Getting it Right (GIRFEC) Workshop

23^rd May 2011

9.30am-4pm

Venue TBC

GSCPF are hosting an event on 23^rd May for members to examine the policy, process, practice and expectation of GIRFEC with various partners.

There will be presentations from

• Glasgow City Council Social Work Services
• Education Services
• NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
• Includem
• Jeely Piece Club

And an opportunity to network, exchange learning, share experiences AND discuss next steps.

Please note this diary date, further information will be available soon.  Places will be limited.

Download Document: SDS Budgets for Children, Young People & Families

The aim of the piece was to explore and report on the thinking of a diverse group of stakeholders regarding their views about SDS and personalisation.

We hope you find this informative and thought provoking.  We would hope to take forward work streams in relation to ideas that have been generated as a result of this report.

GSCPF will become the Social Care Ideas Factory with an official launch in
April 2011, when it will concentrate on helping drive social change and social
care transformation.

Director Charlie Barker said: “I am absolutely delighted that our members
have embraced this radical change, and given their overwhelming support to
our change of name and our new role.

“We are committed to becoming the leading lights in social change to ensure
that people who require supports get what they need and want to live
their ‘best lives’.

“But we can’t do it alone because successful change will depend on
participation of a wide range of people

“We plan to expand our membership from solely Glasgow’s social care
provider organisations to everyone who has a stake in how care will be
delivered in the future.

Membership of the Social Care Ideas Factory will be open to:

1. Individuals who require supports, carers, allies, supporters
2. Health, Housing, Education & Social Care Providers
3. Peer networks, advocacy, umbrella organisations and citizen
   movements
4. Individuals-professionals, sole traders, workforce
5. Corporate companies, Public sector, Government, Local Authorities,
   Unions
6. Suppliers, Industries & Trades people.

Charlie Barker added: “The practice model of the Social Care Ideas Factory
will be to encourage and involve members to work together to ‘craft innovative
responses’ to the spectrum of reshaping, transformation of social care as we
know it.

“The Ideas Factory will also support members with the theory, policy, system,
process and practice of Personalisation and Self Directed Support.

“Our current funders Glasgow City Council Social Work (Service
Modernisation and Children & Families teams), the Council’s Education
Services and the Scottish Government have fully endorsed this change of
model and approach”.

“Co-production is a new vision for public services which offers a better way to respond to the challenges we face - based on recognising the resources that citizens already have, and delivering services with rather than for service users, their families and their neighbours, ” NESTA 2010.

A free, half-day conference organised by Glasgow’s leading representative disabled people’s organisation, Glasgow Disability Alliance will explore Co-production as an approach in transforming public services,  consider the honest challenges of Co-production and look at ways of making it work effectively. The Conference will be followed by an Elections Hustings in the afternoon and you are warmly invited to join us for this too.

Funded by Glasgow City Council, the Conference will provide an opportunity for public sector partners and agencies to come together with disabled people who use their services, hear examples of where Co-production is working well and begin an honest dialogue about barriers and solutions for getting co-production right.

The event aims:

• to increase awareness of Co-production as a method of working together towards agreed outcomes e.g. Independent Living for disabled people
• to consider the honest challenges of Co-production in challenging times
• to advocate that Co-production should be central to improving public services and, through an open dialogue, to come up with ways of making co-production work

Who should attend: senior officers and decision makers with responsibility for planning, designing and delivering services to disabled people and aiming to involve disabled people in co-production.

When: Friday 25^th March from 10am (registration) to 12.30. This will be followed by an Elections Hustings from 1.45 to 3.45pm.

Where: Thistle Hotel, Cambridge Street, Glasgow

Speakers include:

Chair: Tressa Burke, Director, Glasgow Disability Alliance

• Councillor Matt Kerr, Executive Member for Social Care, Glasgow City Council
• Colin Mair, Chief Executive, Improvement Service
• Etienne D’Aboville, CEO, Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living
• Bill Scott, Director, Inclusion Scotland

GDA amongst other disabled people’s organisations is aware of the pressure to cut public expenditure and the negative impact of this: it is our ambition to promote Co-production, as this approach recognises that, while professional expertise is vital, it can never replace the knowledge that comes from personal experience-

real change comes from combining both these sources of knowledge (Nesta 2010).

GDA do hope you will be able to join them at what promises to be an engaging, lively and informative event - one where you will get the opportunity to deepen your understanding of co-production, hear directly from both senior officials and disabled people who have experienced this approach, and share your knowledge and insight with colleagues from across Glasgow and even further afield!

Booking Information

Please contact GDA to book a place by calling  0141 556 7103 or download and complete the Reply Form and email to shirleycoull@gdaonline.co.uk or fax it back to us on 0141 550 4937. Download event programme.

Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland, or SCSWIS for short, will be an independent organisation with its own Board responsible for its governance. It will be funded by the registration and continuation fees it charges and by Scottish Government. It will operate independently to scrutinise and improve care, social work and child protection services for the benefit of the people who use them.

At SCSWIS, we will work to improve care, social work and child protection in a number of ways. We will:

• provide public assurance and protection of vulnerable individuals and act as a catalyst for improvement
• ensure our scrutiny and improvement activity is informed by a systematic analysis of risk and targeted where it is needed most
• provide information on quality of care so that people who use and choose services and their carers and those responsible for commissioning services can make informed choices
• inspect against the regulations associated with the new Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, the National Care Standards and other agreed national benchmarks
• organise our scrutiny and improvement activity, including inspections, around risk; targeting poorly performing services
• make more use of unannounced inspection
• implement national centralised registration and complaints functions
• develop our workforce to be more skilled at identifying and analysing risk
• develop new validation processes for self-evaluation
• coordinate joint planning of scrutiny and improvement activity and multi-disciplinary inspections with HIS and other scrutiny bodies.

For the latest information on changeover and how the new body will work, visit www.scswis.com or get in touch with the Care Commission www.carecommission.com Tel: 0845 603 0890 enquiries@carecommission.com

How to get in touch with SCSWIS from 1 April
Website www.scswis.com
Email enquiries@scswis.com
Telephone 0845 600 9527

There are approximately 120,000 Scots with a learning disability, says
the charity, and as many as three-quarters might also have sight loss.

But for thousands this may go undiagnosed because they can’t communicate the problem. Meanwhile, carers and professionals can put diminished capabilities and challenging behaviour down to the disability.

John Legg, director of RNIB Scotland, said several conditions - such as Down’s Syndrome and cerebral palsy - are particularly likely to cause eye problems. “But given half of those with a learning disability may also have difficulty reading the alphabet the traditional eye-chart may not be an appropriate testing method for them,” he warned.

The prevalence of sight problems increases dramatically with the severity of the learning disability and with age. One report found this client-group generally experience eye problems ten years earlier than the general population.

Eye tests can also detect the first signs of Alzheimer’s disease, which
people with a learning disability are more likely to develop before the
age of 30. Confirming the condition is present early on can have a
major impact on the success of treatment.

“Increased detection of sight loss will result in improved and more
efficient intervention strategies to help the individual,” says the
charity’s manifesto.

Charlie Barker, Director of Glasgow Social Care Providers Forum who organised the Art of Living Lifestyle Show in Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Wednesday February 23 said: “It was great to welcome such a wide range of exhibitors including commercial organisations, and professions from outwith the sector who are waking up to the fact that SDS budget holders represent a
growing market they can’t afford to ignore”.

Dave McGowan Assistant Manager of AMF Bowling at the Quay in Glasgow whose stall included a mobile bowling lane, said: “We’ve had a lot of interest from budget holders and other service users many of whom tried their hand at bowling.

“We’re delighted at the opportunity to raise awareness that our 23 lane centre at the Quay is completely disabled friendly with special rates to make it even more accessible”.

Sue Hurel who runs Dru Yoga classes in and around Glasgow was another exhibitor at the show. Sue, who ran several sessions during the day, said: “I’ve met loads of people including some on SDS who were looking for activities that would interest them.

“Dru Yoga is particularly good for people with all sorts of disabilities because it is very gentle and focuses on what people can do rather than what they can’t, and how exercises can be tailored to meet their abilities to give them the maximum benefit.

“The Show has been well worth while, and very enjoyable.”

Life Coach Sue McGillivray said: “We have been busy all day talking to everyone from service providers, service users, budget holders, their supporters and carers and social workers.

“It has been a very enjoyable day, and very enlightening.

“Some of the budget holders are interested in life coaching as something they might put in their portfolio, and a provider organisation has asked me to run a stress management course for some of the women in their care”.

Ruth Massie a support worker with Share Scotland brought Sara Deitch to take part in the displays by Indepen-Dance, the dance company for people with disabilities.

Ruth said: “I think this is great event because it shows a lot of the positive things that are happening when all we tend to hear about are the cuts.”

Michael Freedman who is supported in his own accommodation in Thornliebank by the Richmond Fellowship was a visitor at the show.

He said: “I have been very impressed.

“The bowling which I tried, and Indepen-Dance which I watched were real eye openers, and I found the life coach really interesting.”

Charlie Barker added: “The feedback from everyone involved was: ‘we need more of this sort of event’, and that’s a demand we will be trying to satisfy, particularly when we become the Social Care Ideas Factory in April.”

The documents are available on the Council’s Social Care Services
Personalisation paperwork webpage at:

http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Residents/Care_Support/Personalisation/sdspaperwork

Among the guidance is a summary of what personal budget holders can
and cannot spend their money on.

For Providers the advice includes the following:

The Individual Budget remains Local Authority Funding even when
it is sitting in an individual’s bank account or with a service provider.
If the funding is paid directly to the individual, they must comply
with the Self Directed Support – Individual Budget Interim Financial
Procedures for Service Users. It is important for organisations to
familiarise themselves with the above procedures in order to be able
to support service users to comply with them.

Where an individual’s IB is held and managed by a provider, the
provider will require to account for the funding to the local authority.
The process for this is still in development.

The following principles should be borne in mind throughout. The
budget should be linked clearly to the outcomes agreed as a priority
for the individual requiring support.
An outcome is the objective or end result that the individual is aiming
to achieve. The outcomes, the means by which the individual is
attempting to achieve them and the cost of the support needed to
achieve them, are recorded in the individuals outcome based support
plan.

The SEQ highlights the areas that are eligible for social care funding
and the IB should be used to meet outcomes in these areas. There
can be several outcomes met by engaging in any one activity.

It is also important to note that the IB should not be used for
expenditure that other sources of income (such as welfare benefits)
normally pay for.

For service users the guidance on how the money can be spent
includes the following:

Your Individual Budget must be spent on meeting the outcomes
agreed in your support plan, and you are responsible for using these
funds wisely.

Your support plan will identify:-

• How your money will be spent.
• What the arrangements are for monitoring the money.
• How the money will be managed taking into account any risks
  which might exist.

If you are unsure about any aspect of this you should speak to your
care manager or support organisation.

What you can’t spend the money on

Your Individual Budget is Local Authority funding paid directly to you
to meet the social care outcomes agreed in your support plan.
There are therefore some areas which you cannot use your Individual
Budget for:

• Anything which is against the law, including employment law
• Gambling
• Financial investments
• Healthcare needs that should be met from the NHS
• Paying for things that other sources of income should cover
  - alcohol, tobacco, grocery shopping, clothes, personal entertainment
  (for example the purchase of your own concert ticket or sporting
  event ticket), paying for you to go on holiday (unless this is to provide
  respite for a carer), rent, mortgage payments, utility bills, home
  improvement, repairs and maintenance costs.
• You cannot normally employ your husband, wife or partner, or
  close relatives or their partner or husband or wife

If you are unsure about any aspect of this you should check with your
Care Manager or Support Organisation.

The full list of guidance documents available at:
http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Residents/Care_Support/Personalisation/sdspaperwork

• Guidance:

• Guidance for Providers
• Financial Guidance for service users
• FAQs

• Templates

• Self Evaluation Questionnaire Template (provider version)
• Financial Assessment Form
• My Support Plan Template

• And additional supporting documentation:

• What needs to be in a Support Plan
• Talking points leaflet

Further items will be added as they become available and the FAQs will
be updated for accessibility shortly.

Any queries regarding the page or contents please feel free to get in
touch with Lynn Paterson:

Lynn Paterson
, Service Modernisation
Social Work Services
Glasgow City Council 
Social Work Services,
Wheatley House, 25 Cochrane Street, Glasgow G1 1HL
Email Lynn Paterson

The paper reports that the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations informed employees on Friday that it is to make 23 of its 132 staff redundant.

Last week staff at Apex Scotland, a charity which works with ex-offenders, wrote to its employees (around 60 people) to warn them that between one-third and a half of their jobs were to go, as a direct result of Coalition cuts to Government employment programmes.

The paper also says that the Scottish Refugee Council is due to confirm that 44 of its 59 workers have been told they are at risk of redundancy as it seeks to shed 28% of its staff as a result of cuts to contracts it has with the UK Border Agency.

Citizens Advice Scotland is thought to be planning to announce a redundancy programme next week, after its sister organisation in England announced substantial job cuts.

About 45,000 voluntary organisations across Scotland employ more than 130,000 professionally paid staff.

SCVO is the national body for Scotland’s charities. Martin Sime, SCVO chief executive, said: “In these tough times making difficult decisions is something our members and the third sector as a whole are facing on a daily and weekly basis,” he said.

“The irony is that this comes at a time when all political parties are united in agreement that the third sector should play a greater and more central role in re-shaping Scotland’s future. Unfortunately, the sector’s capacity to deliver on this opportunity is being dangerously eroded by the disproportionate cuts we face in comparison to other sectors.”

Read the full report at:

http://www.heraldscotland.com:80/news/home-news/exclusive-charities-hit-by-job-losses-as-cuts-bite-1.1082686