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!