• All strategies and frameworks being developed by the programme quality assured and implemented
• The number of partnership / collaborative working opportunities explored in relation to their financial benefits
• To examine the evidence collated by external stakeholders in relation to service issues
• To review the thresholds for escalating concerns across social services and partner agencies
• To review the service risk register for consistency
• To review the approach to business risk management
• Review the findings of Quality Audits
• Review the activity of the Monitoring Team
• Examine the evidence collated by external stakeholders in relation to Social Services
• To generate an evidence base

o   of issues that occur with paper records

o   of AMHPS assessments that are undertaken

• To consider the processes and flow of information between inpatient and community services
• To undertake a mapping exercise to identify the potential future demand for Connected Person Care

For any service to be effective, it has to understand what people actually need. Beyond that, it’s crucial to understand what we can do to make the biggest difference for people. What do people see as adding value to their experience, and what do they see as not important? If we can understand these things, we can shape services so that every improvement we make is one that will be highly valued. In order to get this insight, we need great ways of listening to our service users. [Read more…]

Social Services cater to a very wide range of client groups, and not surprisingly, different groups have different needs. One of our challenges is to make sure that we respond in a way that is appropriate, to each and every case we are presented with. Sometimes this means using our “in house” services, and other times, it may be more appropriate for people to access a service provided by a private agency or voluntary or charity organisation.  Either way, through our commissioning activities we’re trying to ensure that the right mix of services is available.

One area where this has been particularly effective is in the area of resettlement. [Read more…]