Making it Real in Shropshire – our story continues
Shropshire Council’s annual Local Account for 2015-16 entitled “Making it Real in Shropshire – our story continues” has been published today (Friday 24 February 2017).
The document, which is produced by councils up and down the country every year, explains what Shropshire Council’s adult social care service and its partners are doing to help improve the lives of vulnerable people and how well as a service it’s performing.
It is usually referred to as the ‘Local Account’, and explains how much is spent on adult social care as well as future plans for improvements the council needs to make.
In Shropshire, the local account is entitled “Making it Real in Shropshire – our story continues”. This is to reflect the national Making it Real initiative, set up by voluntary organisation ‘Think Local Act Personal’ which measures progress in building the adult social care system that people want.
The document highlights the current picture of adult social care in Shropshire and tells the story of those who use the service, and their carers, as well as people from the council and other organisations who work to provide services across Shropshire.
Lee Chapman, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for adult services, said:
“Last year’s Local Account was well received so, instead of changing things, we’ve used the same format to provide an honest account of the service over the past year. This has once again been done through the eyes of our partners, the people who use and experience our services and their carers.
“Although it includes some incredibly positive stories, we’ve also not shied away from the things that haven’t worked as well; it’s clear about complaints we’ve had and the continuing financial pressures we face.
“It has been another challenging year and things aren’t getting any easier, but despite this what we’re doing continues to work well. Over the next year we will build on this success and use our learning to make services even better as we continue to ensure that the most vulnerable get help sooner and remain independent for longer.
“We’ll be concentrating on a number of key areas over the next few months. They include creating a new plan to ensure that we can protect the most vulnerable members of our society, shaped by feedback from residents.
“I hope you enjoy reading it.”
Jon Hancock, Co-Chair of the Making it Real Board, added:
“Shropshire’s Making it Real Board is led by volunteers like myself, who are all keen to use our experience to improve the system. This local account is a co-production that uses real-life stories to describe how the system works. It’s only through listening to people that we can learn how to improve.”
To read “Making it Real in Shropshire – our story continues” please click here.
To read more stories from real people please visit www.shropshirechoices.org.uk.
