Guidance To Support Strategic Engagement In Adult Social Care Sector Launched
The Care Provider Alliance (CPA) has published new guidance to support strategic engagement between local authorities, the NHS and the independent and voluntary adult social care sector.
Residential and nursing homes care for 460,000 people, many of whom have multiple complex health needs; and over 500,000 more people rely on social care in their own homes. But when the big strategic issues are being discussed locally, this large and vital sector is rarely at the table; and one reason can be concern that talking to individual providers would create conflicts of interest.
The CPA’s “Seven principles for the engagement of individual providers on behalf of the wider independent and voluntary adult social care sector” will help all parties overcome that concern. Based closely on the widely recognised “Seven Principles of Public Life”, they suggest how adult social care providers should approach any situation in which they are acting as a representative of the wider sector.
Bridget Warr CBE, Chair of the Care Provider Alliance’s Programme Board, said:
“The independent and voluntary adult social care sector is ready to work more closely and strategically with local authorities and the NHS. The adoption of these principles by care providers should reassure our statutory sector colleagues that there is nothing to stop them working with the sector, and if people are to receive care that is properly joined up, it is essential that this should happen in every local area.
“We would encourage adult social care providers to adopt these principles and we hope that, if they encounter any reluctance by their statutory sector colleagues to engage, the adoption of these principles will help overcome it.
“The principles have been developed as part of a programme of work funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. I am delighted that the principles are also supported by the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS).”
