A Carmarthenshire Council owned company which helps people live independently has won silver at this year's iESE Public Sector Transformation Awards.

The awards, hosted in London in September, recognise the way local public services have worked together to share best practice and transform service delivery.

CONNECT, which is delivered by the council’s local authority trading company Delta Wellbeing, was nominated under the innovation category for the incremental support provided to our most vulnerable in the community throughout the Covid pandemic.

The service, which is the first of its kind in Wales, provides an enhanced telecare and lifeline service across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire. It seeks to transform the way social care is delivered through a new model of self-help and pro-active care enabled by Technology Enabled Care (TEC) to improve wellbeing, support independent living for longer and reduce demands on long-term or acute care.

This is achieved through wellbeing calls, bespoke TEC packages, access to a 24/7 community response team, digital support and help to access the local community.

Carmarthenshire Council cabinet member for health and social care Cllr Jane Tremlett said, “We are absolutely delighted that the Delta CONNECT service has gained recognition at this year’s awards.

"As a council, we recognised the value of TEC a few years ago and its potential to support the challenges our health and social care systems were facing, and so prioritised the transformation of the service. More recently it has been at the heart of our Covid response, enabling us to protect the 8,000 people shielding with pro-active calling, food, medicine and practical, triaged support.”

CONNECT has been funded under the Welsh Government’s Transformation Fund.