The new president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Adass), Ray James, has delivered his inaugural speech. James, a director at Enfield council, spoke at the association’s annual conference in Staffordshire on Thursday; here are the key points.
Integration
“The future has to combine integration with a sustainable financial settlement for both health and social care,” James said. “I’m disappointed when people talk about [integration] being the answer to all of the financial challenges. There’s no international evidence that says it’ll make the scale of difference.”
Those financial challenges are stark; Adass says there will be a £4.3bn funding gap in social care by 2020, on top of the £8bn NHS funding shortfall. James called on the government to ensure that social care funding is protected and aligned with the NHS, after the 26% real-terms reduction in budget that councils have seen since 2010.
Priorities
James identified the workforce as an immediate priority for action, saying it “deserves to be trained, valued and renumerated in a way that is consistent with the quality of service society rightly expects of them”. He called for more collaboration on issues around the supply of workers, and high turnover of staff in some parts of the sector, and referenced the living wage and the College of Social Work’s #realsocialwork campaign as issues that need focus if social care is to attract and retain the right kind of workers. James also made a plea for the media, politicians and sector leaders to “recognise the distinctive, valued and personal contribution that our frontline colleagues make to over a million lives, every minute of every day”.
Co-production
“Meaningful co-production is hands down the best way to improve outcomes and satisfaction levels,” James argued. “Our role as leaders is not to think that we know what’s best, but to create the conditions where those who are most likely to know best, come together, listen to each other and co-produce lasting solutions.”
James also talked about the importance of personalised care and support, where services look at mental, physical and other forms of wellbeing, and are “joined-up” around an individual’s specific needs. He described personal budgets as “central” to this.
The raised profile of social care
James thanked the immediate past president David Pearson for being the “very epitome of authentic, resilient, values based leadership”. And he made the point that social care has gained a bigger profile in recent months: “When I watched and listened to the seven party leaders speaking in the televised election debate recently, it was the first time I could remember social care getting repeated mentions on that sort of platform.”
His principles
In his well-received speech, James said he is “old school about the underpinning principles and values of public service”, while also arguing for the importance of reform and change in services. And he recognised the changes that will affect social care over the next year: a new government, a comprehensive spending review, the Care Act and reductions in public sector spending. Jokingly, he asked the audience: “Do you get the sense that I like a challenge?” Being president of Adass over the undoubtedly turbulent year ahead will definitely be one.
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