Chapter 8: Capacity for improvement
Summary
We are of the opinion that the capacity for improvement is weak.
The evaluation for social work services reflects major issues arising from: the lack of reliable systems and data for performance management; the lack of service improvement systems; questions about the capacity to drive change; a lack of vision for the social work service; low staff morale, and a lack of cohesion in senior management. We had concerns about the limited capacity to deliver necessary change within the present structure and staffing.
These are not weaknesses that can be easily overcome. We are however, aware that there are corporate structures for taking forward change processes and that these could be utilised for ensuring that improvement takes place. The Chief Executive has a track record in change management and would be able to offer leadership in the process. We hope that this would counterbalance other concerns already identified.
The three issues which must be given priority in making an evaluation in this section are the extent to which:
- Some improvement has already been made in achieving key outcomes and positively impacting on people and stakeholders.
- Quality improvement arrangements are demonstrably and currently effective and the organisation has the capacity to continue improving.
- Leadership and management are demonstrably and currently effective.
Key outcomes and impact on people
Performance against national indicators is mixed. Social work services do well in supporting some older people at home, and in avoiding delayed discharge from hospital, but high thresholds of intervention overall exclude many from a service. The service to people with mental health problems and those who misuse substances needs to improve. In children and family services there are a high number of looked after children in foster care, and a low number in residential care, but a high percentage of children looked after outside the area and a significant number with experience of homelessness. There were also well below average outcomes for the educational attainment of looked after children, an area in which the combined ECS directorate might have been expected to show better performance.
Social work services did not have robust systems for systematically measuring or reporting outcomes, relying on stand alone databases for many service performance indicators and for reporting of social work activity to members, giving data that could be less than accurate. They need to develop systems for measuring and reporting outcomes for people who use services.
Quality improvement arrangements
There was little evidence of quality assurance being exercised. Problems ranged from senior management level, where there was little or no management information in order to monitor quality, through to frontline teams, where files were rarely monitored by managers. There was some preparatory work for a Performance and Quality Improvement Unit, though the proposed costs of such a unit must render it at risk from budgeting constraints.
We found that while supervision was generally provided, it was inconsistent, and not related to any system which might analyse processes and effect change. We were pleased to see that the previous unacceptable position in relation to the management and reporting of complaints, and the problems with the out-of-hours service were being actively addressed. We have already stressed the importance of the need for more robust management information, and the necessity of instituting a performance management culture in order to make informed decisions about performance and thus initiate positive changes. Our survey indicated that more than two-thirds of staff felt the service they provided could improve, and this was so of almost all managers, though far fewer felt they had the ability to improve the service. Only one-third of staff who responded expected working conditions to improve in the next 12 months. Senior management in social work services and corporate management in Dumfries and Galloway face significant challenges to turn this around.
We have highlighted several teams and initiatives which show creativity in the use of resources to respond to need. This should continue and be encouraged. However, there were positive initiatives which looked promising, but seemed to have stalled, or been delayed, including the Review of Fieldwork and the Integrated Assessment Framework.
Those responsible for the delivery of social work services to the people of Dumfries and Galloway must review the way they respond to the need for changes to be made. We found that it often took too long to take forward the findings of reviews, and to finalise and sign off responses to new national initiatives, such as the vulnerable adults procedure.
Leadership and management
We have identified throughout this report that the social work services in Dumfries and Galloway has a good quality, focused frontline workforce and middle management, with strong loyalty at team level and focused on delivering a good professional social work service. The recruitment and retention drive has had a positive impact, and social work services were making attempts to ensure they had trained and qualified staff. The lack of qualified social work staff at senior management level, while not necessarily a problem in all structures, becomes more significant in a service which is struggling with identity and direction. The most valuable resources in social work services in Dumfries and Galloway are staff and managers who are capable of making a telling contribution to improving the service. Training and development of staff, particularly managers, must improve if social work services is to meet the challenges identified in this report.
Education and Community Services was created in 2003. One of the identified risks was the loss of identity of social work staff. It is clear from our inspection, with evidence from staff within the social work services and other partners and stakeholders, that the identity of social work services is very weak indeed. This has not been helped by the confusion about the role and responsibility of the post of Chief Social Work Officer, a situation improved but not completely clarified by recent and belated Committee decisions. This confusion over leadership and accountability is reflected in the senior management of social work services, and permeates throughout the service.
We have identified that there is little sense of ownership among staff in relation to initiatives such as the Children's Services Plan, and the Joint Health and Community Care Plan. Staff spoke of top down planning, and of not being consulted or listened to, and of senior management being distant. It will be difficult to effect change unless there is a change in this culture.
The service faces challenges, with differences between east and west, children and families and adult services, and in workloads, gradings and conditions of service. These make it difficult for social work services to deliver effective services with any consistency. Just the opposite.
We have identified the low morale and uncertainty about identity within social work services, and reflected views that the structure of ECS is unwieldy, with a span of control that may be too wide.
Social work services have been operating with a budget above the Grant Aided Expenditure ( GAE) calculated by the Scottish Executive. At the time of the inspection, the impact on social work services of policy-led budgeting and a corporate programme of options to determine efficiencies in service departments was not yet known.
We are aware that a number of management issues were being considered at corporate level before the inspection, and in response to the self-evaluation, which, if followed through, could address some of the serious concerns identified in this report. These include the transfer of some responsibilities out of ECS, which would reduce the span of control of the director, succession planning proposals, and the Financial Efficiency Strategy. In addition, there is other corporate work ongoing in relation to financial management, due to be reported to full council by the end of October, which will also take account of the findings in this report.
We consider that this corporate approach, together with the Chief Executive's strong personal commitment to take a leadership role in the change process within social work services, will be essential to ensure that the necessary improvements are made.