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SSNW eNews No 7 June 2001
The email Newsletter of Social Services North West
Interactive edition - click on the blue links to go directly to more information
Page 1:
After the elections, the key issues remain
The postponement of council elections in four member authorities made it necessary for Social Services North West, at its 15 June meeting in Tameside, to suspend one of its rules. This now allows the AGM to be held at the next meeting in September, when all member authorities will have their 2001-02 delegates in place.
Despite this, a substantial amount of normal business continued on the key issues in the work programme. We took stock of the current political landscape in Health and Social Care, and decided the next steps to be taken. See Page 2 for more.
We examined the up-to-date picture regarding financial concerns in member authorities, and looked at work in hand nationally and regionally in children's services. See Page 3 for more.
We reported on our recent Making Quality Count conference, and noted a positive result on police checks on volunteers working with children and vulnerable adults. Members called for a decisive move by North West local authorities to combat escalating costs in residential and fostering placements. We reviewed a survey of Members and Directors on the past year's work, and prepared to determine an Annual Work Programme at the September 14 meeting. See Page 4 for more.
Vice Chair moves on
The meeting noted that 2000-01 Vice Chair Councillor Brian Strett of Wigan had taken another portfolio in his Council, and would no longer be representing his authority on SSNW. Elections for 2001-02 will take place at the September meeting.
Directory updated
Social Services North West has delivered to its members authorities the updated version of the Directory of Residential Placements for children and young people.
It was first produced several years ago by NWASSA to meet a need amongst member authorities for information about the wide range of residential resources for children needing care, often of a specialised nature. It is designed to be a ready reference volume for local authority staff who are responsible for placing children and younger people in residential resources outside their own authorities. Details of establishments are only included after they have accepted our Values Statement, set out in the introduction. The Director of each SSNW member authority has identified an officer to hold the Directory available for reference for staff thoughout the authority.
Page 2: Social Care and the NHS after the election
More rapid change
It seems certain that the new Government will proceed with further rapid, and possibly radical, change in the pattern of NHS and social care in England. It will therefore be necessary for Social Services North West to consider promptly and carefully the impact of such proposals on the delivery of social care by councils, a report to the 15 June meeting said.
Parliament's consideration of the Health and Social Care Bill was brought to a swift conclusion by the dissolution of Parliament at the beginning of May.
Patient and public advocacy
Whilst all the provisions for the abolition of Community Health Councils were withdrawn from the Bill, the new role for local authority overview and scrutiny committees in scrutinising the health service were retained. This provision was supported in both Houses and unchallenged by the Lords amendments. Also retained were the duty of NHS bodies to consult the public and the duty for the Secretary of State to provide for an independent advocacy service. Clearly there will be some confusion to be resolved here, as the legislation provides for new arrangements for public and patient representation without removing CHCs.
The LGA has suggested that local authorities need to start discussion with all local relevant partners, including other local councils, CHCs and health bodies, about what arrangements will work best locally, to ensure effective and efficient mechanisms for scrutinising local health services and for improving the local health economy.
Care Trusts
Ministers have confirmed that Care Trusts will be NHS bodies, but local authorities will nominate members for the board. Lord Hunt also confirmed that "Care Trusts will be voluntary partnerships and will simply not go ahead unless the accountability and governance arrangements are right." These would cover:
- the extent to which Care Trust boards will be able to make policy decisions about the delegated local authority services and when they must seek Local Authority consent;
- performance management arrangements to enable the local authority to ensure that the delegated functions are carried out appropriately;
- how the Care Trust will be able to feed into local authority decisions on charging and budget setting in relation to delegated services.
The Minister also gave explicit assurances that Care Trusts will:
- have dual accountability to the NHS and the local authority
- have the local authority representatives selected by the local authority subject only to a probity check by the independent appointments commission;
- have the number of local authority representatives decided by local agreement;
- be able to draw up their own accountability and governance arrangements within a flexible national framework.
The LGA is continuing to work with the Department of Health on developing the detailed governance and accountability arrangements for these new bodies. It is also arranging a conference on "The new Government and Health: putting Local Government at the centre of the health agenda", to be held in London on 30 July. SSNW will be represented at the conference.
Shaping the Future
Clearly the next few months will be crucial in shaping the future pattern of governance and management in health and social care. The June 15 meeting of Social Services North West resolved to:
- continue periodic high-level meetings between SSNW and the Regional Office of the NHS Executive
- open a dialogue with the Regional Association of CHCs to address issues of public and patient representation and scrutiny of the NHS.
- consider further how, through Care Trusts and other mechanisms, local authorities and NHS organisations can build on present joint arrangements for the benefit of service users and carers in their local communities.
Click here to read the report Working with the NHS to Social Services North West on 15 June 2001
Page 3: Finance and Children – still hot issues
Still concern over budgets…
A brief survey of member authorities in May revealed continuing concern about financial pressure on social services across the North West region, SSNW were told on 15 June.
Six responding authorities specifically cited costs of residential and nursing home care for older people as a major concern. This has resulted in a number of consequences including the restriction of placement activity leading to cancellation of elective surgery and delayed discharges. Working in partnership with health has helped, but their own pressures - for instance to vacate hospital beds - is having an effect on pressure on social services.
Pressure to increase payments for residential, nursing home and domiciliary care are seen as coming from inflationary pressures and the introduction of the minimum wage. There is also concern about the lack of detailed guidance to date on the issues of charging and free nursing care.
Services for children and families were reported to be under substantial budgetary pressures in seven responding authorities; the cost of foster care - especially independent foster care placements – being a major factor, along with out of authority placements (including secure accommodation). The imbalance of demand and supply has significantly increased prices due to market forces.
This confirmed the findings of a report in March 2001 for the ADSS nationally, which also showed evidence of increasing demand due to increase in the child population, increase in the numbers of children in need, the impact of new policies/legislation, and the uncovering of unmet need through social inclusion initiatives.
At the meeting, members agreed to undertake a further joint study with ADSS North West over the summer, and to make contact with the North West MP's group, to engage their interest in the issue.
…and Quality Protects
Quality Protects and Children’s Issues was selected as one of the key themes for SSNW’s Annual Work Programme. Members received an update on these issues at their 15 June meeting in Tameside.
The Department of Health is currently trying to ‘re-energise’ the Quality Protects programme, originally launched in 1998 with the aim of reforming and improving local authorities’ children’s services. The initial three-year programme has been extended to five years.
Good progress has been made, though the picture nationally is variable, according to the Department of Health. The Programme's greatest impact has been on children’s social services, with less progress generally from health and education authorities. There is a need for the programme to encompass and integrate with other new initiatives such as Sure Start and Connexions.
The Government issued joint departmental guidance in May 2001 on planning for children’s services, entitled "Co-ordinated service planning for vulnerable children and young people in England ". The guidance introduces a ‘framework’ which shows how different planning requirements can be related and feed into each other within an overall scheme. The guidance recommends action across a broad front, and the Government expects all local authorities to play a key role in working with partners in the voluntary and community sectors.
There is a regional Quality Protects Reference Group, and SSNW is now represented on this by Professional Assistant Peter Viggers. They are addressing such issues as the development of the Regional Task Force for Children’s Services, developing quality around the assessment process, proposals relating to the Young Carers Development Group, and the possibility of a Regional Conference to showcase positive work around adoption and leaving care. SSNW will be kept up to date on these developments.
Page 4: Quality Conference – and the June meeting
Making Quality Count…
was the title of our joint conference with ADSS North West at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton on Thursday 17 May. The subtitle was 'delivering the best to our service users and communities'.
Don Brand, Director of Policy and Workforce Development at the National Institute of Social Work, spoke about the new Social Care Institute for Excellence.. Don first addressed the functions envisaged for SCIE, and its relationships with the new framework of regulatory bodies - GSCC, NCSC and TOPSS. He explained how SCIE fits into the Government's overall Quality Strategy, including the proposed "local quality framework" and the lead role envisaged for members and directors in securing quality of service and practice.
John Bolton, Review Director of the Joint Review Team at the Audit Commission, spoke of performance management as the setting of objectives and measurement of progress towards meeting them - thus all managers know what is required of them. Users and carers are at the centre of service delivery, and the Joint Review team use data to make an assessment of how well people are being served, linking its methodology to the overall rating of performance of social services authorities.
Sue Lightup, Deputy Director at Bolton and currently on secondment to the North West Regional office of the NHS Executive, spoke of the multi-disciplinary Regional Change Agent team, to help with 'hot spots' and capacity problems and find and disseminate good practice in Intermediate Care. She outlined the approach the team had adopted and the model of intermediate care to which they worked. Again, service users and their carers were at the centre of their approach.
The day ended with a panel discussion at which the speakers were joined by David Whyte, Deputy Director of Warrington and Peter Munro, Social Care Group, SSI. Key action points were identified and reported to SSNW on 15 June.
Click here to read the report and papers of the Making Quality Count conference
Also discussed at Tameside…
Members of Social Services considered a variety of issues at their quarterly meeting in Tameside on 15 June. Many of these are fully reported elsewhere in SSNW News, but here is a summary of other items discussed.
- A survey of members and Directors on the past year's work of SSNW showed satisfaction with the appropriateness of the Work Programme and the conference programme. There was also approval for the voice SSNW had gained with Ministers, the LGA and the Regional Chair of the NHS. The liaison established with other bodies was also valued, as was the paper version of the quarterly newsletter. The email version and the SSNW website were less widely used. A further short questionnaire will be circulated to the new membership, to assist in finalising priorities for the Work Programme to begin in September. Click here to read the report Review of the SSNW Work Programme 2000-01 to Social Services North West on 15 June 2001
- In noting the publication of the new Directory of Residential Placements for Children and Young People, members expressed concern about the alarming increase in the costs of such placements. They called for a feasibility study on a joint approach by local authorities in the region to appropriate direct provision, based on realistic costings, as a challenge to the excessive charges developing in other sectors.
- Finally, a positive result has been obtained from the lobbying of SSNW and others on the cost of police checks on volunteers. Following an approach to SSNW by Oldham Council, SSNW Chair Cliff Morris wrote to the relevant Ministers. A letter from the Home Office has now confirmed that the new Criminal Records Bureau will issue disclosures free of charge in respect of volunteers working with children and with vulnerable people. Click here to read the report Charges for Police Checks on Volunteers to Social Services North West on 15 June
Click here for the agenda of the 15 June meeting of Social Services North West
Click here for the minutes of the 15 June meeting of Social Services North West
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