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8. THE SIGNIFICANT CASE REVIEW ( SCR) AND THE LEARNING CYCLE
99. One of the key objectives of an SCR is to establish whether there are lessons to be learnt. Once these have been identified in the report it is important that action is taken by CPCs to implement these lessons and to ensure improvements are made to practice. Existing good practice should also be shared.
100. Each agency and CPC should be monitoring practice and procedures, making improvements as required. Recommendations and learning from SCRs should be fed into this same process of continuous improvement and quality assurance. On occasions there will be recommendations which are relevant for action at a national level, for the Scottish Executive or others to take forward in conjunction with agencies.
101. The CPC and local agencies will need to look at recommendations for any lessons from individual reviews as well as across reviews in their own and other areas. CPCs will need to determine:
- A timeframe for action;
- The scope of change required;
- Who and/or what service(s) and organisations are responsible for change; and
- The resource implications.
102. The changes required may involve:
- Management;
- Policy;
- Protocols;
- Practice;
- Operating conditions;
- A combination of any of these; and
- Communications with other CPCs and/or the Scottish Executive.
103. CPCs will wish to consider how to promote commitment to change:
- Consider identifying one senior person to champion change;
- Communications to interested parties;
- Support and acknowledge good practice within and between organisations/service areas; and
- Determine the impact on individuals or organisations (risk factors) as a result of change.
104. In addition, CPCs will need to consider how to:
- Build public confidence;
- Identify, plan and implement the required training; and
- Produce and implement long and short term action plans. Action plans can be fed directly into Children's Service Plans.
105. CPCs will need to consider how to sustain change by:
- Monitoring and evaluation including linking into reporting and action planning cycles;
- Engagement with stakeholders; and
- Supporting staff.
106. The CPC should produce a summary of cases sent to them over the course of the year and introduce these into the learning cycle, whether the decision was to undertake a SCR or not. CPCs will determine the urgency for action planning and implementation within the learning cycle according to the significance of the issues raised to protecting children and young people.
107. After some SCRs it may be necessary for other CPCs to review their own guidance and procedures in light of the findings and recommendations from a review. This could be facilitated through the meetings of the quarterly CPC Chairs Group or by specially convened meetings depending on the need for urgency.
108. Some recommendations from reviews may be for consideration at national level and will need to be led by the Scottish Executive. In addition the Executive will be in receipt of the CPC Annual Reports (including the annual analysis of cases) and will be able to pick up any trends from these and feed them back to CPCs and to the inspectorates more widely as appropriate.
109. Learning from reviews will also be important for the inspectorates as they have a role inspecting services and can evaluate how well recommendations have been implemented and the learning put into practice. Reports sent to the Scottish Executive will be circulated to inspectorates as appropriate.
110. Some recommendations from reviews may be for consideration at national level and may have implications for a range of bodies, for example, universities and colleges, NHS Education, or regulatory bodies such as the Scottish Social Services Council. The Scottish Executive will communicate with these organisations and facilitate change as required.
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