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Following feedback from managers the format of Team Brief has changed. Team Brief items are now identified as 'essential' or 'optional'. Essential items must be delivered as part of Team Brief. Optional items can be included at the manager's discretion based on relevance to the specific team.
The source of the item is also identified in the title - Public Health (PH), Integration & Partnerships (I&P), Adult Social Care (ASC), Children & Young People (C&YP), Provider Services (PS), Education & Skills (E&S), Commissioning (C).
Contents
Why this is in Team Brief:
The recent Local Area SEND inspection is the first such inspection in the county and it's findings will have a significant impact on the work of the council and partners.
Expected outcomes:
Staff are aware for anticipated publication date and plans for dissemination.
Briefing Information:
We are currently being told by Ofsted/CQC that the SEND Local Area inspection report will be published on 17 May.
All staff will receive a full briefing on the day of publication.
A multi-agency working group has been convened and has begun developing a programme of work based on the verbal feedback provided following the inspection.
Resources:
NA
Why this is in Team Brief:
Correspondence from MPs in relation to service users is increasing and a co-ordinated response is important.
Expected outcome:
Staff know what action to take if they receive correspondence from an MP.
Briefing information:
The Council has recently reviewed the way in which we manage enquiries from MPs. The aim is to efficiently and appropriately respond to enquiries regarding our services from MPs and their constituents.
In order for the Council to ensure MPs receive a timely response from the most appropriate person we have established a dedicated email address. This should help to centrally co-ordinate responses.
Please can staff direct contact from MPs to the mailbox: mpenquiries@cumbria.gov.uk
Resources:
NA
Why this is in Team Brief:
The Health and Wellbeing Strategy and Joint Public Health Strategy will significantly shape the work of the directorate and the wider Council over the coming years.
Expected outcomes:
Staff are aware of and able to summarise the key themes of the two new strategies.
Briefing information:
The Health and Wellbeing Strategy is a statutory document. The revised strategy, covering the period 2019-2029, was approved by the Health and Wellbeing Board on 18 April.
The strategy identifies four key themes:
- Protecting the health of the population as a whole
- Providing high quality, person centred care
- Improving health and wellbeing through the lifecourse (Starting Well, Living Well, Ageing Well, Dying Well)
- Tackling the wider determinants of health and wellbeing.
The Health and Wellbeing Strategy sets a small number of priorities under each of these themes, and these will be actively monitored and overseen by the Health and Wellbeing Board.
The Joint Public Health Strategy adds more detail to the theme of tackling the wider determinants of health. It has been formally approved by the County Council, all six District Councils and the Lake District National Park Authority.
This strategy lists key aims under five headings:
- Planet: growing our natural assets
- People: nurturing our human assets
- Participation: building social connections
- Place: improving physical assets
- Prosperity: fair and inclusive growth of our financial assets.
The Joint Public Health Strategy will be delivered through the Public Health Alliance working closely with District Council partners to identify actions and next steps.
Resources:
Health and Wellbeing Strategy
Joint Public Health Strategy
Why this is in Team Brief:
Raise awareness of the latest Active Lives survey results, showing the data achieved for Cumbria, and the district areas during the period November 2017 – November 2018
Expected outcomes:
Increased knowledge amongst staff in People of the national and county-wide picture regarding participation rates in physical activity,and also the stark differences across the district areas of Cumbria.
Briefing Information:
The latest results of Active Lives is out and it's a mixed picture again for Cumbria. Whilst figures are on par with the rest of England, there remains to be real inequalities in the levels of physical activity within the districts.
Highlights compared to the previous 12 months results show significant changes in the ‘inactive’ levels:
- Barrow-in-Furness inactive levels have increased by 3.6% to 31.6%, which is 6.5% above the national figure
- Copeland inactive levels have remained similar to 12 months ago at 27.6%, which is 2.3% above the national figure
- Eden inactive levels has been reduced by 2.2% to 21.2%, and is now better than the national figure
- South Lakeland again has the lowest inactive levels at 20.9%, which is similar to the level recorded 12 months ago, and better than the national figure
- Carlisle inactive levels have increased by 6.9% to 28.4% - 3.3% above the national figure
- Allerdale inactive levels increased slightly by 1.9% to 23% - 2.1% better than the national figure
Resources:
More information - joanna.coleman@cumbria.gov.uk
Full results - https://www.activecumbria.org/behealthybeactive/resources/
Why this is in Team Brief:
Raise awareness of the latest information arising from the Active Lives Children and Young People Survey, specifically focussing on young people’s attitudes to physical activity and sport.
Expected outcomes:
Increased knowledge amongst staff in People of the influences which affect young people’s attitudes to being physically active.
Briefing Information:
Active Lives provides comprehensive insight into how children in England are taking part in sport and physical activity both in and out of school drawing on the views of 130,000 children and young people.
A policy briefing has been prepared by Sport England highlighting what’s been learned from the findings. The full report on the Active Lives Children and Young People Survey (with links to the published data) can be found at: http://www.sportengland.org/cypattitudes
The key findings are:
- Physically literate children do twice as much activity. The more of the five elements of physical literacy - enjoyment, confidence, competence, understanding and knowledge - children have, the more active they are.
- Enjoyment is the biggest driver of activity levels. Despite the majority of children (68%) understanding that sport and activity is good for them, understanding had the least impact on activity levels.
- Children who have all five elements of physical literacy report higher levels of happiness, are more trusting of other children, and report higher levels of resilience.
- Physical literacy decreases with age. As children grow older, they report lower levels of enjoyment, confidence, competence, and understanding. Previous research from Sport England shows that activity levels drop when children reach their teenage years.
The results also reveal important inequalities among certain groups of children which must be tackled:
- Girls are less likely to say they enjoy or feel confident about doing sport and physical activity (58% of boys enjoy it, compared to 43% of girls while 47% of boys feel confident, compared to 31% of girls.) In children ages 5-7, boys are more likely to love playing sport, while girls are more likely to love being active.
- Children from the least affluent families are less likely to enjoy activity than those from the most affluent families, and previous research shows they are also far less likely to be active.
- Black children are more physically literate than other ethnic groups – driven by boys, but are less active than the population as a whole.
Resources:
More information - joanna.coleman@cumbria.gov.uk
Full results - https://www.activecumbria.org/behealthybeactive/resources/
Why this is in Team Brief?
This item is included following a request from teams.
Expected outcomes:
To provide colleagues with an overview of the role of the HAWC Team and how to refer into the team.
Briefing information:
Who are we?
We are a team of 27 staff covering the county, who are all trained to adopt the coaching model offering support to adults. There is currently 8 staff in the North; 10 in the West and 9 in the South, supported by 3 team leaders. A further 5 posts have currently been recruited to.
Who do we work with?
Anyone over the age of 16, who want to make positive changes to their life. We meet people in their own homes or a place they are happy with and can support the individual and their family. Most of the people we work with have faced a period of crisis, or have multiple issues that they need to understand and work through.
What do we do?
Our overall purpose it to improve overall health and wellbeing. In order to do this, we get to know the person/s and what works for them, their aspirations and goals and understanding the barriers to achieving these, together with the support they draw from their personal resources and resources around them. We encourage and coach to;
- Take action on factors that influence their health and wellbeing – including their lifestyle, relationships, interests and home life.
- Become more independent and resilient.
- Engage with their local communities and social networks
Is there a time limit?
We take as long as is needed - this can be weeks or months. All we ask it that they meet us on a regular basis and remain committed to make changes
How can they contact us?
We don’t have a referral form, so they or a supporting agency can contact us by making a phone call to our Single Point of Access (SPA) team, and ask to speak to the duty HAWC.
South Lakes/Barrow 0300 303 2704
Copeland/Allerdale 0300 303 3589
Eden/Carlisle 0300 303 3249
What can they expect from us?
Our first conversation will be to get some basic information such as - what they would like to change and what are their goals, who is already involved in their life, what support is already in place, how ready they feel to make those changes and what could we do to help?
The next step is for us to meet them, either alone or with their referring agent, to understand more about their current situation and where they see things going. This will always be at a place that suits them. The rest will be developed as we get to know each other.
What do we expect from them?
That they engage with us, and commit to making the changes they have identified.
More information:
Service Manager - Julie Batsford
https://www.cumbria.gov.uk/publichealth/hawcs.asp
Why this is in Team Brief:
The closure will have knock on impacts for the locations of several teams.
Expected outcomes :
To inform relevant staff of the changes.
Briefing Information:
Petteril House is closing with residents being relocated to other residential homes on 7th May.
Reablement Review Officers, Supported Living and Shared Lives staff currently located in Petteril House will be relocating to 3rd Floor Cumbria House in the space currently occupied by the LSCB/Quality Improvement Team; they in turn will be relocating to the space currently occupied by School Admissions team on 2nd Floor Cumbria House, and the School Admissions Team will be moving to first floor, west wing at Park House.
All moves will take place Tuesday 7th May and telephone numbers will remain the same. Thank you to colleagues for their support with the move.
Resources – n/a
Why this is in Team Brief:
Signs of Safety is the agreed practice methodology in Children and Young People’s Services. It is important all staff are aware of the latest developments.
Expected outcomes:
- Reminder to staff about a workshop to be held in Whitehaven delivered by Dr Andrew Turnell, co-creator of Signs of Safety
- Key messages from North Yorkshire – an outstanding SoS authority
- Sharing a practice example of using SoS mapping to assess and analyse fostering readiness
Briefing Information:
In Cumbria, Signs of Safety is about children and young people remaining with families when the families have the potential to care for them safely. It is a strengths-based approach to child protection casework, grounded in partnership and collaboration with families and other professionals.
1. Dr Andrew Turnell Workshop:
As you may be aware, one of the founders of Signs of Safety, Andrew Turnell is the Professor in Practice for social work at the University of Cumbria. As part of this, Andrew will be visiting Cumbria in May this year and is keen to engage directly with our social workers. He will be delivering an interactive workshop titled “Beyond Procedures – How do we stake a claim for what is effective social work practice”. This is being held at Whitehaven Golf Club – Function Room on 15 May 2 – 5pm and is open to social workers and social work managers from across the county – both in adults and children’s services. We have 100 spaces across both services.
Please discuss this with your line manager if you would like to attend. We would highly recommend you take this opportunity to hear Andrew talk – he is engaging and inspiring and it will be a great event. We will feedback from the event in June’s team brief.
2. Key messages from North Yorkshire – an outstanding SoS authority
Representatives from Cumbria visited North Yorkshire recently, who are Partners in Practice with the DoE due to their recognised levels of excellence and innovation in social care. They hosted a Signs of Safety event to share their practice and learning, following their ‘outstanding’ Ofsted inspection in 2018. Colleagues who attended represented services including Support and Protect and the IRO service. Some of the key messages they took from the event that they would like to share with us all were:
- Supervision should be a “conversation for change.” Never ‘telling’ staff how to do things – helping them find solutions. Using Appreciative Inquiry in supervision gives the worker the opportunity to reflect with their manager how change can be achieved through building a trusting relationship with families and their networks
- Relationship-based practice supports families to find their own network, who will work together to find their own solutions to care for children and keep them safe
- The importance of honouring the work of our own staff and modelling the approach we want workers to use with families – recognising the things they have done well
- We need to celebrate our fantastic practice examples and ‘name the success’ – what have people done well, how have they done it and how will they replicate this?
- The importance of being prepared with ‘best questions’ for all scenarios
- Slowing our thinking down and holding group supervisions
- The importance of not changing the goal posts for families
3. Practice Examples
One of the richest ways to learn and reflect on our own practice is to see examples of work from colleagues. There are some excellent examples across Cumbria, but we still want more! Those of you who have been to any of the SoS training events recently will know we are now using more and more local examples in our training, and it makes for such a powerful and inspiring learning experience for others.
If there is some work that you, a colleague, a student or a supervisee has done that could be shared to support all our learning, please do let David Carter or Louisa Day know. Don’t be shy!
In this edition, we would like to share how the SoS assessment and planning form can be adapted to cover a range of ‘Signs of Something’. In this example, a ‘Signs of fostering readiness’ template was used to assess and analyse with a prospective foster carer what her strengths, vulnerabilities and next steps were in relation to being approved as a foster carer. The social worker who completed this with the carer felt the questions and template provided a structure to the thinking and information-gathering, leading to a successful approval. It was also useful to use this strengths-based approach to introduce the carer to this methodology that will be used by Social Workers, Independent Reviewing Officers and other partners in her role as a carer.
Resources:
The template and mapping example are also available on our SoS SharePoint site.
Why this is in Team Brief:
There have been changes to way in which decisions are made in respect of serious case reviews.
Expected outcomes:
All relevant staff are aware of changes and know how to raise concerns about a case via the Need to Know Policy/Procedure.
Briefing Information:
There have been changes to way in which decisions are made in respect of serious case reviews.
The significant change to previous practice is that a national panel will consider serious incidents reported to them by local authorities and LSCB’s.
This national panel was established under the the Children and Social Work Act 2017 and operates under the relevant legislation and statutory guidance and is of interest to all senior leaders and frontline staff involved in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children.
The panel has the power to commission reviews of serious child safeguarding cases and to work with local safeguarding partners to improve learning and professional practice.
The panel comprises of 8 panel members appointed by the secretary of state for a 3 year term. The chief social worker is a standing member of the panel.
The panel take a system learning approach to the overall purpose of child safeguarding practice review arrangements is to explore how practice can be improved more generally through changes to the system as a whole. The panel should be notified of serious incidents, the definition of which can be found in Working Together 2018.
In Cumbria the notifications to the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel are made by the assistant Director – Children & Young People. All staff should be aware of the Need to Know Policy and Procedure which outlines the circumstances and/or events which must be notified to senior managers.
In all instances, the decision as to whether to undertake a review should be informed by whether a review would be able to identify any improvements to practice.
Children and families involved in the child safeguarding system and the general public rightly expect there to be improvement through change and it is our collective responsibility to make this happen. ( Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel: practice guidance, 2019).
Resources:
More information Lesley.Sanzcuk@cumbria.gov.uk
Need to Know Policy and Procedure
Why this is in Team Brief:
To let colleagues know about the Cumbria Safe Places Scheme.
Expected outcomes:
Staff share details of the scheme with vulnerable service users so they know where the safe places are in the event of an incident.
Briefing information:
Safe places is a national project that looks to identify places where people who need assistance at times of distress or confusion can get support from people who are willing to help. The Scheme has been around for some time and we are relaunching it in the light of concerns expressed by people with a learning disability about hate and mate crime.
Simply organisations sign up to be a safe place and put a poster in the window of their organisation, staff are offered brief training on how to respond. People can apply for a safe place card that they can show to people in the safe place. E.g. Cumbria House is a Safe Place.
Resources:
More information, the logo to look out for, and a list of safe places in Cumbria are available at: https://www.cumbria.police.uk/Advice-Centre/Personal-Safety/Safe-Places-Scheme.aspx
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