Collective responsibilty
Derren Hayes
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Derren Hayes talks to Tony Hunter, chief executive, Social Care Institute for Excellence.
In 2004, Tony Hunter was one of the key players in discussions between social work leaders and the then Labour government over the carving up of the combined local authority social services departments.
Early into his tenure as president of the Association of Directors of Social Services, Hunter found himself negotiating with the then children's minister Margaret Hodge over the creation of the director of children's services role.
The parting of the ways for children and adult services was, of course, prompted by the findings of the 2003 inquiries by Lord Laming and Sir Michael Bichard into the high-profile murders of Victoria Climbie, and Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman respectively.
So it seems apt, then, that a decade on Hunter finds himself heading up the Social Care Institute of Excellence (Scie) at a time when the organisation has a potentially pivotal role to play in the future of child protection services in England.
While the vast majority of Scie's work is in adult social care – the result of a commissioning agreement with the Department of Health - its most significant involvement in children's services in recent years has been its work leading the development of the Learning Together model for undertaking serious case reviews (SCR).
Although now well established – the model, developed with the help of Professor Eileen Munro, has been used in 60 local case reviews since its launch in 2009 – the challenge for Hunter is to promote its use more widely into the serious case review process in both children and adult services.
Referred to as a systems-approach model of SCR, Learning Together emphasises the importance of speaking to professionals involved in the care of the child as part of a forensic examination into why decisions were made and how the circumstances at the time may have influenced these. The method, which is used in some European countries across a range of sectors, draws on principles used to investigate accidents in other high-risk fields such as patient safety, aviation and engineering.
Scie is already working with around a third of England's local safeguarding children boards (LSCB) to adapt and implement the Learning Together methodology into their investigation systems. But with the government recently questioning the investigation methods used in high-profile SCRs into the deaths of Daniel Pelka and Hamzah Khan, it is clear that LSCBs are looking for further clarity on what constitutes best practice in reviews.
Although the government has ruled out issuing prescriptive guidance on what SCR method to use, there remains the possibility that it could accredit models it believes meet best practice standards.
Flexible model needed
Hunter would welcome such a move, but is at pains to emphasise that Scie is not looking to "impose a model of working" across LSCBs or the professionals who sit on them.
"We are acutely conscious of the field's wish to have the room to explore ways they investigate cases, something that sits alongside evidenced guidance on what constitutes a good review," he says.
"We've been engaged with other key players to discuss what the appetite might be for a genuinely accredited model of SCR. It would enable LSCB chairs to know that they are using nationally evaluated models and can use nationally evaluated consultants and trainers to deliver that."
Accredited models would need to walk the fine balancing act between setting out the core principles that underpin a good review without straying into unhelpful and prescriptive detail, Hunter adds.
"It has to be specific without going into unhelpful levels of detail," he explains. "There must be flexibility about how the model is applied, but reflect what all participants want from a well-managed SCR process."
The approach taken by Learning Together outlines the review process; the type of people to talk to but without saying who should be involved; includes tools to analyse data; and can be adapted depending on the timescales involved.
Scie hopes Learning Together will be the tool by which it can boost its role and standing in the dissemination of best practice in child protection social work. With its emphasis on providing online resources for practitioners - "one of the things that attracted me to the job is Scie's clear determination to use modern technology to communicate with the field" - Hunter thinks there is the potential to feedback "hot topics" arising from SCRs to identify emerging system issues that all practitioners can learn from.
"We're not an advice agency, but social improvement agency. Our vision is to share information that helps improve lives. There is the potential to develop a repository of learning, information and knowledge (from SCRs), and we are seeking to work with others to build on that," he adds.
Recognising the benefits of working with others is a trait you would expect to see in a former council chief executive – Hunter held the top role at North East Lincolnshire Council for five years – and offers an insight into his views on how children's social work needs to change.
While Hunter says the splitting of social work departments "was the right thing to do at the time", there is a tone in his voice that suggests he laments their passing. While not explicitly saying as much, he does think the split "created the risk of segregating services".
"You miss a trick in terms of the broader quality of life agenda if you carve out children's services too much," says Hunter.
Professionals working in isolation is a theme that runs through serious case reviews, from Climbie to Pelka, and Hunter says it is "imperative" that child protection services have strong links with health, family support and wider community services.
"Child protection systems must operate effectively, but be a wider contributor to the health and wellbeing agenda," he adds.
To describe how this can be done, he says: "It's a salad not a soup." By this he means local authority management systems have to recognise and call upon, when necessary, the specialist skills of service heads from across the social work spectrum, rather than see children's services as having all the answers to the issues faced by children and families.
Collaborative working
With a foot in both children and adult services camps, even if more weight is bearing on the latter, Scie is well placed to identify the key obstacles to joint working between health and social work. It has developed e-learning resources on best practice in working with parents who present to health and social care settings with substance misuse and mental health problems.
Hunter believes there is a "clear will" among frontline staff and government bodies for the social work system to work collaboratively across professional and agency boundaries, and refutes the sometimes-aired criticism that it "dumbs down" accountability for services.
"Senior people across the agencies are now more knowledgeable and appreciative of the contributions of each other, and understand each other's priorities and constraints.
"Although things do go wrong sometimes, the commitment to joined-up working, helping each other out and talking each other up, is greater now than it's ever been."
This collective responsibility approach applies to leadership as much as delivering services on the frontline, Hunter says.
"We're all accountable for performing well," he explains. "In my opinion, the allocation of blame to others is a sign of weakness. The blame game rarely gets you anywhere."
This succeed or fail as a team principle is laudable, but could be put to the test in the face of funding cuts across the health and children's services sectors, raising the temptation for commissioners and directors to circle the wagons to protect what they have.
Perhaps the Roman centurion helmets on his office sideboard are a sign Hunter is expecting trouble ahead? Perhaps. Although he says keeping a broad view of the health and social care needs of people can help overcome this.
"Good social services directors always used to do their best to understand the wider objectives of the authority.
"Children and families need to be seen in the round - we need to help develop, support and strengthen communities," he adds.
TONY HUNTER CV
2014: Chief executive, Scie
2008: Chief executive of North East Lincolnshire Council
2004/05: President of the Association of Directors of Social Services
2003: Director of social services, Liverpool City Council
1995: Director of social services, housing and public protection, East Riding of Yorkshire Council
1990: Local government consultant at PriceWaterhouse
1987: Principal policy and development officer, Barnardo's
1985: Principal officer, domiciliary services, Barnsley Council
1980-83: Various social worker roles, Doncaster Council
1980: Qualified as a social worker from Nottingham University.