Discussion paper and response to:

“Better Care – a Voluntary and Community Sector Response”

Historical notes

The intentions, aspirations and vision expressed in the “new” Better Care agenda are in fact not

new as many of us who have worked in Health, Social Care and the Voluntary/Charity/Third

Sector for some time know only too well. The basic premise of joined up care and support built

around the individual and their local setting makes sense, those of us who have worked on the

ground in communities can vouch and even evidence this fact! Those who have even had the

pleasure of writing and creating individualised, joined up Care and Support plans will look at this

as a great opportunity to catch up with an old friend.

“New Horizons”, “New Dawn”

What is new is the new found enthusiasm from the statutory sector - Health and Social Care to

sign up to the idea, now the cynics among us can see that this is a cash driven “new” agenda but

even so it does open up real possibilities not only for all the individuals who would benefit but also

for the standing and capacity of the voluntary/charity/third sector to be noticed consulted and

involved.

Now if we accept at the onset that it is the money that is the driver for Health and Social Care to

suddenly want to be best buddies, we can head into this with our eyes wide open. It has been

suggested that we all cosy up and the “professionals” get even more involved in the

commissioning, endorsing and gate keeping of monies and resources that has traditionally been

out there in the jungle which is funding land – Trusts, Lottery, Grants, Time Limited Projects etc

etc.

This seems to me to be exchanging a flawed system for an even more flawed system. The

Statutory sector is full of big beasts which need to be fed a diet of conformity, endless risk

assessments, structures and obscure targets which need to be met – there is little space for flare,

creativity, individuality, flexibility and localised responsiveness. The latter being the strengths of

the voluntary sector and how activities developed here tend to work as they are usually based on

some form of actual local need or aspiration.

Culture shift

The way forward for Health and Social Care is for managers and commissioners of services to get

back to basics with how they train and empower individual staff and configure services. There

needs to be a huge culture shift back to encouraging local knowledge and relationships to be bred

into the local arms of services so that joined up care and support can happen.

The barriers need to come down, voluntary sector and charity project staff should be included and

invited to individual service reviews, case conferences, care planning meetings and care reviews.

More than lip service needs to be given to service shortfalls and a dialogue established with the

voluntary/charity/third sector in how these gaps can be effectively filled.

Statutory sector staff operating in a hands-on roll or working in localities need to be freed up to be

creative and more critically, required to be informed and up to date on what’s available locally.

This is how costs could be saved, how resources could be used to the max and how individuals

could get a joined up package of support.

Downsides

Working together does not require submission or micromanagement from Health or Social Care

this is not partnership working with voluntary sector partners it is asset stripping.

The statutory sector does not generally understand or get the 3rd sector and how it works –

evidence from this is there in recent actions and statements. I understand there is no longer a

local voluntary sector voice on the Local Strategic Partnership and that there are jealous

mumblings from senior officers of the local authority who should know better about the funding the

sector is able to leaver in – they do not grasp the value to both aid and bolster the local economy

and the value to individuals and the wider community offer.

…and then there is the concept of creating a grand Single Point of Contact – with the idea of

GP’s/Professionals acting in part as gate keepers on referrals to voluntary services! This would

move us even tighter into a straitjacket of statutory sector control – this when they cannot agree

their own reemit for their own other multiple “single points of contact”!

It is a fact that as a sector we distribute loads of information on the services we run the activities

we deliver to our Health and Social Care colleagues – much of this is ignored or does not even get

seen, for example GP’s often do not get passed on information sent to them and if they do get it

passed on, very few take the time to read. Then when you embarrassingly sit at some

commissioning group or CCG meeting they decry the lack of such voluntary sector information!

By all means let’s have a voluntary sector central point where every group, service or activity can

promote their endeavours and offer but we need to present it as an offer not a shop where

services and activities rise or fall on the whim of some statutory sector gate keeper.

Les Rogers