Thank you to everyone who attended the 'next chapter' staff conference on 18 March, sorry that I wasn't able to be there due to personal reasons.

Initial feedback has been that it was a really positive day with lots of opportunities to talk face to face with colleagues and have the type of conversations that we've missed having.

It was great that we could be joined by Think Local Act Personal and the National Co-production Advisory Group to help us think about our co-production journey and reflect on where we think we are, what we're doing well and where we could improve.

We hope that you were equally inspired as we were by Peter Hay, the keynote speaker, who lay down the challenge to us to really think about our role and power in supporting people to live 'gloriously ordinary lives'

With the Easter break just around the corner, we hope that everyone can get the opportunity to spend some time away from work, and just like our vision be in the place you call home, with the people and things you love, doing the things that matter to you.

Best wishes,

Tandra Forster, Director of Integrated Adult Social Care

Keri Storey, Deputy Director of Integrated Adult Social Care Operations

Solveig Wright, Deputy Director of Integrated Adult Social Care Commissioning

Gary Patch, Head of Service Integrated Adult Social Care Operations 

Thank you to those who were involved in delivering the workshops and plenary sessions, they were full of energy and conversation. The presentations given on the day are available below.

Presentations:

• Peter Hay Keynote speaker 
• Think Local Act Personal 
• Practice Standards and Values

Workshops:

• Technology Enabled Care Support in our practice
• Strength based practice
• Market Shaping

If you did attend and want to provide any feedback then please do via the short online form. Your feedback will help us to get these events right, and do let us know if you would like to be involved in any way as the second conference in September is planned.

At the Staff Conference Tina and Carolyne launched our Practice Standards and Values and facilitated conversations about the role we all have in embedding them in our work across both operations and commissioning.

Tina and Carolyne also spoke about  'The Big Thank You', a new way to celebrate, appreciate and recognise the great work individuals in our teams are doing in demonstrating our values. The Big Thank You is now live so please start using it to celebrate the amazing work that takes place everyday.

Further information can be found on reSOURCE via the link below.

On 19 March we celebrated World Social Work Day with a joint event at the Coaver Club with Children's Services. 

The theme this year was ‘Buen Vivir: Shared Future for Transformative Change’. The agenda for the local celebrations included speakers and presentations from DCC staff and also from for local partners and international friends.  

There was real buzz throughout the day particularly during the session led by John Mary Ssekate, National Co-ordinator of the National Association of Social Workers of Uganda who joined online from Uganda. All the presentations and photos of the day can be found below.

Thank you to everyone involved in making it such a special event.

23 local authorities have now been part of, or been notified of their participation in the CQC inspection process. This month Gloucestershire has been notified, the first authority in the south west region.

We have good links and contacts in Gloucestershire and this will ensure we that obtain a good insight into the inspection process, both in preparing for and during the visit from inspectors. 

Our self assessment has been reviewed and contributed by the Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee this month, prior to seeking Cabinet approval in April. The document will form the basis of our submission to the CQC upon notification of our inclusion in the inspection process.

Upon initial notification of our inclusion in the inspection process we will be given 3 weeks to complete a mandated information return. A second notification will then arrive informing us of a site visit with 6-8 weeks. The site visit could be 6 months after the initial notification.

Once this second notification is received we will be required to submit our case tracking information within 10 days.

We were invited to attend the first Devon Care Home Collaborative conference this month, and the theme was very much about celebrating the care home sector, and looking at the new CQC framework.

It's clear that the relationships we have with care home providers is in a good place, and that's down to a lot of hard work and it was great to see the genuine warmth across the day.

This was encapsulated by Nicola Tribble and Cllr McInnes being presented with unexpected awards for their on-going support and championing of care home providers, including during the pandemic. Nicola and James were quick to reflect that the awards were for everyone in the team who continue to work so hard, and with such dedication.

The One Eastern Devon partnership (OED) is a new alliance of local government, public sector organisations, the NHS, the voluntary sector, faith groups and universities/ higher education institutions that have come together to tackle some of the key health and wellbeing issues facing communities across Eastern Devon.

OED is part of the recently established place-based partnerships that form part of the Integrated Care System that was established in 2022. In Devon these place-based partnerships are called Local Care Partnerships. OED is co-chaired by Cllr Ian Hall (pictured).

With the new Annual Leave Purchase employee benefit, you can buy additional holiday while spreading the cost through manageable salary reductions

All requests shall be considered on a case-by-case basis and managers may use discretion to decline requests for legitimate business reasons. These could include but are not limited to; the impact upon service delivery, the employee being formally or informally managed under capability or conduct policies or procedures, or where purchasing further leave would lead to the employee working an insufficient amount of time to maintain appropriate knowledge and productivity levels.

More information and including the process to go through is detailed below