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SSNW eNews
The Newsletter of Social Services North West No 11 July 2002 Page 1 Top team
reviews a good year, and new challenges ahead The AGM of Social Services North West at Bury on 21 June saw the re-election for a further year of Councillor Cliff Morris (Bolton) as Chair and Councillor Ken Keith (Knowsley) as Deputy Chair. Councillor Frank Roderick (Liverpool) continues as Liberal Democrat spokesperson, and Councillor Chris Holtom (Lancashire) as Conservative spokesperson. Reviewing the Annual Report for the last year, members noted
particularly the recruitment of Stockport as a new member, a successful
lobby of MPs at the House of Commons, two well-supported conferences, and
growing partnerships. But
with regional government now firmly on the horizon, much remains to be
done to develop the regional voice for social services.
Full details on Page 4 Website
success ‘Children’s Tsar’ tops conference billing ‘Children’s Tsar’ Professor Al Aynsley-Green, Head of the Children’s Task Force and National
Director of Children’s Health Care Services, is the keynote speaker at
the Social Services North West Children’s Issues conference at the
Reebok Stadium, Bolton on Tuesday 24 September.
Professor Aynsley-Green is a keen supporter of children’s rights,
and is leading the development of new NHS standards of child health care Entitled Growing Expectations, the conference
will put children’s best interests at centre stage, recognising the
‘growing expectation’ that maximising the quality of services provided
encourages the healthy development of tomorrow’s citizens.
And when we recognise the wide range of supports that each child
needs, it is clear that partnership between services is the key to
success. Anita Marsland, Chief Executive of Health and Social
Care at Knowsley, will describe the work of the Quality Protects regional
multi-disciplinary group and of ADSS North West. Innovative examples of local services will be presented from
Bolton and Halton, and young people from First Key (the National Leaving
Care organisation) will be sharing their perspective. The emphasis of the conference will be on policies and strategies for promoting the interface of social services, health and education in serving children and their families, and in hearing their experiences and perceptions. The conference is for Councillors and non-executive Directors, and for Chief Executives, Directors and their senior managers from social services, health, education and related services. Click here to go to details of the conference
New cash welcome but many issues remain Issues not
addressed by funding increase
Within a few days of the Social Services North
West meeting with North West MPs in Westminster in March, Health ministers
were publicly acknowledging that the Government would have to address the
growing discrepancy of increases in funding between the NHS and social
services. This was confirmed
in the April budget announcement which included 6% more for social
services from 2003-04. This most welcome increase has however to be viewed
alongside continued (and unacknowledged) pressure in children’s
services, an increase in the Employer’s National Insurance contribution,
and the Government’s intention to legislate to make councils responsible
for the costs of delayed discharges from hospital. In
April, the Chancellor Gordon Brown delivered the most substantial increase
in Social Services for many years. He
announced a welcome cash boost of an extra £2.4 billion for social
services spending over the three years from 2003, equivalent to an extra
6%. The Chancellor’s added
money looks set to be targeted particularly at helping the NHS tackle the
problem of delayed discharges. After an initial welcome for the extra investment, some caution has begun to be expressed around a number of issues, including:
Proposed
penalties ‘perverse and unhelpful’ The
proposal that councils be penalised for the cost of delayed discharges of
older people from hospitals appears to undermine local councils’
initiatives to alleviate this situation and most significantly to prevent
hospital admissions. It could
also create a radically different relationship between health and social
services, despite councils’ strong track record in partnership working,
a fact acknowledged by successive Secretaries of State since 1998.
Sir Jeremy Beecham, chair of the LGA, has described the threat of
fines as “ both perverse and unhelpful”, leaving next to nothing for
caring for a greater number of older people in the community. The
shortage of accommodation in care homes has itself undermined attempts to
improve the position regarding delayed discharges. (It is claimed that
only an increase of 10% in fees for the next two years would put the
sector back on an even keel). Extra money may allow local authorities to
increase care home fees, but social services departments will still be at
the mercy of independent care providers. Keeping
up the pressure Members resolved to continue the momentum built up by Social Services North West in lobbying for adequate resources for social care services by:
Health and social care conference 'success' Record
turnout included many health colleagues 120 people gathered at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton
on Friday 26 April 2002 for the Social Services North West conference on
Modernising Health and Social Care. The event proved particularly
topical because the three new Strategic Health Authorities for the North
West region had just been established, together with Primary Care Trusts
in every locality. In opening the conference, Social Services North West Chair Councillor Cliff Morris (Bolton) welcomed the strong representation from NHS organizations, as well as the promise of a significant increase in resources for the personal social services, which showed the Government’s recognition that its aims for the NHS will not be fulfilled unless social care is adequately funded. Councillor Morris went on: “We in local government have drawn even closer to the NHS, and have more and more aims in common. We accept completely that health and social care must work together as a single system. But we believe the best means of achieving this is through voluntary local agreements which suit local needs.” Modernising There
followed a presentation from four key managers in Knowsley, who are all
now jointly employed by Knowsley MBC and Knowsley Primary Care Trust,
entitled Breaking down the barriers in Knowsley - Building the Future.
They outlined how the Council was addressing the key issues for the
community's well being through the Health Plan and the Health Action Zone;
Knowsley's performance against key social and health care indicators, and
how the problematic areas were being tackled; and the needs of children,
and the strategic context and operational developments for children in
Knowsley. Involving Patients and the Public Hazel
Blears MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Department of Health and
MP for Salford, was the second keynote speaker.
She said "It is absolutely clear to me that if you want a
patient focused NHS, and if you want public services to improve the
public’s health, you need to make sure that patients and the public are
placed at the heart of decisions about matters that impact on health.
The Government is absolutely determined to shift the balance of
power. Today I want to talk through shifting the balance of power to
patients and the public – giving real clout to users of health services,
and real clout to citizens – the people who pay for health
services." She outlined
the radical changes the Government is making to the ways in which patients
and the public can not only get involved in decisions affecting health
services – but ways in which they can really shape the planning,
development and nature of services – locally, regionally and at the
national level.
Page 4 Annual Report and other June meeting topics On Friday 21
June, the AGM and quarterly business meeting of Social Services North West
was held at Bury Town Hall. Members
welcomed the recruitment of new member Stockport, bringing the number of
member authorities to 20 out of a possible 22.
They also reviewed the past year in the Annual Report, and set the
path for the future on the four key areas of the Work Programme. Two major conferences were held during the year, attracting
over 200 attendances between them. The
Valuing People conference on 26 September 2001 was held in association
with the Department of Health and NHS North West, and was for the
non-executive members and senior managers of health organisations
throughout the North West, as well as councillors and senior staff of
social services authorities. It
focussed on the recent White Paper which sets out the Government's
strategy for learning disability for the 21st century. The
afternoon session focused on 'No Secrets' - the Government guidance on
developing and implementing multi-agency policies and procedures to
protect vulnerable adults from abuse. The April 2002 conference on Modernising Health and
Social Care is fully reported on Page 3. Lobbying
Social Services North West held another joint meeting
with the LGA during the year, and made written representations to
Ministers on various issues, including Financial and Service Pressures,
Involving Patients and the Public in Health Care and Formation of
Strategic Health Authorities. In
addition, following continuing concern on the part of members concerning
financial issues, a lobby of North West Members of Parliament took place
on 12 March, when 24 members and officers from the North West met in
Westminster with 22 of the region’s MPs for a robust and constructive
discussion. Raising the Profile In addition to the website and quarterly editions of
SSNW News (both paper and email editions), SSNW undertook extensive Press
publicity to further the campaign for adequate government funding.
A media campaign was conducted in January 2002 with the support of
Salford’s media team. This
resulted in articles in the Manchester Evening News, Oldham Chronicle and
Warrington Guardian, and interviews to three radio stations.
The lobby of MPs was the subject of a further press release, and
articles appeared in the Manchester Evening News, Liverpool Echo and
Warrington Guardian. Work
Programme and the Regions White Paper The publication in May 2002 of Your region,
your choice: revitalising the English regions heralds a period of
lively debate about the future roles of central, regional and local
government in the North West. The
issue is likely to be a contentious one amongst member authorities, who
will each be forming their own views and pursuing these.
SSNW members were however agreed that, whatever may happen in the
North West, any change should be about devolution not centralisation.
As the existing member-level body for social services in the
region, we should promote a strong regional agenda on health and social
care. The Economy and Society Key Priority Group of the North West Regional Assembly has set up a Health and Social Care Task Group to pursue some of the issues arising from a research report on disability issues ‘Committed to Inclusion, Accepting the Challenge'. It seems appropriate that we should provide the social services perspective at officer level in this group, demonstrating to the Regional Assembly our willingness to contribute our expertise in relevant areas. It was therefore agreed to realign our own work programme to address disability issues in their broadest sense. The four areas for our work programme in 2002/03 are therefore:
Click below to go to the papers for the 21 June meeting at Bury
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