Download Questions to the Panel transcript

Association for Real Change: Active Support Conference – 17th September 2014
Q&A Panel
Panel members:
Chair – Gary Bye – Chief Executive, Life Paths Trust
Glenda Roberts (GR) – Director of Care Services, Martha’s Trust
Catherine Carter (KC) – Trainer, Change
Edwin Jones (EJ) – Service Development Consultant, Directorate of Learning Disability
Services
Kathy Lowe (KL) – Service Development Consultant, Directorate of Learning Disability
Services
Paul Griffiths (PG) – Director, …is 5
Paul Deakin (PD) – Personalisation Manager, Robert Owen Communities
Chris Shrubb (CS) – Chief Executive Officer, Edward Lloyd Trust
Question 1:
“How long before you realistically saw positive change in your organisation as a
result of Active Support?”
GR: “Positive results can be seen very quickly but the difficulty is keeping it going and
maintaining the positive outcomes.”
Question 2:
“How do you keep reviewing and keep on going with Active Support?”
CS - “It’s really important to rely on first line managers.”
GR - “At Martha’s Trust we were undergoing a period of change within the
organisation at the same time as implementing Active Support, so we were able to
introduce it as part of the new organisational changes. It’s really important to work with
people to make sure it becomes embedded.”
EJ – “Reviewing and keeping Active Support going is all about leading and expertise
within the organisation, and being able to reinforce staff behaviours. The Edward Lloyd
Trust are doing some excellent work in training everyone in Active Support and this is a
great positive example.”
KL – “It’s really important that the senior management team needs to feed back into the
service as well – it needs to be embedded into the whole service.”
PG – “It is the actual behaviour within the service, not just having an Active Support
policy, that is really important.”
Question 3:
“What advice would you give to organisations starting to implement Active
Support, particularly if the Manager/s are not necessarily ready or fully on
board?”
CS – “It is really a journey for the whole organisation.”
PD – “It is down to the passion and drive of someone in the service, and someone who
will maintain it and make sure it is kept ongoing.”
PG – “There is a need to be careful with the typical fatigue that there can be for new
initiatives – quietly introduce staff to Active Support, then there is going to be less
resistance when it is fully introduced.”
KL – “It’s important to start with the most willing, interested and enthusiastic. They can
then be ‘champions’ for Active Support within the service, and lead others.”
EJ – “It’s all about positive interactions with staff, the training, but don’t start with
paperwork!”
KC – “I find that students and younger people are more willing to learn than those who
are established in a job role – but it really all depends on if the individual wants to
change their way of working, or just stay in the ‘old’ ways.”
GR – “I think managers need to be humble and really listen to their staff and front line
people, as they are the ones who truly know and understand the service and service
users.”
Question 4:
“What have you done in relation to challenging commissioners in terms of the
delivery of Active Support?”
GR – “Core hour records have a specific section for Active Support. Martha Trust have
not yet been successful in challenging commissioners about AS, but I feel that it costs
money and we will not give up. We usually meet with the commissioners in an office
setting – they do not come out to visit the service and see it in practice, and this really
needs to change. Outcomes of AS may not be measureable on paper or really
tangible, but they are part of the reality of the day-to-day running of the service and
that really needs to be seen”.
CS – “There has been a mixed response from commissioners in Newcastle. One Local
Authority is really on board with Active Support. Another has tried to drive down to a
fixed cost for care services and has visited providers to audit how ‘enabling’ the
service is, using this as a measurement of success, linked to funding.”
EJ – “It’s really important to emphasise the creative use of existing resources and the
fact that Active Support does not necessarily have to cost more. It is much more about
using existing resources in a different way and adopting the approach of AS.”
KL – “All research into the cost of service provision reveals that cost is not directly
related to quality. Active Support is all about what staff do, not the cost.”
GR – “I would argue that cost is more relevant than that because commissioners do
not pay enough for the quality of services, and this is vital to organisations to be able
to deliver Active Support. There can be a cost involved, and it is not necessarily due to
lack of resources within the organisation – just a recognition by commissioners of the
importance of AS.”
EJ – “I would agree, and also emphasise that commissioners really need to be
educated that the cheapest service is not going to be the best.”
Question 5:
“I am from Holland, and would like to ask – What about Active Support training for
parents and families?”
EJ – “This is a really important point.”
PD – “ROC have been keen to broaden the involvement of families and have invited
them in for Active Support training. There has been some resistance, but now most
families are buying in as they have heard positive things about AS from other families.”
KC – “Change are working with the Netherlands on a project about sex and education,
with multi-national partners, to develop a toolkit.”
Edwin Jones and Gary Bye thanked all the organisations delivering presentations at the
conference today for sharing their experiences and knowledge of Active Support.