Information is Power!

I had a meeting today with the commissioning section’s Information Officer. He was extremely helpful and saved me a lot of time by explaining exactly where I could find lots of information that would be helpful to my post. However it seems that the majority of the people who provide information do so with the proviso that it is probably incomplete.

Having spoken to a number of staff it seems that the way of things is to prepare half-hearted reports based on poor information and shrug that “it was the best I could do” People are then left to make major decisions using shoddy* reports based on shoddy* data. And we wonder why we are in such a mess.

If information is indeed power, then we will barely be punching our way out of wet paper bags!

*When I tell the story verbally I don’t use the word “shoddy” You can stick with this or insert any expletive that comes to mind!

The gloves are off!

My last post spoke of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing, well this one tells of a situation where they are actually in direct conflict! Another Social Worker told me of a client with a learning disability who had become homeless. The worker took this client to the council’s homelessness section, to be informed that the man would not be considered as homeless because he was a social work client! I don’t see how the fact that he received services from the Social Work Department meant that he was any less homeless .
The council is vastly overspent, yet one of our own staff was willing to make us incur much greater expense This is yet another person that we are to be accommodating in a £110 per night hotel!

Does the right hand know what the left is doing?

Well here it is. I have finally taken up my post and the story begins. As stated previously, this is my first foray into the world of the local authority. I expected to find difficulties, but with just a week completed. I have been amazed by some of the things that I have come across. It would be too easy just to start listing all of these failings, but I am a two-fingered typist, and I really don’t want to waste that much time going into them all!

One scenario I will share with you though. I met with a Social Worker to discuss a client. This was a young man with a learning disability. He had lived with his mother, but they were about to become homeless as their current tenancy ended. There was no resource available and the council were faced with accommodating this man in a hotel at a cost of £110. Obviously this is a major issue for Commissioning if we are so short of resources that we are left with only this option

In the course of conversation though it transpired that there was a potential resource available, but the client could not yet be housed in it. The problem was that damage caused to the property by a previous occupant had not been fixed.. I suggested that perhaps we could pay a premium to the landlord for this to be fixed as an emergency. I was told that this could not possibly be authorised from current budgets. The fact that this would be by far the least expensive option in the long run didn’t seem to make any difference!

Jump forward 24 hours to another meeting, this time with a Social Work Manager who had identified an issue that she felt he should discuss with Commissioning. She had negotiated a contract with a Housing Association to build properties as supported accommodation for clients with learning disabilities. The local authority had entered into a contract that gave us first refusal of any vacant properties. In return we had agreed to pay for the rent of these properties even when they were vacant. She had bills totalling almost £40000 for empty properties and hoped that I would be able to negotiate contracts to get her out of this commitment.
Now I’m sure that you are seeing a bit of an anomaly with this situation just like I did.. The council is paying large amounts of cash for empty properties while at the same time paying large amounts to accommodate clients in hotels. It would be really helpful if the right hand could tell the left hand what it is doing!

The Secret History Of User Involvement

Link to an excellent article by Peter Beresford

http://www.bizbuzzmedia.com/blogs/peter_beresford/archive/2007/07/27/11133.aspx

Light at the end of the tunnel

Yesterday’s consultation meeting when very well. Some of the cynics were still out in force, but by the end of the day, even they were admitting that the attitude of the local authority was a step in the right direction! Could this be light at the end of the tunnel?

Let's get cynical

The local authority that I am about to work with is having a workshop tomorrow to consult with the voluntary sector on plans for development of services. This will be my last opportunity to take part in consultation before I find myself on the other side, and become one of those doing the consulting.
I spoke with a colleague who will also be attending. He felt that the consultation would be pointless as the strategies are already written. The point of the workshop was just to tick the box to confirm that people were consulted.
It was sad to hear such cynical comments as I take up my new post. I certainly intend to genuinely consult with people. I suppose that it served as a warning that I will indeed meet many cynics and that I must deliver tangible results if I am to change some of the cynicism.

The times they are a changin'

Had another chat recently with my new boss. He stated that he is coming up against pressure to renew some services in exactly the same form as they had been in the past. He had resisted this pressure and said that he wanted to appraise services and take time to commission them according to the new strategy that we are now working to. He also advised me to do likewise and not get “sucked in” to the old system.

When I was interviewed, I was asked to present on the role of the commissioner in response to the following quote from Changing Lives-Report of the 21st Century Social Work Review “Doing more of the same won’t work. Increasing demand, greater complexity and rising expectations mean that the current situation is not sustainable. Tomorrow’s solutions will need to engage people as active participants, delivering accessible, responsive services of the highest quality and promoting well being.

I decided that I will adopt this as a personal rule of engagement. If I am asked to work on any task that amounts to “doing more of the same”, I will politely decline until I have had the chance to ensure that it meets the criteria that we are now operating to!

I’m aware that this will not be without it’s problems, but as I noted in my previous post, I’m an idealist and proud of it!