Issue - meetings

To provide an update report from the Independent Member on feedback from service users involved in the five referral cases the Committee were tracking forward and an accompanying action plan from the Service.

The Committee received feedback from a snapshot survey carried out as part of the ongoing audit of cases referred to the Referral and Assessment Service on 1 July 2009. The survey involved follow up conversations with a sample of 10 service users and referrers.

The survey had considered a) the timeliness of the response from the Children and Young People’s Service b) the extent to which service users and referrers felt listened to and their views respected and c) whether they had received any feedback about what would happen next.

Members noted that any conclusions from the survey had to be seen as tentative and would need to subject to further investigation. It was accepted that parents whose children had been referred to Children’s Services could be hostile and might find communication difficult. Social workers were expected to develop specific skills to overcome these barriers. However it was disappointing that under 50% of  the parents felt that they had the chance to say what they wanted to say or felt that they were listened to. It was agreed that parents should feel listened to and respected, although not always agreed with. Members noted that the Service was made aware of conflicts in personality between social workers and parents and further follow up work would take place in around 20 case files per month.

The major issue for referrers was also communication and knowing what happened to their referrals. The three schools involved were keen to work with Children’s Services, to build long term relationships with individual workers and to work closely together. Also they were aware of pressures on social workers and constraints of confidentiality, but felt that they should be kept more in the loop when a social worker was involved in one of their families.

Details of the Action Plan prepared in response to the concerns raised in survey were given.

It was noted that it was a huge administrative task to respond to around 350 referrals per week. Upon completion of cases, it was important that closing letters were sent. Since the survey the issues raised had been discussed with managers and social workers via supervision and also at full staff meetings. Additionally all cases interviewed had been audited by a senior manager; individual staff had been spoken to and three were participating in the capability process.

Issues around the facilitation of a private space at the North Middlesex Hospital had been discussed with the social work team based at the hospital.

RESOLVED:

That the responses from the service users survey be noted, together with the subsequent Action Plan.