Change Plan
On the 13 April 2011, Cabinet endorsed the new Change Plan for Social Services 2011-2014. The Plan is based on the improvement priorities for social services set out in the Director's Annual Report 2009 / 2010 and details the actions to be taken to address these priorities.
The evidence in the Director's Annual Report demonstrated that the Vale has good foundations upon which to build in responding to the challenges identified. Additionally, in common with other local authorities, there has been sustained progress in areas such as achieving a better qualified workforce with skills that enable them to work across organisational boundaries, a more responsive range of services available, more systematic matching of resources to needs, increased service user satisfaction, improved leadership and greater innovation. The new Change Plan will help to ensure that, building upon these strengths, there is in place a coherent direction for social services in the Vale and an overarching framework for sustained improvement and service redesign.
The new Change Plan sets out formally (as a Council strategy) the long-term strategic plan for social services with key actions, responsible officers for delivering those actions and timescales for completion. The Plan deals primarily with those issues where a corporate approach, across Council directorates, is required to deliver appropriate action. Those issues which can be addressed by social services alone, are detailed in the service plans for each of the Divisions.
There are seven priority areas in the Plan:
· Integrating Health and Social Care Services (IHSC);
· Commissioning (C)
· Integrating social care for Children and Young People Services (CYP)
· Human Resources (HR)
· Information: use of different channels and media to improve access to information and services (IN)
· Resource Management (RM); and
· Co-production and equality impact (CPE).