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Mediating with older people

Mediating with older people. Who are you calling unprofessional? Scepticism and defensiveness in Scotland. Two typical reactions. “My sister could have done with you guys” “Oh my God, I hope we never need you!”. As welcome as.

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Mediating with older people

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  1. Mediating with older people • Who are you calling unprofessional? • Scepticism and defensiveness in Scotland

  2. Two typical reactions • “My sister could have done with you guys” • “Oh my God, I hope we never need you!”

  3. As welcome as ....

  4. “By 2016, for example, we expect the number of older Scots requiring some form of care to rise by up to a quarter, rising to nearly two thirds by 2032.” Reshaping Care for Older People, 2011 • “the number of people aged 75 and over is projected to rise by 75% from 370,000 in 2004 to 650,000 by 2031” Future Care of Older People, 2006

  5. Mediation? • 0.01% of civil court actions in 2007-9 • 1,000 attended family mediation in 2011/12 out of over 10,000 divorces and at least that number of unmarried people separating

  6. NHS Mediation Scheme(complaints about healthcare) • 100 mediations p.a. • 5 NHS areas • Train complaints handlers, who... • “select complaints cases which are deemed appropriate for mediation.”

  7. What happened? • Year 1 - 5 cases • Year 2 - 2 cases • Complaints handlers: “I can only see myself sending a couple of cases a year.”

  8. Small Claims Mediation Scheme • Airdrie Sheriff Court • Referrals from the In-court Advisor • 100 referrals - 15 went to mediation

  9. Additional Support Needs (ASN)Mediation • Statutory foundation - Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 • Independent providers • Slow start - increases every year. 61cases in 2011/12(two major providers)

  10. Statutory foundation: Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007“Where the commission considers it appropriate to do so , it may, by notice in writing to the complainer and the practitioner, offer to mediate in relation to the complaint.”Appointed a mediation managerSlow start - now more cases mediated than investigated(57 as against 42 in 2010/11)

  11. Manager attributed slow burn success to three causes:1) word of mouth among professionals2) her own role as coordinator, “conveying the values of mediation”3) genuine goodwill on the part of lawyers: “they don’t want an unhappy client”

  12. What is it about Scotland? • Free personal care (http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/lessons-funding-long-term-care-scotland ) • Free personal care has the capacity to support clients' wishes for person-centred care which is sensitive to individual needs • Free personal care has made provision for those of modest means – especially women – and people with conditions such as Alzheimer's disease more equitable • Free personal care promotes more 'joined-up' approaches, reduces means-testing and money worries, and enables informal carers to continue caring. Thus, it can improve clients' quality of life and support their care choices.

  13. What is it about Scotland? • Poverty reduction (The Poverty Site - http://www.poverty.org.uk/s64/index.shtml) • The proportion of pensioners living in low-income households (using the low-income threshold of the 60% of median income after deducting housing costs) has been falling, from an average of 29% of all pensioners in the years 1996/97 to 1998/99 to an average of 14% in the years 2006/07 to 2008/09. • The proportion of pensioners in low income in Scotland is lower than in any of the other regions of the United Kingdom.

  14. What is it about Scotland? • Professionals (Harris, Riddell and Smith (2008) SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS (ENGLAND) AND ADDITIONAL SUPPORT NEEDS (SCOTLAND) DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROJECT • “McPherson and Raab (1988) argued that professional autonomy was greater in Scotland than in England because Scottish semi-independence rested on the autonomy of its professionals.” • “England and Wales the bureaucratic rationality model is a dominant feature of the framework for decision- making...whereas in Scotland the professional judgment model is more dominant.”

  15. Bureaucracy • Healthcare Improvement Scotland

  16. Lessons • Start with respect and humility • Engage policymakers and politicians • Assume the best of professionals who are already working with older people • Avoid ‘mediation evangelism’ • Ask ‘what is the question to which mediation is the answer?’

  17. Good luck and enjoy the work • Charlie Irvine • charlie.irvine@strath.ac.uk

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