In response to public feedback that people in Denbighshire wanted to stay independent and in their own homes for longer, Denbighshire has changed the focus of its homecare service to a reablement service.

Social Services introduced the new reablement service, initially in the St Asaph and Denbigh areas, in January 2010. Existing long-term home care service users in St Asaph and Denbigh had their home care support transferred to providers in the independent sector, with support from Social Services.

Former homecare service staff have been re-trained as reablers to provide support to older people and those with disabilities to help them regain and maintain as much independence as possible. Denbighshire was amongst the first Welsh authorities to take on board this Welsh Assembly Government initiative.

Eventually, all new referrals to Social Services will be assessed to see whether service users would benefit from receiving short-term reablement services.