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What is a performance inspection?
The Social Work Inspection Agency ( SWIA) is carrying out performance inspections of all local authority social work services in Scotland.
SWIA gathers and analyses a wide selection of information about a local authority and the social work services it provides or is responsible for. SWIA publishes the inspection findings in a report that identifies strengths as well as areas for improvement.
This leaflet summarises some key findings of the inspection of Glasgow City council's social work services found in a report published in June 2007.
Glasgow City council will produce an action plan in response to the inspection report. The plan will set out how any necessary changes are to be made. Once the plan is agreed, SWIA and the council will monitor the implementation of the plan together.
If you would like a copy of the full report, or would like to know more about SWIA, please contact:
Corporate Manager
Social Work Inspection Agency
Ladywell House
Ladywell Road
Edinburgh
EH12 7TB
Tel: 0131 244 4885
Fax: 0131 244 5496
E-mail: info@swia.gsi.gov.uk
Website: www.swia.gov.uk
Inspection findings
Delivering social work services in Glasgow presents major challenges. The city has higher levels of poverty, deprivation and substance misuse than all other authorities in Scotland. This has led to high levels of demand for social work services.
People who used the services generally thought that they were of good quality and the inspection found that the services were improving the lives of many. For example, they were supporting many older people to remain in their homes when they wanted to do so and helping increasing numbers of people with substance misuse problems back into work or training. The overwhelming majority of staff were committed to delivering high quality services.
The city's social work services had a long history of partnership working and they had developed a number of integrated services. More recently they had moved, along with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, into five community health and care partnerships that had responsibility for delivering many social work and health services.
The services had taken steps to involve people who used services and carers in planning for services. They had also made provision for some of the most marginalised groups including single homeless people.
There was strong corporate and political support for social work and the council contributed considerable additional funding for social work services. Social work services managed their budget well.
The services needed to make improvements in some areas. These included:
- widening the opportunities available to people with learning disabilities;
- improving the poor condition of many social work premises;
- addressing the low morale of staff;
- establishing a consistent approach to determining which non-statutory childcare work to allocate;
- developing a change management programme to involve staff more, whenever possible, in driving through changes to the organisation; and
- ensuring a strong strategic core to ensure city-wide consistency of practice.
Some examples of good services delivered by social work services and their partners
- Community addiction teams ( CATs) - These multi-disciplinary teams were able to offer individuals and families a full range of medical, nursing and social care supports. Senior managers said that combining health and social work services had added considerable economies of scale, with 40% more service users now in contact with CATs that were in contact with addiction services before their introduction.
- EVIP (enhanced vocational inclusion programme) - A partnership between social work, education and building services and several Glasgow colleges had developed this initiative to enable young people to gain the skills to access jobs. It was working with disadvantaged young people and had 24 full-time places for looked after and accommodated children.
- Carers' centres - The services had developed and funded nine locality based carers' centres to support unpaid carers in their caring role in the community. The centres had a budget to purchase short breaks or home-based respite both at times of crisis and on a planned basis. They provided an employment pathway for former carers to make use of their skills. The centres also had a developmental role and had been involved in public information strategy.
- A dedicated website for people with learning disabilities www.ixseed.org.uk - The services' communication section was involved in developing this website that offered information on entertainment and news, life and well-being, city-wide and locality services as well as discussion boards.
- The Greater Glasgow Independent Living Service ( GGiles) system - Social work services, in partnership with the NHS and East Dunbartonshire council had developed this streamlined system for ordering aids and equipment. This electronic system enabled staff to order equipment more efficiently. It worked very much like an on-line shopping system.
- The IRIS service (interdisciplinary response and intervention service) - This service made a positive contribution to the discharge of older people from hospital as well as helping to prevent admission.
- PACT (parents and children together) teams - These newly formed teams made up of social workers, health visitors, nursery nurses, family support and money advice workers, provided an intensive service for 12 weeks to mainly mothers of young children who were depressed, isolated or affected by drugs or alcohol.
- CLASS projects - These five units staffed by education and social work staff provided an alternative to residential schooling for young people experiencing difficulties in coping with mainstream school.
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