored and are promptly available when needed.   
  • Leading on a Carers Plan across the Adults and Children care field to support the invaluable work of unpaid carers across the county.
  • Ensuring that we use telecare and technology to their full potential to promote people's independence.
  • Facilitate the process of receiving and providing care through direct payments by considering methods such as the Virtual Wallet.  

We will ensure that appropriate and specialist care is available in a timely way; and across all our care provisions. Amongst our plans are: 

  • Ensuring a sufficient nursing and dementia provision across the county including developing nursing beds at the Penrhos site, Pwllheli.
  • Ensuring that we work jointly with the Health Board to enable us to deliver what is important for Gwynedd adults.
  • Developing our mental health services to ensure sufficient emphasis on the well-being of individuals.
  • Strengthening our ability to support care providers to maintain a quality service to Gwynedd residents.
  • Contributing to the Workforce Planning project to ensure that appropriate attention is given to the specific challenges and opportunities in the care field.
  • Implementing new Liberty Protection Safeguards arrangements to protect the rights of people receiving care in the county.

Some residents find it difficult to cope with life's challenges and the situation of a number of residents has been exacerbated as a result of the cost of living crisis. These residents need support to cope, to thrive, to be safe and to keep healthy. 

We have a broad network throughout our communities which helps and supports residents to cope and to respond to their various needs. This network needs support to sustain that voluntary effort, and we will work to strengthen this essential task over the coming years. 

Children, young people and adults with autism find it difficult to obtain the specialist support required. Therefore, we will improve our provision and make it easier for individuals and their families to transfer between different services.

We wish to improve the experiences of children with profound and complex needs in the Council's care, who currently have to leave the county or Wales in order to get suitable provision. We will develop registered residential homes for small groups of up to two children, which will allow them to receive care in Gwynedd, attend local schools, and fully participate in the lives of their communities.