Public services require a deep cultural change rather than additional resources or further structural reforms if they are to become truly responsive to the needs of those who use them, according to a report by two health and social care organisations published today.
A personal response to public services is co-authored by Lord Victor Adebowale, chief executive of Turning Point, and Tim Kelsey, Chair, Executive Board, Dr Foster Intelligence. They describe the report as “a call to action” to policy-makers, local authorities and primary care trusts.
The report sets out a practical agenda for change based around five key themes:
Intelligent customer insight – ensure effective and consistent use of data better to know the profile of the diversity of the communities they serve;
Service design – involve local people, particularly those in most need, in designing services around their needs;
Personalisation – create individual budgets and providing multiple needs through one integrated service;
Prevention – make prevention a mainstream activity at the heart of the commissioning process;
Partnerships – make partnership work for users rather than creating talking shops and further bureaucracy.
Turning Point’s Chief Executive Lord Victor Adebowale said:
“This report is a call to action. To get world class public services we need a step change in the culture of those services. There are pockets of best practice but this has to be built upon by drawing on the passion of service providers across the country.”
Tim Kelsey, Chair, Executive Board, Dr Foster Intelligence, said:
“Across the political spectrum there is broad agreement that our public services need to be more attuned to personal and local needs. Yet after a period of sustained investment of money and significant structural reform, a deeper cultural change is required if they are to deliver services that are truly responsive to users and targeted at those in most need.”
The report includes a series of examples of best practice where local services are being delivered in an innovative and user-focused way. Yet the authors argue that these are not widely replicated.
Turning Point and Dr Foster Intelligence have interviewed a diverse group of experts and pulled together the best ideas and innovations on how to achieve real change and to create a modern, user-orientated service to tackle inequalities and deliver good value for taxpayers’ money.
In their introduction to the report, Lord Adebowale and Tim Kelsey say:
“This report is not an exhaustive analysis of public policy challenges. It picks out a series of common themes from the ongoing debate about strengthening commissioning and improving public services, and provides a practical agenda for each, informed by real examples and insights.
“We want to see these ideas and approaches adopted more widely to help commissioners and providers of local services to work with each other and other sectors better to target resources at the right people. We believe that these ideas will help make a reality of public services that truly serve the public.”
The report was informed by an advisory group including Andrew Cozens CBE, Professor Julian Le Grand, Richard Titmuss, Professor of Social Policy, LSE and Nigel Kershaw, Chief Executive, Big Invest.
For more information: Steve Palmer
Turning Point Press Officer
020 7481 7630
Out of hours and mobile 07786 938 601
www.turning-point.co.uk
press@turning-point.co.uk
Notes to editors
1. ‘Targeting need, integrating services’ can be downloaded at www.turning-point.co.uk/personalapproach or www.drfoster.co.uk
2. Turning Point works at the sharp end delivering services to people with complex needs, such as those affected by substance misuse, mental health problems or those with a learning disability. Turning Point aspires to be the first major third sector provider of high quality, high value connected health and social care to the people who need it most, influencing policy and shaping the market, to transform the quality and availability of care. Turning Point aims to be at the forefront of thinking and practice when it comes to helping commissioners to see new ways of engaging more directly with communities, and finding ways of connecting up services to turn more people’s lives around. Turning Point is committed to person-centred approaches, which are a way of supporting and working with people. This affects the whole culture of a service and everything it does, from service design to delivery, by putting the client at the centre of the care that they receive.
3. Dr Foster Intelligence is a public/private partnership that aims to improve the quality and efficiency of health and social care through better use of information. They make it easier for professionals and the public to access information about health and social care through a range of innovative products and services. The partnership is a 50/50 joint venture between The Information Centre for Health and Social Care and Dr Foster, a commercial provider of healthcare information. Dr Foster works to a code of conduct that prohibits political bias and requires it to act in the public interest. www.drfoster.co.uk
4. The project has been supported by an advisory group: Joint-Chairs Tim Kelsey, Chair, Executive Board, Dr Foster Intelligence, Lord Victor Adebowale, Chief Executive, Turning Point. Members acting in a personal capacity: Hilary Cottam, Director, Participle; Andrew Cozens CBE, Strategic Adviser for Children, Adults and Health Services, IDEA; Professor Julian Le Grand; Richard Titmuss, Professor of Social Policy, LSE; Dr Nicolaus Henke. Director, McKinsey; Nigel Kershaw. Chief Executive, Big Invest; Henry Pitman, Non-Executive Director, Tribal Group.
5. The report’s main chapters are as follows:
• The intelligent route to customer insight: using segmentation to gain deeper insights into clients’ needs, to be consistent with data and to link up data.
• Designing services with people not for them: involving communities, especially those who are hard-to-reach.
• Personalisation in practice
• Mainstreaming prevention: To break old habits, making sure prevention occurs, and to learn from pioneers.
• Making partnerships work: Delivering cohesive plans and coordinated services.
6. Turning Point’s Centre of Excellence in Connected Care has been created to champion service delivery that integrates health, housing and social care services in the most deprived areas in England and Wales. The Centre of Excellence will also promote evidence-based best practice for community engagement and community-led commissioning.
Website www.turning-point.co.uk/centreofexcellence
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