It
might not sound the most attractive idea for a break, at a time
when the beaches are windswept and bleak with driven rain, but
- as always - there was a warm welcome at the Social Care Association
Annual Seminar. There were over a hundred and twenty participants,
a handful of useful stands, a galaxy of good speakers and some
interesting debate. For those with time to spare, there were also
squash courts, a spacious swimming pool which could be viewed
from the hotel corridors, and, of course, the bars. As always,
it was a friendly event and deserved to attract more delegates.
Silver
for Richard Clough
The
Annual Seminar marked twenty-five years in post for Richard Clough,
the Chief Executive. There had already been a couple of events
earlier in the year, in London and Scotland respectively, when
guests had been invited to lunches with speeches, but the Blackpool
Annual Seminar marked the membership’s occasion to offer
their congratulations and thanks. Des Kelly gave an account of
Dick’s stewardship, to which Dick replied, and David Boyes
rounded the evening off by testing the membership’s listening
capability by adding a section of questions to the Annual Quiz
based on Dick’s and Des’s speeches. Significantly,
the staff table won the Quiz.
Rodney
Taylor
The
Annual General Meeting commenced with a period of silence in recognition
of the contribution of Rodney Taylor to the work of the Association.
Rodney had undertaken the bulk of the work on the staffing exercises
for the Residential Forum, among other things, and his death in
October was a real loss to the Association.
Business
The
AGM had a full agenda, as there were extensive proposals to amend
the Association’s constitution, following a governance review.
In particular, it was decided to abandon the post of Treasurer
and create the post of Chair with a three-year tenure. This is
a sensible development, as Presidents come and go annually, and
are never there long enough to make their mark, which over the
years has left a significant imbalance of power between the honorary
officers and the staff (and the Chief Executive in particular).
The changes went through smoothly.
Professional
Issues
At
one time, the SCA had two annual meetings - the formal AGM for
the business and a separate meeting which followed on and addressed
professional issues. However, for the last few years the two have
been coalesced into one.
The
only professional item on the agenda in Blackpool was a motion
proposed by Vic Citarella to urge the Association to take action
about the current changes in the services. Vic argued that the
situation offered both threats and opportunities and it was for
SCA to shape the agenda. This was passed with little discussion,
and it was not apparent whether the membership truly appreciated
their predicament nor were there any indications what action the
Association might be considering. With Social Services Departments
being dismembered and regrouped with other services, the very
concept of social care might be seen as dated before long. The
Association of Directors of Social Services have commenced a debate
about their future remit, and SCA could do well to do the same.
The
lack of professional debate at a time when there are so many issues
around was dispiriting, and the Social Care Practice Committee
will need to give a strong lead if the SCA’s voice is going
to be worth listening to in future. In the past the Association
has led many campaigns to improve social care services, but the
General Meeting gave no indication that it has any concerns to
stoke up its fires at present.
The
absence of debate gave us a chance to doodle and look round the
conference hall. While the hotel was certainly comfortable and
had excellent facilities, it had the distinction of having the
worst colour scheme we have ever seen in a conference hall. It
is perhaps overstating it to say that there was a scheme; there
seemed to be two or three different schemes (one shades of mushroom,
another rich blues, etc.) all jumbled together, all fighting for
dominance, though the bright orange boxes in the roof, encased
in mirrors, won because they housed the lights. We would have
preferred to have some meaty professional items to focus on.
SCA
Website
The
SCA website has been upgraded by Steve Lee and Nick Johnson, and
is more interactive now. It has a real-time chat application,
a rolling calendar, an option for user polls, an FAQ section,
forums, instant messaging and an on-line application process for
new members. It also contains SCA materials, such as Practice
Guides.
The
site now has about 1,500 visitors per month, and it can be found
on www.socialcaring.co.uk
.
Social
Caring
The
SCA had done a deal with the publishers of Care and Health to
produce Social Caring, the SCA’s quarterly, though Des Kelly
was still acting as Editor. It was reported that there were plans
to increase its frequency. With Care and Health and the recent
production of Children Now, there is clearly going to be a bit
of a battle in an area where Community Care and The Guardian once
had the territory to themselves.
Finance
Despite
the problems during the summer of 2003 when a tiny slip led to
major problems as members were overcharged, the Association’s
finances were still showing a surplus, and there was a full programme
of consultancy work.
Officers
Gunvant
Champaneri was thanked for his years of work as Treasurer, the
last holder of the post, and a video message was sent by Professor
Daphne Statham CBE, who was elected unopposed as the next Vice
President. The Seminar marked the end of the presidency of Andy
Merker and the commencement of Campbell Marjoribanks’s year.
Presidential
Address
The
theme for the conference was Merging Services - Emerging Solutions,
and Andy Merker spoke of the range of areas where partnership
was now needed - in joint service planning, care planning, Supporting
People, housing issues, bed-blocking and Youth Offender Teams.
The point of the partnerships was to ensure that services revolved
round people, rather than vice versa. In the past organisational
boundaries had prevented needs being met, as the professions guarded
their frontiers and each service stayed in its silo.
There
clearly were advantages in merging services, but was this just
a quick fix? Would mergers be seen as takeovers? Andy quoted Caius
Petronius, with his cynicism about the value of change. Shared
aims should help staff to put aside their differences. If managers
acted as leaders, rather than senior experts, staff attitudes
could be changed, assisted by the co-location of services. Whether
training would lead to multi-professional workers in due course
remained to be seen. Partnership, Andy pointed out, involved trust
and meant giving things up.
His
conclusion was that the process would not be completed overnight
and needed time to see it through. Everyone was still learning,
and solutions were still emerging.
The
Commission for Social Care Inspection
Denise
Platt, the Shadow Chair of the CSCI, gave a trenchant and clear
address on the approach which the CSCI would take, explaining
the historical background to the reconfiguration of the services.
In 1997 Frank Dobson had wanted to bring down the Berlin Wall
between the National Health Service and the Social Services, and
Alan Milburn had taken an even more radical approach to refocus
the NHS on the patient.
Denise
described the changes in the NHS and acknowledged that at times,
integration appeared to have become the goal in itself. She spoke
of models of integration, and of the changing environment in which
developments were taking place.
With
David Behan as the first Chief Executive, the CSCI would :
-
develop comprehensive information about the quality and range
of services, leading to a star rating system,
- act as a “critical friend” - within the social care
system but prepared to speak up,
- reward and promote good practice,
- encourage standards above the minimum,
- focus on outcomes more than inputs,
- work with other inspectorates and
- adopt a rights-based approach, putting service users first.
Hybrid
Workers
David
Waddilove from TOPPS described a project which was examining new
ways of formulating jobs. The picture he offered appeared rather
bleak, casting doubt on the possibility of translating grand ideas
into practice and suggesting that workers were suffering death
by a thousand initiatives. Irritants could create pearls or lead
to disenfranchisement. He was also sceptical in that much that
was branded as new was in fact a hardy perennial, a triumph of
public relations rather than a real improvement in the services.
He pointed out that staff resisted change and that organic developments
were embedded best.
In
describing the project, David spoke of hybrid jobs, cutting across
client groups and interagency roles designed to offer preventative
services. A total of twelve pilot sites had been identified and
£6 million had been allocated to them. The successful services
were designed to improve community access to services, to reconfigure
them and to encourage people to think outside the box.
His
talk aroused some fierce criticism, but there were only six minutes
left for debate.
SCIE
Bill
Kilgallon outlined SCIE’s role - establishing what works,
translating knowledge into guidance and getting it applied in
practice. He spoke of projects currently in hand, and gave detailed
examples, such as the review of foster care and work with people
with learning difficulties.
He
also advocated use of the SCIE electronic library on www.elsc.org.uk
.
The
day ended with a panel made up of Joan Humble MP, Baroness Jill
Pitkeathley, Richard Greenwood, the Managing Director of Hill
Crest Homes and Mike Reid the Chief Executive of Care and Health.
