Service Design in Government - Thriving Families in Derbyshire

Sarah Eaton @saraheaton1

Head of policy and Research at Derbyshire County Council

Martha Hampson @marthie

Head of Innovation Practice at Innovation Unit

Ajo Clua @ajoclua

Service Designer at Innovation Unit

Service Design in Government 2015, 19th March,

London

Innovation Unit l Derbyshire County Council © Copyright 2015

Thriving Families is a project about

redesigning support for families with

complex needs.

We started our journey by talking to families,

giving them a space to tell us their stories.

Alison’s Story

How does the story make you feel?

What’s surprising?

What questions does it raise?

Think about…



Alison Riley was referred to Thriving

Families as a single person with rent arrears

and no dependants.

What we found when we went to visit her

was a very different picture to the one we

thought we knew.

Aliso

n


Alison’s 14 year old grandson lives

with her full time (unofficially) as he

is treated badly by his stepfather.

Alison’s sister stays

most weekends with

her three autistic sons.



Family

Alison lives in a three bedroom house with her oldest

grandson, James, and provides support for her mum

who lives in a nursing home. Alison is currently

unemployed, having been made redundant a year

ago, but is actively looking for work. She also has

ideas about setting up a business but doesn’t know

how to or who to speak to.

Alison brings her elderly mother to the house in a

wheelchair every day because she worries that the

care home is understaffed and cannot properly meet

her needs.

Alison also provides respite care for her sister, Julie,

who has three sons with autism. Julie and her sons

live in Nottingham, but stay with Alison every

weekend so Julie can visit her mum in the nursing

home and Alison can help to look after the boys.

“I felt guilty about putting

mum in a nursing home”


Money

Alison receives £140 a fortnight to support her and

James. However, because James is living with her

unofficially, she pays bedroom tax of £40 a fortnight

on two of the bedrooms in the house. After

electricity, gas and telephone bills this leaves her

with just under £40 a fortnight to live on.

Alison is determined to keep her house as fewer

bedrooms would mean her sister and nephews could

no longer stay with her. She sees the tax as

something she has consciously decided to pay,

having weighed up the benefits to her family of

spending time together.

Alison has stopped going out with her friends as she

can no longer afford it.


Health

Alison needs an operation on her foot but is worried

about the impact this would have on James and Liz.

Alison doesn’t have a car and, because she can’t

afford public transport, she walks everywhere. She

walks to Liz’s nursing home every day, some days

takes her walks in the woods nearby.

Alison also walks to Ilkeston to go shopping as she

doesn’t like the shops in Cotmanhay because she

said she didn’t feel comfortable using them. Alison is

worried that her foot might get worse and get to a

point where she is unable to walk at all.

Alison’s Story

How does the story make you feel?

What’s surprising?

What questions does it raise?

Share with your neighbour…



• We simply don’t know enough about people’s lives:

their ambitions, their dreams, their struggles

• We make huge assumptions about what their lives are

like and what they need

• We don’t provide services in ways that support them

What did this story make us think?

Why

THRIVING

FAMILIES?



• In Derbyshire almost 17% of children and young people

under the age of 20 live in poverty.

• Families with multiple needs face underlying difficulties

which combine to perpetuate disadvantage even further.

• The cost of families with complex needs is around

£75,000 per family per year, most of which is spent in

reaction to crisis.

• For many families this support is too little, too late.

Why Thriving Families?


1. Securing better outcomes for families with

complex needs at less cost

2. Helping thriving families continue to thrive

3. Preventing families falling into crisis

The aims of the programme


1. Work collaboratively

2. Take a family-centred approach

3. Build on existing knowledge and insight

4. Challenge how the system works where appropriate

5. Active engagement of our senior leaders

6. Make things happen in our communities

Our commitments


• Areas where we can use and build on

existing resources

• Areas with strong existing networks

to work with and build on

• Areas with diverse families, needs

and aspirations

• Areas that require big structural

issues to be tackled

A focus on four localities

A partnership approach


About Innovation

Unit


We use innovation to build

radically different public

services with significantly

better outcomes and

significantly lower costs

Our design process

NEW PERSPECTIVES ON THE

CHALLENGE

NEW PERSPECTIVES ON

SOLUTIONS

Discover Define Develop Deliver

(Double Diamond Design Process, Design Council UK)


NEW PERSPECTIVES

ON THE CHALLENGE



What we did I Ethnographic

research

• Learning from families

• Engaged families in a different way

• Engaging staff in a new process

• Exploring the ‘need behind the need’


In-depth qualitative research to learn about the

needs, aspirations and assets of 10-15 families

in each locality.

50+trained staff

33families

What we did | Resource mapping


What we did | Co-design

• Building a shared mission + vision

• Talking about shared problems in a safe

space

• Getting to the heart of what good support

looks like

35

families

We spoke to families where they are to find out

what they value in services and what kind of

support works best for them.


What we found out

Cotmanhay

• Hyper-local existence

• Stigma of the area and its

negative impact on the people

living and working there

• Lack of confidence but a

desire to do something /

change something / leave

• Perception of ‘Them and Us’:

local people vs service

providers

• Lots of amazing people doing

lots for others

Gamesley

• Strong bonding capital and a

desire to live in Gamesley, as

close family as possible

• Low/modest aspirations

• Managing on a low budget,

family members ‘helping one

another out’ in times of need

• A traditional work ethic but

many people not in work – a

lack of skills or the wrong skills,

transport problems


What do ‘good’ services look like?

Honesty, trust and open

communication

Ability to admit and explain

mistakes

Dependability and keeping

promises

Getting the basics right

Connecting to the family: making

families feel welcome

Respect: taking time to listen

Working together: with families,

with each other

Seeing the whole, not just parts of

the picture

Challenging what counts as

‘normal’

Taking time to understand root

problems


A new set of principles

We need to be…

• Always learning about families and communities, what works, how

to do things better.

• Human. Prioritise building relationships, take time to listen and

understand.

• A positive force for change in the lives of families and across

communities. Proactive, not reactive.


We need to have…

• Trust & honesty that works in both directions. Keep our promises.

Be dependable. Admit mistakes. Be truly accountable.

• Practical & sustainable services, relationships and interactions that

provide consistency and are of real benefit.

• Agility & flexibility to respond to changing circumstances and try

new ways of doing things. Help families to have this too and support

their transition points.


We need our services to…

• Meet real needs and get the basics right.

• Build community capacity to be able to take ownership of and

pride in its future.

• Focus on family outcomes above all else.

• Form alliances and work in partnership, with families and each

other.

NEW

PERSPECTIVES

ON SOLUTIONS



What if services…

Were truly joined up, working together for co-designed, shared outcomes

Focused on tackling core problems not treating symptoms

Worked on a much longer timescale

Were structured by area, becoming neighbourhood experts

Had access to data and local knowledge

Tried things out, even if they didn’t work first time, and were honest about their

mistakes

Empowered front-line staff to take action

Had time to really get to know a family and build up trust


What we made | 8 ideas



What we did | Prototyping

• Involving people with early ideas to learn

what is most important for them

• Prototyping, not (yet) piloting

• A safe way to learn: fail early, fail fast45families

“We’ve never been asked our opinion in

this way before”

Cotmanhay resident at prototyping workshop


Prototyping | Insights

• People only come into the system when they are defined as a

‘problem’ and this deficit model is both damaging and unhelpful.

• Volunteering, helping and caring for others is not a just selfless

good deed but forms supportive relationships and gives people

a sense of purpose and community.

• People can become invisible to services: supporting

others alone, struggling to cope, nowhere to go, isolated.

• Communities need an open, friendly space not

dictated or overshadowed by individuals. Community

groups need to be more visible and connected.


What we made | 3 new models


Integrated working

between services

New relationship

between services +

community

Family-led support


What we’re doing | Implementing

• Building a business plan

• Gathering evidence & talking to people

(families and council staff), looking at things

we’ve done in the past & why didn’t it work

• Working together in new ways


Alison


What next?

• Running the three service ideas/pilot from May

• Continuing the design process in three other localities

• Spreading the process to other council departments

• Looking for opportunities to join things up (HWB on social capital

and health outcomes)

• Training up professionals: council staff and partners

• Finding new opportunities for local people to get involved

• Spreading the word!

Reflections


Reflections


• Disciplined process has been vital

• Having a critical friend (especially someone who is not as close as you

are)

• Grabbing like-minded people when you find them… and getting them

interested and involved

• But recognising that you can’t wait for absolutely everyone to get it

• Gathering evidence to reinforce the case for change

• Not giving up. Keep energy and not letting anything distract you

• Training members of staff to innovate to create sustainable innovation

“I wish we’d known how easy it was to do it”• Go and speak to people

• Go where people are

• How much ambition people have in the community and their

ambition for things to change

• Having the belief that you can do this and that you are not

alone

What do we wish we’d known

before we started?


“I wish we’d known how hard it would be to change”• It’s a slow process – there are quick wins but culture change

takes a long time and can’t be rushed

• You need determination and stamina

• Having council departments signed up and believing in the

project

Reflections

How could you use this approach in

your own work?

What are the barriers to doing this

work?


Thank you!


For more information on Thriving Families please contact:

Martha Hampson, [email protected]

@innovation_unit

Sarah Eaton, [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Service Design in Government - Thriving Families in Derbyshire

Government & Nonprofit

Transcript of Service Design in Government - Thriving Families in Derbyshire