A response to my predescessor’s comments

“Different views are healthy in politics so I’ll responsd to the comments made by Sue Woodward, the previous Labour County’s Cabinet Member for Social Care”…

I think Sue Woodward’s comments that the £10million Departmental overspend I inherited from the previous Labour Administration is a ‘potential overspend’ is somewhat dubious.

Believe me, by day two of the eight week induction which started the day after my appointment in mid June, the finance problem was very clear and real. And I was under pressure from officials to immediately continue the same approach that Changing Lives saw.

But, in my opinion, that’s not a reason to repeat the mistakes of the past. A political short term jerk reaction that was the hallmark of what happened under Labour is not my answer I’m afraid.

The real culprits for the whole sorry mess were Mrs Woodard’s Labour colleagues who presided, before her time, over a social care service which was literally decades out of date, largely ineffective, over expensive, sometimes dangerous and frankly broken.

Trust was destroyed by the way the Changing Lives programme was delivered because it was done ‘to people’ rather than ‘with people’ because of a need to save cash and change very fast. That’s the reason I said NO to more of exactly the same approach.

Most people I talk to who are, and have been, closely involved in care here (and that’s well over two thousand now) agree that we should widen people’s choices and raise their aspirations to live as normal and independant a life as their circumstances allow so that institutionalised care is not the automatic and only option in Staffordshire as it used to be.

And, yes, delivering what we can much more efficiently to meet the increasingly difficult financial circumstances we find our country faces is also important… but not at the expense of care and dignity for real people.

The difference is approach and prioritising clearly. Internally there are big savings to be made in the Department. That’s why in the first ten days I launched two major programmes… one to cut through the extraordinary bureaucracy which wastes phenomenal amounts of time and money (see my recent post on this). And the second to replace the thirty year old ICT which actually creates more work because it doesn’t integrate with other health systems (or internal ones!!) meaning those who use it everyday have to repeat procedures up to seven different times instead of entering data once. That’s just madness and demoralising for those using it.

I forced the need to find the funding upfront to replace the ICT because vast amounts of money and time will be saved annually once it’s done. It will take time to achieve but once rolled out it will pay for itself quickly and then the saving continues on and on which means more, and better, front line services. That was a no brainer for me… why it wasn’t done years ago is beyond my comprehension.

But it’s not just internal stuff which needs to change. There are properties which aren’t fit for purpose and there are real opportunities to encourage people who can to live a fuller and more normal life. That’s about options… it’s about choice. For many years in Staffordshire the only choice, whether you wanted it or not, was to be shoved off into institutionalised care. Right for some but not for all.

Staffordshire Cares will be developed over the next few years. I believe it will help open up what ‘care’ is about, be easier for people to understand and offer much more innovative choices and opportunities to live life the way individuals want to.

Quite simply, I know it won’t be easy and I’m sure I will need to decide things that some will not agree with… it’s innevitable. What I hope I can bring to this is a more businesslike approach with a longer term view to something which has people at the very heart of it. I want to get rid of the false starts and change after change. My business which I built up was service and quality orientated and I was known for my strong moral compass and honesty… no matter what the circumstances really called for.

As Sue Woodward says, we do live in ‘the real world’ and I’ve been in it long enough to understand it’s sbout clear thinking and planing for the longer term. And I want to learn from others’ past mistakes, be innovative and bring appropriate business approaches to a vital public service which should and will have people at the heart of it.

I’d like to think I will encounter reciprocol honesty and at least the principle of open mindedness from people. I know one thing. It’s been a privilege already to have met so many remarkable individuals.

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