In Essex, social care is going back to its roots. The council is taking its workforce out of county hall and away from a “tick box” approach to practice, and putting social care practitioners back into the community.
This new and innovative way of working is allowing social care practitioners to be more creative about how they support older people and vulnerable adults with disabilities to allow them to live more independently.
Senior social care practitioner, Richard Otim, 43, who works in an early intervention team, says: “I’m no different from the next social care practitioner down the road – I’ve had the same training – but the difference in Essex is that I am able to work in an environment that allows for creativity, which allows for reflection and connection with the community.
“We have moved away from jargon around assessment, referral or triage. Now we are having real conversations with people; there is a freedom that comes from that, which is really changing how we practise.”
This new way of working is also taking pressure off frontline social care practitioners, says Otim: “Previously I felt that it was my responsibility alone to know why the family or somebody felt unsafe. But this new way of working has opened up so many doors that now we make that journey together – rather than me taking that journey on my own and trying to drag people with me.”
So what is Essex doing that sets itself apart from other adult social care services? It has introduced a new model of care, which has four key principles – prevention, early intervention, enablement and safeguarding.
The model builds on its earlier trailblazing “Good Lives” initiative, focusing on holding conversations with service users about how they can better help themselves and make better use of alternative support available on their doorstep. This includes the contribution that voluntary organisations and individuals such as friends or neighbours could make, and not always assuming that the only answer is statutory support or moving into a care home.
Social care practitioners are also encouraged to look at the benefits of new technology – how an iPad might, for example, help somebody feel less isolated at home or how service users could use the free internet access available in their local library to improve knowledge about their rights, such as their social housing entitlement. This new approach to work means that social care practitioners really have to get under the skin of their local community and work in a truly multidisciplinary way with colleagues across the sectors.
Nick Presmeg, Essex’s director of social care, explains: “We want to return the workforce, in some ways, to the grounding principles of adult social care – a more community-based, relationship-based, asset-based approach to practice.
“We have changed our structure so that we now have neighbourhood teams that are rooted with their health and public health colleagues. We have an approach to practice that is permissive – there is space to be creative. We are promoting social care practitioners, occupational therapists and nurses – the three professions that can work closely together – and encouraging independence. Residential care or domiciliary care are not the only offer.”
Establishing multidisciplinary neighbourhood teams is key to Essex’s new model of care and fundamental to the success of early intervention and prevention. Under the new system, social care practitioners say they are now able to pick up problems before they become a crisis.
Adama Fadare, 54, a social care practitioner in a learning disability and autism team, says: “With the emphasis on early intervention and prevention, we work with somebody before a crisis. Instead of just waiting for a crisis to happen, and then responding, we are working with health colleagues or occupational therapists and using assisted technology to improve people’s lives before they reach a crisis. I feel it’s also now a shared responsibility, we are all learning from each other and we see ourselves as part of the community.”
Multidisciplinary working is also helping to break down historic professional barriers. “Today, we go in as a multidisciplinary team,” Fadare says, “which means a lot of the barriers have been broken down. We are now expected to work collaboratively – the ‘them and us’ attitude between health and social care has been removed. It’s a very exciting time to work for Essex – there is so much to learn and gain. It’s brilliant.”
With a population of 1.4 million and a county that has five acute hospitals alone, Essex offers a variety of career paths for social care practitioners, support workers and allied health professions – especially occupational therapists – which may not be available elsewhere. The council’s Social Care Academy also makes sure that its social care workforce has the skills it needs to deliver this groundbreaking model of care.
The council’s priority of multidisciplinary working also means social care practitioners have the networks – and confidence – to move across sectors: “I could go and work for the NHS, for a clinical commissioning group for example,” says Fadare. “There are so many opportunities. I could work in any of these sectors. It’s very exciting.” Fadare, though, has no plans to leave Essex.
The culture being developed in adult social care there is also keeping Otim in the county. “When I started out as a social care practitioner,” Otim says, “I gave myself 10 years to stay with it, and then think about something else because it’s such a high-pressured job. But I can confidently say that as long as Essex moves on and continues to go the way it is, I am very happy to continue my practice here.”
Please click here to find out more about adult social care services at Essex county council
