In the popular imagination, Surrey is synonymous with the stockbroker belt – but despite its leafy, prosperous reputation, the reality is more complicated. The county’s population of just over a million is ageing rapidly: nearly one in five is over 65, and many live to 100 and beyond. The closure of specialist hospitals catering for people with learning disabilities has meant those residents, many of whom have complex needs, are now cared for in the community.
It provides a challenge for adult social care. But despite being faced, like every other local authority, with a shrinking budget and an increase in demand, Helen Atkinson, strategic director of adult social care and public health, is determined to protect frontline services. “Frontline teams are vital to supporting people in need,” she says, “so we need to find new and innovative ways of working that help us reduce costs.”
Making sure that service users receive high quality care by, for example, enabling them to stay in their own homes for longer, is crucial. Atkinson adds: “People sometimes assume that savings are about cutting services, but sometimes they are about achieving better outcomes [from services].” Service users’ needs are central, and the county’s partnership boards enable residents with learning disabilities, for example, to have a say in how services are shaped.
Atkinson, who was appointed to the role after a career in the NHS, sees a key part of the job as pushing forward the integration between health and social care. With five acute hospitals and six clinical commissioning groups in the county, it’s a complicated landscape, but while many authorities find the government’s 2020 target for integration challenging, Atkinson is meeting it head on. “We are working fast in Surrey,” she says. Multidisciplinary team working is already in place, and this spring the authority will start operating a shadow form of integration: “We already have staff who have come from a health background working in social care, and the health and social care workforce will be coming together much more in future years.”
The integration opens up plenty of possibilities, and Liz Uliasz, deputy director of adult social care, says most employees are excited about the new ways of working. The merger of the rapid response and reablement teams, for example, gives social care staff the opportunity to learn new skills and widen their career prospects.
The demands on adult social care are such that, at full capacity, the department has 2,500 employees. Committed to recruiting and retaining the best quality staff, Surrey offers a wide ranging package to its employees, including a competitive pay structure, 24 days holiday a year and a final salary pension scheme. The council recognises that staff have responsibilities outside work, so they can request different types of flexible working, such as part-time working and job shares. Employees can take time off to volunteer, and buy up to 10 days, or sell up to three days, annual leave each year. The numerous voucher and discount schemes include childcare vouchers that enable staff to save up to £933 a year on Ofsted-approved childcare.
A strong commitment to the physical and mental wellbeing of staff has led Surrey to introduce discounted gym and health club membership, discounted health and wellbeing assessments and free eye tests. For further details on the range of benefits Surrey offers are available here.
But what makes Surrey an attractive place to work isn’t just the benefits: the authority believes in nurturing its staff and bringing out the best in them. Staff who join the adult social care team benefit from a carefully planned induction to make sure they are fully confident in the job before they start work. “It’s not a case of people coming in on their second day picking up a caseload,” says Uliasz. “There’s a very clear induction process, and by the time they get into the team, they’ve had all their induction, we’ve identified their training and people know what’s expected of them.”
Employees are encouraged to develop their professional practice through training. “We have a real philosophy about ‘grow your own’,” says Uliasz. “We train our own social workers and our own occupational therapists, selecting a number of staff from the unqualified staff group to do their formal training.” Professional development opportunities enable staff to progress up the career ladder, she adds: “We have a great offer in terms of statutory training, but we also have county-wide opportunities, such as the high performance development programme.” Uliasz herself began working life as an occupational therapist in the NHS, before joining Surrey as a team manager and working her way up.
This emphasis on staff development extends to a comprehensive apprenticeship programme: all 11 locality teams have two or three apprentices, and many are encouraged to stay on as permanent members of staff.
These are challenging times for adult social care, but also exciting ones, as staff, residents and council partners all have their say in how the new integrated model of care will work. “I’ve been incredibly impressed since I joined the adult social care team by how passionate they are,” says Atkinson. “It’s tough in the public sector now, but they have held to their core values of making decisions around need of the individual.”
The commitment to offering the best quality services, and putting services users at the heart of what they do, makes Surrey a vibrant place to work. As Atkinson says: “We are actively recruiting frontline staff at all levels and this is a very exciting time to join Surrey.”
Find out more about all current opportunities.
Content on this page is paid for and produced to a brief agreed by Surrey county council
