Shropshire’s integrated community services team nominated in Social Worker of The Year Awards
A community team from Shropshire has been selected as a finalist in the Social Worker of the Year Awards 2018 as a result of their outstanding work with vulnerable adults.
Shropshire’s Integrated Community Services (ICS) team has been nominated for the Team of the Year. The team is one of 93 finalists across 16 categories, and the winners from each category will compete against each other to be named the ‘Overall Social Worker of the Year 2018’.
Integrated Community Services team
ICS is jointly run by Shropshire Council and Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust. The service provides short-term support for patients who are ready to leave hospital. This involves a team of carers, nurses, occupational therapists and physiotherapists working with the person to help them regain their skills and independence. This will usually be in their own home or as close to home as possible. ICS teams also work closely with partner organisations to identify people who need support to avoid an admission to hospital in the first place. The team of almost 70 provides a ‘Discharge to Assess’ and ‘Admission Avoidance’ service to two acute hospitals, five community hospitals and in community settings.
Its strengths-based philosophy means team members seek to reable and maximise independence whilst adhering to an underlying principle that an individual’s own bed is better than a hospital bed.
Early in 2017 Shropshire Council was set extremely rigorous performance targets by the Department of Health and was required to improve its DTOC performance by 60% by September 2017. By collectively implementing innovative measures, ICS significantly exceeded its target, by, achieving a 75% improvement by September 2017 and a 97% reduction in delayed transfers of care between May 2017 and May 2018.
Jon Richards, Head of Local Government at award sponsor UNISON, said:
“This award recognises the best work in adult services and a team which consistently goes above and beyond to make a positive difference to the lives of the people it supports. All teams named as finalists should be very proud of their achievements.”
Lee Chapman, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for adult services, health and social housing, said:-
“I am absolutely delighted to hear that our ICS team have been shortlisted for Social Worker of the Year Awards. The team work extremely hard to support people to be discharged from hospital as soon as they are well, and help people avoid hospital admissions. This year their efforts have paid off in that we exceeded the target that had been set nationally for us achieving a 97% reduction in delayed transfers of care.”
Tanya Miles, Shropshire Council’s head of adult social care, added:-
“ICS has had a remarkable year of growth, innovation and achievement, working in a unique environment of intense scrutiny and expectation. The team has responded to this pressure effectively, efficiently and with commendable good spirit, achieving all that has been asked of it and more. This has resulted in their performance being identified as one of the most improved nationally for DTOC targets.
“The team has worked hard to develop excellent relationships with partners in health, voluntary and private sectors, resulting in an unprecedented confidence in hospital social work. It has a strong social care identity and ethos with an approach of collaboration, innovation, exploration and above all, tenacity.
“Every member of the team is highly motivated and committed. Their compassion and values are evident daily. I am extraordinarily proud of their achievements and wish them all the very best in the finals.”
Steve Gregory, Executive Director of Nursing and Operations at Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust, said:-
“The team have been working hard over the past few years to make a difference in people’s lives in Shropshire. Those in the team have clearly shown that social and health care service can work together in a joined up way, especially when they share the same values.
“I am delighted that the team have been recognised for their commitment and flexible approach to enabling people to stay at home or return home as soon as possible.”
The Social Worker of the Year Awards ceremony is the leading celebration of its kind in the social care sector, and recognises the achievements and successes of the profession’s most innovative and dedicated social workers. Winners will be announced at an award ceremony in November 2018.
For more information about the awards please see www.socialworkawards.com.
Further information
The Social Worker of the Year Awards are supported by Headline Sponsor Sanctuary Social Care; Corporate Partner the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), media partner The Guardian, and individual category supporters, Barnardo’s, UNISON, Servelec HSC, Children’s Social Work Matters and the London Borough of Lambeth. The awards are also supported by the local authorities of North Lincolnshire, Bradford, Devon, Kent, Sunderland, Hampshire and Essex (in partnership with Capita) as well as the Tees Valley Local Authority Child and Adult Services – a partnership between the local authorities of Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Darlington, Redcar & Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees.
