Consulting You                                                                             Integrated Service Delivery - Children's Services

Why are we proposing change?

We believe that to increase the preventative and early intervention focus for services there is a need to be more coordinated in the way we deliver services to children, families and to address needs as early as possible. Staffordshire Children's Trust partners have done extensive research and conducted debate at a strategic level regarding integrated service delivery for children. More effective integrated working contributes to better outcomes for children, young people, families, carers and communities. The benefits of integrated working have been shown to include:
• Improved outcomes for children and young people, emotional well-being, enhancements to their social skills and self-esteem, better physical health, better attendance, achieving and learning.
• Improvements to parents' and families well-being.
• Better access to services for children and their families with improved support to help families resolve problems themselves.
• Flexible, child-centred, holistic care integrated between agencies and sensitive to the individual's changing needs.
• Greater involvement of young people and parents in design of service delivery and improvements in their understanding and experience of services.
• Easier or quicker access to a wider range of services and needs addressed more appropriately.
• Local communities benefit from agencies having a common focus on improving life chances in their area

What will the teams do?

The multi-agency teams will have members from various agencies to meet needs in the area. To identify needs the results of extensive research will be used this includes quantitative data such as the Joint Strategic Needs Analysis (JSNA) and qualitative data from consultations. The information will enable us to design the teams and services that meet the needs and gaps that are identified.

The teams will provide local services to children and young people from 0-19 in a recognised local community. The key functions will be to:
• be responsible for ensuring the well-being of all children, at all levels of need, in the locality, creating early intervention and prevention services.
• deliver universal and targeted services to children, young people and families, flexibly deploying resources within the team and working closely with schools and other agencies.
• in practical terms they will meet regularly, coordinate common assessments on a day to day basis, problem-solve for individual cases and build capacity of schools, children's centres, etc.
• prevent children's needs from escalating and therefore reduce the demand for specialist services.
• use specialist skills and knowledge to increase skill and build the capacity of practitioners and services for early intervention and preventative support.
• implement support packages in response to identified needs, accessing scarce specialist support as necessary, and if appropriate, referring on for single or multi-agency response.
• build community empowerment and resilience through:
   - facilitating relationships and trust with key partners
   - providing one point of contact for schools and community services for children
   - creating a collective responsibility for all children in the designated locality.
• work with C&LP coordinators to identify needs, priorities and targets for the community of children, young people and families

The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is the process by which the child's needs will be assessed and care coordinated via team around the child meetings using the lead professional role to meet the identified needs of the child or young person and her or his family.

Consultation

We have recently undertaken a consultation around the establishment of children's integrated service teams which will allow us to develop the service better.

Thank you to all of you who took the time to take part in this confidential consultation.  The responses are now being analysed, and more information will be published here soon.

For more information on Integrated Service Delivery, please log onto: www.staffordshirechildrenstrust.org.uk/isg/workstreams/integratedservicedelivery/

Catherine Powell
Integrated Service Delivery Project Manager
staffordshirechildrenstrust@staffordshire.gov.uk
Tel: 01785 27 7116