Martin Routledge’s Post

Great to read this from Reflection of Practice from Social Work Scotland which describes the Appreciative Inquiry work we did with NHS Highland and The Highland Council. Over 100 days - as part of a pilot for a new SDS self-evaluation process - we defined, discovered, dreamed, and designed what social care could look like in Highland through self-directed support. In the months since then we've been working on how it could be delivered. What did we learn? - that people can get stuck in complex and bureaucratic systems, but there are backdoors and tricks that people use to be able to get the right support in place. Instead of shutting these down we should explore them and see if we can legitimise them instead. - that somewhere along the way we've diluted the essence of social work. We've moved away from social workers being someone who can guide and support people, to them becoming people who do transactions. Instead of starting with eligibility we'll start them with a conversation, founded on compassion, care and curiosity on what better could look like. - that we waste a lot of time putting things into place that we think will be helpful but instead become barriers. Bureaucratic decision making processes take decisions further away from the people who matter. What's next? - we're developing a new approach to assessment and eligibility, that sees people and practitioners as equal partners in doing the right thing. - we're designing neighbourhood care models in rural communities, where traditional service models just don't work, but the people living there know best how to support their own folk. - we're coproducing collegiate spaces for peer decision making that focus on sharing knowledge and intelligence, rather than cumbersome resource panels. Read the summary below, or get in touch if you'd like to find out more! Email info@in-controlscotland.org.uk or message Pauline Lunn for a chat. https://lnkd.in/eVzBEGwX #selfdirectedsupport #appreciativeinquiry #humanlearningsystems #socialcare #socialwork

Time to think positively about social care…. and shared lives of course! My piece for Care Management Matters (CMM) https://lnkd.in/e-4QhztZ

A great article by Ewan King at Shared Lives Plus. It's time for a new and positive vision for social care. In communities across the UK there are models of care in place that are making a difference to people and communities. In Ewan's words: "In every area, there are bound to be great examples – such as Local Area Coordination, a form of support that connects people to one another and support in the community; Small Supports, which are community organisations helping people with significant support needs; Micro Enterprises, which are small care businesses providing highly personalised care; and community-led support, a whole systems approach to developing good social care practice that can reduce demand for formal social care. In almost every part of the country, there will also be Shared Lives, a pioneering and proven approach to supporting people who need support in their local communities." #BetterIsPossibleNow #SocialCare

There is so much in this report that I don't know where to begin! Learning is used as the strategy to not to only understand the system but the strategy to experiment and change the system! 😍 Creating and nurturing a space where public sector orgs and community & third sector orgs can build robust, trusting relationships to work together to experiment with making the system better. Not jumping to solutions and predetermined outcomes at the beginning (or before!) but trusting in the process and adapting based on what unfolds. Lots of learning in this inspiring and crackin' work 👏👏 Pauline Lunn Des McCart #HumanLearningSystems #Learning #Collaboration #WholeSystem #LearningByDoing

If only we could end the politicisation of social care and deliver real improvements for people who rely on it. This article highlights the urgent need for action in the social care sector: https://lnkd.in/eUDPaFiR

In 2023, the World Health Organization founded a Commission on Social Connection, with the goal of raising awareness of loneliness as a global public health priority. Have you checked in with yourself lately to assess your level of social engagement and loneliness? Connection is vital to our mental AND physical health.

Social care has not been valued or resourced sufficiently, which has both a profound human cost and economic consequences.” Darzi report finds #socialcare in dire state. https://hubs.li/Q02PJXCk0

Personalisation in adult social care puts those receiving care at the heart of any decision-making. This approach not only aligns with the mandates of the Care Act 2014 but reflects what people have consistently said they want from social care: dignity, respect, choice, and control over their lives. Developed by Think Local Act Personal (TLAP) our latest guide covers the key principles, practices, and questions to consider when implementing this approach and delivering person-centred care in your council.  https://lnkd.in/dxnJqfyD

Great explanation of what social workers do in this profession.

Some of you are probably asking: ‘Who is this woman and why does she keep banging on about nature and health?!’ Good question and one I’m happy to shed a little light on 🌞 I started working in frontline Adult Social Care at the tail end of what I can only call the glory days, before the financial crash in 2008, where up until that point Local Authorities had ring-fenced money to support the most vulnerable in communities as part of their significantly larger incomes from the Government. In those days, the voluntary sector was block-funded too, meaning that there was a regular income to pay staff and all the practical costs it took to run their projects, so people had access to the community and the potential to experience a sense of belonging. It wasn’t perfect, but looking back, boy was it good times. Then Austerity was meted out and just when we were beginning to feel the moral injury of no longer being able to offer hope and possibility, COVID came along, yet still we persevered, until it got to the point of no return - the system is well and truly broken 😢. It all became so divisive, and a battleground between health, social care and all the other sectors fighting for the shrinking budgets on offer, while we witnessed the 1% thrive: an explosion of wealth occurred at the same time as health conditions influenced and exaggerated by deprivation and poverty reached record lows. Alongside all of this I was acutely aware of the escalating devastation of the natural world with record-breaking temperatures across the globe causing extreme weather conditions such as floods, wildfires, storms and droughts. The more I tuned into the destruction of the natural world and our one and only life support system, I was simultaneously experiencing the political choices of those in power across the globe that were causing more destruction and ever-worsening health conditions and again noticed that those in the most deprived areas were affected the most. I live and work in Nottingham and am heartbroken and ashamed that our City is regularly cited as one of the most deprived places in the country with the third lowest ranked LA for living a healthy and long life (average age of just 54.6 years for men) and the 11th most deprived district out of 317 districts in England by the Index of Multiple Deprivation, which considers a range of domains of deprivation – income, employment, education, health, crime, barriers to housing and services and living environment. https://lnkd.in/eMqTCEKx If you’ve been reading my posts you can see how beneficial nature is to the health of our local communities. Keep an eye out for my future posts on the specific health benefits of exposure to nature and the more profound benefits of connecting emotionally to the natural world around us. It’s a win-win situation.