SAR recommendation – Creating an ethical vision.

This is an overarching recommendation that encompasses the basis for the other recommendations to be delivered, and has been the focus of the conversations so far. 

We asked the groups – what should be considered/included in the vision or framework?

The consensus was to create a guiding ethical vision promoting good lives well lived, that also protects the wider economic, social and environmental wellbeing of a local area. 

The followings themes emerged: 

• • How do we hear from people who don’t have a voice? What processes and advocacy do we need to do this?
  • Coproduction – we must have conversations and working with people to design and evaluate services, based on what’s important to them. This must include working with people’s families as well, and face-to-face staff
  • Seeing the person and their life story. 
  • We need to help people earlier (prevention) to stop crises. How do identify the ‘lost opportunities’ to intervene?
  •  Support shouldn’t stop when people are ‘better’ –  support should also help them to maintain health and wellbeing etc
  • Support is required for family carers to avoid ‘burnout’ and crises developing. When there are known to be difficult situations, have someone alongside people and families
  • Health and wellbeing; people would like more active lifestyles and opportunities to go out 
  • Relationships; more support for developing friendships and family relationships
  • A cautious approach to signposting – people requested positive welcoming or being accompanied to services/activities at first
  • The ethical visions is similar to safeguarded in that it will only work if it’s everyone’s responsibility – how will it be embedded? Developing a pledge or manifesto might help. 

SAR Recommendation – Ethical Employment

This includes the values and behaviours of organisations and staff, as well as their training and developing, plus broader, practical considerations such as contracts, false self employment, and terms of pay. 

Most of the feedback we had (below) focuses on the values and behaviours of staff and organisations, from the perspective of those accessing and working in health and care settings.

Ethical Employment

• • Ensure providers are paying fair wages
  • Mandatory training for support staff would be valuable
  • Create channels for whistle blowing
  • Accountability (of leaders) and other stakeholders could be improved
  • We want a culture of learning from mistakes
  • Workforce; introduce values and behaviour based recruitment where people can bring their whole self to work
  • Good staff management practice; proper induction and appraisal processes, with ongoing learning and recognition 
  • Leadership and culture should be values led; listen to staff about how to improve services, support good team work, and pay attention to what’s happening face-to-face with people who access their service 
  • Be open to constructive challenge
  • Create ambition and aspiration among staff 
  • People would like choice about their support workers
  • Coproduction – we must have conversations and working with people to design and evaluate services, based on what’s important to them. This must include working with people’s families as well, and face-to-face staff

SAR Recommendation – Tax Compliance

This didn’t feature in the workshops beyond being something that was referenced. 

• Procurement needs to be UK based and tax compliant

SAR Recommendation – Transparency

Transparency largely relates to contracting in more open ways with private organisations. However, the issue of transparency was also discussed in all the workshops in relation to culture, how success is defined and measured, how we listen to people and involve them directly in the processes of monitoring, agreeing codes of conduct and clear responsibilities, and openness and honesty in how decisions are made. 

• Processes – monitoring contracts, code of conduct, clear responsibilities of commissioners and providers
• As above, a culture of learning from mistakes would be beneficial
• How can we benchmark against this emerging framework?
• How will success be measured?
• Openness; talk through problems regularly and listen to people
• Review services regularly 
• Trust providers to try new things
• Variety of service options – are people in the right settings?
• Leadership and culture – values led – listen to staff about how to improve services, good team work, in touch with and paying attention to what’s happening face-to-face with people who access their service 
• Be open to constructive challenge
• Seek feedback on services 
• Coproduction – we must have conversations and working with people to design and evaluate services, based on what’s important to them. This must include working with people’s families as well, and face-to-face staff

SAR Recommendation – Localism

This aspect of the SAR focuses on place, the local economy and social and environmental wellbeing of people and communities. It’s time for a new relationship between people and place. 

“We all want to live in the place we call home, with the people and things we love, in communities where we look out for one another, doing what matters to us” (Social Care Futures Vision)

The recommendations and ideas included: 

• Commissioning smaller organisations
• Are services delivering what commissioners and managers believe they have commissioned? How do we know?
• How does the voluntary sector fit in?
• What new community connections and opportunities are out there? How do we find them?
• Openness – talk through problems, listen to people
• Listen to people
• Trust providers to try new things
• Variety of service options – are people in the right settings? 

• Coproduction – we must have conversations and working with people to design and evaluate services, based on what’s important to them. This must include working with people’s families as well, and face-to-face staff