The National Children and Adults Services Conference is taking place in Harrogate this week (16th – 18th October).
This year’s event, organised by the Local Government Group, Association of Directors of Social Services, and Association of Directors of Children’s Services, is entitled ‘Tough times, good decisions’; and describes itself as ‘vital to councillors, directors, senior officers, policymakers and service managers with responsibilities for education, children’s services and adult care in the statutory, voluntary and private sectors’.
The event will also be attended MPs with an interest in social care, children’s services and education, and will feature keynote ministerial speeches e.g. from Norman Lamb, Minister of State for Care and Support.
We will monitor the conference and attempt to highlight speeches and policy statements relevant to persons with learning disabilities and their carers.
Emails received from the SCIE (Social Care Institute for Excellence) suggest that a key topic will be ‘Integration’, which is now up there with ‘Personalisation’ in in the top-ten of buzz-words…
“The emphasis on more and better integrated working comes from the commitment to deliver quality care and support around the needs of the individual, their family and their carers. This shift towards personalisation and person-centred care is happening against a backdrop of unprecedented pressure on health and social care providers to open up opportunities for cost savings. So while integration has never been more vital, many organisations find achieving it extremely challenging.”
“People who use services and their carers, want more joined-up public services. We know this from the evidence; they don’t want to have to tell their story again and again to different care professionals just because they come under the council or health. They want, and increasingly demand, better care and support; joined-up; integrated; and co-ordinated.”
We will await developments…