Ongoing support for our social work students
We are delighted to report that in 2021-2022 we have provided 30 placements for Social Work students and during the same period have employed four students upon graduating.
In supporting our student social workers, we regularly gain, listen and respond to student feedback. This ensures that they get the best experience with Conwy, leading to a positive outcome by the end of their placement. We also gain and respond to feedback from Practice Educators and On-Site Supervisors, and ensure that good practice and good ideas are shared and cascaded.
Feedback regarding holding regular support group sessions with students, as well as more formal student forums with guest speakers has been consistently constructive. They have valued the safe space to share concerns and dilemmas, to offload within a safe and non-judgmental environment, to realise that they are not alone in feeling certain strong emotions at times, and facing certain obstacles and challenges, e.g. home working, isolation, lack of motivation. They have appreciated meeting up with their peers, and gaining a wider perspective by comparing notes with fellow students from other Programmes. We have mainly students from the Bangor M.A. Programme, but it’s proved very successful for the Open University (OU) internal trainees/students to join them in this group at the same level of training. They then go on to co-learn together during their first year in practice, leading on to the Consolidation Programme and Workshops.
Introducing a ‘buddy’ system of first year students matched with a second year student has also been a good source of support, and the OU trainees especially have appreciated this, as OU procedures are very specific. They have found it invaluable to be able to contact someone that has gone through the exact same systems as them for guidance and information.
We have learnt by this year, now that we are almost two years into the pandemic, that providing extremely clear and up to date information to students is vital. The pandemic has changed the way in which we work and therefore we are unable to make promises of office working or face to face opportunities. This message has been introduced through our Practice Educators and On-Site Educators through pre-placement sessions with students.
We also gain Practice Educators’ feedback regarding what has worked well and not so well. In the autumn we held a remote half-day workshop as a de-brief post placement, and also to look forward to this year’s students and placements. Also, the focus was on getting the most out of remote supervision sessions as well as being more creative with remote learning opportunities and direct observations.
Social Care Employment Pathway
A programme has been implemented to equip unemployed candidates with the skills and knowledge needed to apply for social care jobs within the sector in Conwy. Staff from CCBC meet regularly with Job Centres, PACE and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to brief them about the programme and the needs of the sector. We work with candidates to:
- Learn about different job roles in social care.
- Learn the key skills and knowledge needed to work in social care.
- Provide taster sessions within social care settings.
- Provide job application support.
- Offer work experience placements to health and social care students.
Since establishing the service in December 2021 we have worked with 19 individuals and supported three into employment in the social care sector.
What were the challenges?
We’ve found that where individuals have no access to their own transport and technology, this can limit their employment opportunities. Individuals’ confidence in using technology, and in their own abilities is also a factor. If someone has not been in employment for some time they may require extensive mentoring to support them through the employment process.
What’s next?
We are reviewing options to increase our capacity to support potential recruits and employers even more. In addition, we are supporting the Regional Recruitment and Retention Task and Finish Group who are looking into the following areas to address the shortage of qualified and experienced Social Workers:
- National pay structure for social workers
- The high numbers of newly qualified social workers replacing experienced social workers that is not sustainable.
- Social Work qualification – university teaching falling short of core skills for practice.
We are also creating a communication and marketing plan to increase public awareness of the service.
Ongoing participation and consultation with people who access our services
Maintaining meaningful communication with individuals we support ensures that we have continued to monitor the quality of our services, despite the challenges posed by Covid restrictions over the past year. Here we detail some of the consultations we undertook with a variety of individuals in different settings.
Care home residents and their families
We consulted with younger people living in three care home settings to discuss the effects of lockdown, and how they were managing to overcome the difficulties they faced during the pandemic, including how they were supported to stay in touch with their families and friends.
We also consulted with families of older people residing in care homes to discuss ways of keeping connected, plus the effect of the pandemic on their relationships, views and feelings.
Allowing people to talk about their experiences informs the work we undertake in the future.
What were the challenges?
During this reporting year we could only engage with a small proportion of our care homes due to the difficulties they faced, but we continued to carry out this consultation work in order to gain views and talk to people and their families. Identifying new methods to support engagement was a challenge, however, the introduction of iPads across all Conwy care homes to facilitate face-to-face chats with family members was a great success. Also, some care homes invited family members to join in with social activities online, which they enjoyed.
What’s next?
In 2022 we are planning further consultation work with residents in care home settings and their families now that the regulations allow for more face-to-face contact.
Dementia-Friendly status for Conwy County Borough Council
In 2021 we were recognised by the Alzheimer’s Society for our efforts to become more dementia-friendly. This was the result of consistent engagement work undertaken with local communities, dementia groups and carers of people living with dementia. We created Dementia Champions across the Council, organised a Dementia Bus tour throughout the county, and delivered regular Dementia Awareness sessions for Council staff and other staff groups.
What were the challenges?
During the pandemic community groups were unable to meet face-to-face, and opportunities for social activities for people living with dementia, such as dementia-friendly cinema screenings were reduced or cancelled.
What’s next?
In 2022 we look forward to engaging with citizens and carers in Conwy ton continue the work of raising awareness of dementia through the involvement of communities in Conwy.
Co-production with care leavers
Over the past twelve months the Personal advisor Team has looked to develop service delivery. In order to do this it has been important to include the young people themselves in the process. We have undertaken the following pieces of work:
- We sent out surveys to the young people for their thoughts on how we performed during the pandemic and lockdown, so asked what we did well, not so well, and what we should be doing going forward.
- We asked them how they think the Welsh Government St David’s Day grant should be spent.
- We asked for their thoughts and wishes in terms of the development of a care leaver-specific website.
- We are currently in the bidding process for monies that will enable us to complete care leaver-specific research in collaboration with Bangor University and other North Wales Local authorities. We held two virtual care leaver events in order to ascertain the views and thoughts of the young people themselves in terms of the research topic.
We have had excellent responses to all of these work streams.
What were the challenges?
Not all the young people we work with want to engage with us and this can limit the quantity of responses. However, despite some young people not wanting to be involved, the responses we received were really positive and have given us things to be proud of and work towards.
What’s next?
Co-production with the young people we work with is one of the fixed priority areas for the team and the plan is to strengthen this. What we would like is to develop a consistent, small sample of young people who are committed to assisting us in shaping the developments within the service.
Working in Partnership
We have been working closely with partners at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) and Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) to develop a new Quality Assurance Framework and Memorandum of Understanding around intelligence sharing with regards to independent care homes and domiciliary care agencies. Monthly meetings have started where discussions can take place and appropriate and coordinated action plans developed. This has aided Conwy to support improvements with a number of care providers since April 2021.
Managing the budget and planning for the future
The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) sets out the Council’s strategic approach to the management of its finances and outlines some of the financial issues that will face the Council over the next four years.
The delivery of the strategy is dependent on the resources made available through Welsh Government (WG) settlements and on the success of the Council in aligning resources to its aims and priorities.
In 2021-22, the outturn for Social Services is projected to be within budget. For 2022-23, Social Services has, via the business case process, applied for, and been awarded, additional funding for anticipated increased cost pressures relating to Adult Social Care (£1,489k) and Children, Family and Safeguarding (£626k), as well as increases in costs associated with higher fees paid to independent providers of residential and nursing care, domiciliary care and supported living (£3,500k). The department has also had to identify budget savings of £1,060k, but these savings are targeted so as to minimise the impact of front-line care provision.
Our partnership working, political and corporate leadership, governance and accountability
The Welsh Government’s Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 outlines a set of national outcomes and places a duty on public bodies to put sustainable development at the heart of decisions. This Act ensures that the environment, social, and economic considerations are central to decision-making.
In Conwy, we have incorporated these objectives into the Conwy Corporate Plan. The seven goals and five ways of working are aligned to Conwy’s eight Citizen Outcomes.
The Corporate Plan includes actions which are preventative, aims to work towards the longer term impact and are integrated in the consideration of how they contribute to the 7 Wellbeing Goals. The actions are also collaborative in terms of the focus on working closely with communities so they are involved in owning and working collectively to meet the Citizen Outcomes.
The Well-being of Future Generations Act also defines sustainable development in Wales as a mechanism for improving the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of Wales. This promotes focus on considering what we do, how we do it and how we communicate. As a service we are contributing by reflecting on how we are applying the five ways of working through our six-monthly Service Performance Review process.
The Social Services and Wellbeing Act (Wales) 2014 and Code of Practice set out a framework for measuring the progress that local authorities make against their duties under the Act as a whole. This process also enables local authorities to continuously improve services. As required by the Code of Practice, we have robust arrangements in place to collect and return data on statutory performance measures to Welsh Government on an annual basis. Measuring performance activity is done in line with each of the quality standards which focuses on people, partnership and integration and prevention.
Conwy has robust governance arrangements in place to support the effective management of Social Care. The Council has implemented a Social Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Council has appointed two Portfolio Holders who represent Children and Family Social Care and Adult Social Services and Leisure. We also submit various reports to Scrutiny Committee for review and challenge. In addition, we have a robust internal process for performance oversight and challenge. Meetings are held with our inspectorate throughout the year and we routinely and actively review our own practice to ensure continuous service improvement.
Regulation & Inspection
The Regulation and Inspection of Social Care Act (Wales) 2016 (RISCA) has changed how our services are inspected, how we improve the quality of care and support that we provide and regulation of our workforce. It places service quality and inspection at the heart of regulation; strengthening protection for those who need it and ensures that services deliver high quality care and support.
Since 2018, within Adults Services the commencement of registration for managers in the care home sector across Wales, under the new RISCA regulations took place. We have held a series of manager forums in preparation for the introduction of RISCA. We have also recently hosted Social Care Wales Registration workshops to support registration of the domiciliary care workforce. We have established a RISCA policy group that meets monthly in order to review policies required under the new regulations. We also host a joint Conwy Provider Training Group to promote workforce development and learning across the Sector.
Within the Looked After Children service area, Care Inspectorate Wales have published their National Overview Report in relation to care experienced children and young people, we participated in this review and we have looked at how we can improve how we work to improve experiences by using the key findings.
CIW Assurance Check
- In June 2021 Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) conducted an Assurance Check to review how well Conwy Social Services are continuing to help and support adults and children, with a focus on safety and well-being. They assessed us against the four principles of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) act 2014, recording their judgements and findings against: Voice and control; Prevention; Well-being; Partnerships and integration. The report was extremely positive about the way that we responded to the pandemic and continued to support vulnerable individuals in Conwy. Highlights include:
- “People have a strong voice and control over the support they receive with practice focused on what matters to the individuals, the outcome they want to achieve, and how they can use their own strengths and resources to promote their well-being.”
- “Managers are engaged in quality assurance of work activities, and it was refreshing to see a clear approach to audit of casework and learning being disseminated.”
- “Providers spoke positively of the support they had received from the local authority during the pandemic. They valued the level of communication and the quality of the advice and support received.”
CIW will continue to monitor our performance through on-going performance evaluation meetings with Heads of Service and the Director.
Children’s Home Inspection
CIW visited our in-house children’s home, Glan yr Afon in November 2021 to undertake an unannounced inspection. They followed a plan to speak to the children, review several documents, inspect the environment, and review the leadership and management of the service.
The inspectors were satisfied that assessment and support for the young people, and support to develop independent living skills, is working well at the home. They also noted that the young people are able to express their views and opinions, and are encouraged and supported with their education, attending schools in Conwy. They commented that the home environment is good, and there are regular opportunities for activities for the young people.
Since the inspection, a number of recommended improvements have been introduced within the setting, including health and safety recording, home policy revisions, and additional staff training to support the changing needs of young people.
Youth Justice Services Inspection
In April 2021 Conwy’s Youth Justice Service took part in a joint inspection of education, employment and training services in Youth Offending Teams (YOT) in England and Wales. The inspection was undertaken jointly by HM Inspectorate of Probation, Estyn and Ofsted, and included several Local Authorities from England.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic some inspections were undertaken remotely and others face to face, where restrictions allowed. Cases of children involved with YOTs were examined, along with post-court cases and out of court disposal cases. Meetings were held with staff, partners, and stakeholders, in addition to Estyn and Ofsted holding interviews with education providers.
The inspection was positive about Conwy’s operational performance, and the support and engagement offered and received by children and young people. It was also noted that children working with YOTs generally receive good quality education, training and employment works. Good examples of effective practice was gathered and these were readily definable in all YOTs inspected.
Following the inspection, we have implemented recommendations for improvement, such as around the area of leadership and governance and ensuring that management boards have more oversight. We are also ensuring that young people and their families have a say in shaping our service through engagement and participation.
More Than Just Words: Delivering the ‘Active Offer’
An ‘Active offer’ simply means providing a service in Welsh without someone having to ask for it. In 2016 Mark Drakeford (then Minister for Health and Social Services) stated that:
“Ensuring the safety, dignity and respect of Welsh speakers is at the heart of providing health and social services in Welsh. It is not just about complying with legal requirements and maintaining professional standards; it is also about improving the quality of care and meeting the language needs of people and providing good public services that focus on individuals.”
In Conwy we play our part in ensuring that the Active Offer is embedded in our culture, ensuring quality and safety for Welsh speakers in the county. Particularly important is ensuring that individuals who receive care and support from us are able to communicate with support staff in their language of choice.
Following CIW’s Assurance Check in June 2021 they reported that:
“The local authority is proactive in its approach to the Welsh language ‘Active Offer’. At the beginning of the involvement information is captured on the individual’s preferred language. We found assessments conducted through the medium of Welsh and English in accordance with people’s wishes.”
North Wales Population Assessment
The North Wales Population Assessment report is an assessment of the care and support needs of the population in North Wales, including the support needs of carers. It aims to improve our understanding of our population and how it might change over the coming years to help us provide better public services in the area. Created by the North Wales Social Care and Wellbeing Services Improvement Collaborative, they review statistics, speak with communities and make use of a wide range of information collected by local councils, health services, charities and other organisations that provide services.
The report covers children and young people, older people, health, physical disability and sensory impairment, learning disabilities, mental health, carers, violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence, the secure estate, veterans, homelessness, and autistic spectrum disorder, providing key messages and recommendations around each topic based on the evidence gathered.
The current report was created in 2017, however a new report for 2022 will be published soon and will be available to view on the Improvement Collaborative website.