100 likes | 183 Views
SSRG Workshop Joining up Locally – Partnerships for better practice and performance. The workforce: The foundation of seamless practice Nick Johnson Social Care Association. The pre-Seebohm workforce. Up to 1970 ‘social care’ was largely public and voluntary provision
E N D
SSRG WorkshopJoining up Locally – Partnerships for better practice and performance The workforce: The foundation of seamless practice Nick Johnson Social Care Association
The pre-Seebohm workforce • Up to 1970 • ‘social care’ was largely public and voluntary provision • that year combination began from MOH, Children’s and Welfare Departments • about 500 employers • Good range of professional qualifiactions and groups • Unqualified basic workforce
The changed workforce • By 2005 • 1.5 million • mainly female (80+%), • about 25% qualified • Mostly part time, • Heavily low paid staff • working with approximately 28,000 employers (CSCI, DH, SfC and GSCC data sources)
Will fragmentation lead to greater partnership? • Ivan Lewis said that partnership could be defined as “the suppression of mutual loathing in return for mutual financial gain” (GSCC Conference 2007) • With three quarters of provision now in private hands, is this the kind of partnership that is more likely? • What happens to stewardship of public money?
Will structural motivators lead top better partnership? • Do targets applied to public service commissioners impact effectively on private providers? • Are the information needs of the commissioner the same as the provider? • How secure is publicly commissoned provision? • What is the impact of further fragmentation of the sector (Direct payments etc.)?
Nature of the workforce • Ranges from £4.70 per hour to £150k+ a year • NMDS Data will give a more accurate picture of number, gender and qualification (Formerly social trends?) • Inter-Connectedness of workforce has reduced because of increase in range of employers • Power has reduced because of diminished role of structural networks such as unions and professional associations
It’s the relationship • Contractual, compact and service agreements to improve service quality are meaningless without relationships. • These are vertical, horizontal and 3D lateral to make a complicated matrix • They include everyone affected by the service and coalesce around the person using the service
The worker • The operational practitioner is the conduit through which all of these relationship benefits must pass to achieve the desired effect. • The quality of inputs and links with other professionals become critical here • The only valid measure of service quality is the interaction between the care worker and the service user
The Service User at the centre • This is the current mantra being expounded • It is not new and was always a feature of best practice • It is conditional on our attitude to front line workers who will deliver this objective – or not
Confident, Competent workforce (SSSC) • Well valued, qualified and well paid workers • are more likely to fulfil the aspiration to put the person they work with at the centre of their practice • Are more likely to relate with confidence with allied professionals • Are more likely to challenge doubtful practice and • Are more likely to face off managers who are not pursuing this objective They are the key to seamless practice in social care