Torfaen’s second Annual Report of the Director of Social Services has highlighted the need to develop joined-up services to help stretch limited resources.
While more and more preventative and community-based services in Torfaen are already being developed and delivered jointly with other agencies, e.g. the Gwent Frailty Pathway and the Falls Service, the report emphasises that working together across council departments, with neighbouring councils and with other organisations, like the NHS, police and the independent and voluntary sector, will become increasingly important in the current economic climate.
The report’s author, Sue Evans, is Torfaen’s Locality Director, Social Care, Housing and Health – a joint post which carries the statutory responsibility for Torfaen’s social care services as well as leading the management of health and housing related services in the borough.
"Partnership working is fundamental to our success, as the needs of individuals cannot always be met by a single agency approach," Sue Evans writes. "We are aiming to improve the way we work with families within their communities, so that all agencies working in that area develop a shared responsibility for supporting the most vulnerable. We need to manage our collective resources, focussing on agreed priorities and targeting those with the highest needs."
As well as reflecting on how well social care services for adults and children were delivered in 2009/2010, the report also sets out some of Torfaen’s key priorities for 2010/2011, including:
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developing a fully-integrated health and social care mental health service for adults
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promoting carer assessments and developing new services to prevent carer breakdown
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recruiting additional foster carers to ensure placement stability for children and young people
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developing tenancy-based options for those who require supported accommodation.
Torfaen has also set up a multi-disciplinary Safeguarding Unit which spans both child and adult protection (POVA) work and supports operational teams to undertake their statutory responsibilities and obligations in child and adult protection work. The co-ordinators for domestic abuse and the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board are also based in the Safeguarding Unit.
During 2009/10, Torfaen established a ‘Have Your Say’ group, a forum specifically designed to listen to the views of people who use health and social care services.
Last year, Torfaen council was one of two which piloted a new approach to the reporting of social care performance in Wales. This led to the establishment of a revised reporting framework which requires a local authority to formally tell its local citizens and key stakeholders how well it thinks its arrangements for delivering social care are working.
Torfaen’s Annual Report is available to download in the Health & Social Care| area of the website. Alternatively, you can obtain a copy by contacting Torfaen Customer Care on 01495 762200.
If you require more information about anything contained in the report, please telephone 01633 648210.
For more information about the ‘Have Your Say Forum’ contact Jacqui Reardon on 01633 648501 or email jacqui.reardon@torfaen.gov.uk