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uil in esilience in a c an in wo l

ose a us a reports from a conference of commissioners enttled
uccess ul a wa s owa s in e aton uil in esilience in a
c an in wo l where a key message was that specifying outcomes is
unlikely to lead to beter commissioning.

en wolves we e ein o uce in o work programmes only concentrate on
W ellows one atonal a k those most likely to get a job and ‘park’
e ene a e o es a eas we e avoi e those who present the biggest challenge. Angela Catley from Community Catalysts
ee ive s c an e ue o less e osion Commissioners need to develop healthy made the case for the importance of
an o ulatons o i s an eave s network systems based on trust and doing things diferently in an age of service
inc ease . on e ence c ai le aw o positve relatonships with and and cost reductons. Community Catalysts
o neu in evan nive si eal among providers. aim to fnd ways to get more for less by
oa sai i ese ou co es a een unlocking local assets and resources and
s eci e i is ou ul an one woul Mark Saunders of Greater Gwent’s Health fnding creatve ways to deliver people’s
ave su es e in in in wolves o Social Care and Wellbeing Transformaton support (1). A partnership project called
ac ieve e Support Programme described how a Enterprising Minds with the charity
residental abuse scandal led them to Hansel and North Ayrshire Council supports
He was underlining a key message of review their monitoring to fnd more people with learning disabilites or autsm
this conference on integraton, innovatve ways to get feedback. to develop their community involvement.
that specifying outcomes in such a Volunteers from an NHS retrement group Successes included a young woman with
complex world is unlikely to lead to beter have confdental discussions with a severe learning disability who combined
commissioning. Building on this, several people and relatves following My Home her love of baking and dogs to set up a dog
conference speakers also emphasised Life Cymru standards. Tanya Strange gave biscuit business (2). Community Catalysts
the importance of building trust and an inspiring presentaton about Primary worked with Oldham commissioners in
relatonships across services, between Care’s numerous community connectng 2010 to support 18 people to start their
providers, commissioners, communites actvites aimed at tackling loneliness, own enterprises. One of these was
and, most importantly, by listening and including a website (www.frindimi.co.uk) DanceSyndrome, recently featured in
handing infuence to people and families. to provide a single point of contact for Community Living (3). Angela ended with
self-referral, volunteers matched with the inspiring words of Eddie Bartnik,
The conference challenge was how to lonely people according to their interests, the pioneer of ‘Local Area Coordinaton’:
connect the diferent parts of health, and a staf volunteering scheme. “People … are not just passive recipients of
social care and housing to be there Other plans include community social and health care but have expertse,
when people most needed them. recruitment to train volunteers to look gifs, strengths that can help them achieve
With mountng cost pressures for adults out for and protect people. their vision for a good life, contribute to
with disabilites, the importance of their local communites and maximise the
partnership was stressed. The key Advonet with Leeds City’s ‘Good Lives impact of resources” (4).
elements of partnership are building trust, Leaders’ (GLL’s) project developed a
relatonships, common purpose, contract monitoring system using people
and mutual respect, modelled from the with learning disabilites and family carers 1. What can be achieved when people
top. A coordinatng lead is needed for as quality checkers. Built through a are seen as actve citzens,
integraton – ‘a choirmaster so everyone consultatve design process the project Community Living, 31 (1), 2017.
sings the same tune’. It also requires involves experts by experience going into 2. See ‘Enterprising Minds’, 2015 htp://
organisatons to get the relatonship supported housing, residental and www.hansel.org.uk/Uploads/users/wmc
structures right, share risks and respond nursing homes to check three key areas: gill/99da720cf95d405a21f7d6b49baf7c
jointly when things go wrong. Proper 4f/1432741231_jxUz0a7E_
resourcing and government understanding hanselenterprisingmindsmay2015.pdf
of the need for joint approaches to serve 1 Is it a good place to live in? 3. It’s lif-of tme for DanceSyndrome as
the same people are also vital. 2 Do people feel valued in the Jen’s dream comes true.
community or at work? Community Living. 30 (4), 2017.
4. Bartnik, E. (2008) Actve citzenship and
HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDED: 3 Are people supported to have a community engagement – Getng serious
Toby Lowe, Senior Research Assistant full range of relatonships and a about more positve pathways to
from Newcastle University: his research social life? relatonships and contributon.

evidence challenges outcomes-based Intellectual Disability Australia 29 (2), 3-7.
contractng approaches. He argues that It was reported that numerous positve
these encourage people to produce changes for individuals have resulted To access the presentatons from the day
good-looking data rather than meet client from their feedback reports. go to htp://www.ncctc.co.uk/
need, and therefore fail to produce Advonet plan to extend the scheme to presentatons/oct-2017/
good outcomes. Practces such as other client groups and share their For a full report from this conference go to
‘creaming’ results where, for example, practce widely. Community Living: www.cl-initatves.co.uk

www.cl-initatves.co.uk Community Living Vol 31 No 2 | Winter 2017 25