1. Joint Working: the good, the bad and the ugly Lisa Dodd Children’s Lead for Commissioning NHS SOTW Debra Patterson Service Manager for Disabled Children Gateshead Council Jessica Moore Aiming High for Disabled Children Manager Gateshead Council

2. 3 rd June 2009 Demographics 190,500 residents 44,200 children aged 0-19 Approx 470 severely disabled children Less than 5% from BME communities Large orthodox Jewish community

3. 3 rd June 2009 Joint working in Gateshead: Children’s Services rated “outstanding” across all areas in latest APA Children’s Trust Pathfinder – 2003 Examples of recent joint working through pilots and pathfinders: –Budget Holding Lead Professional –Short Breaks Pathfinder & IB pilot –Targeted Mental Health in Schools –Family Pathfinder

4. 3 rd June 2009 Key principles for partnership working in Gateshead

5. 3 rd June 2009 Clear, shared objectives Our vision for children and young people in Gateshead is for them to be: “empowered and supported to develop to their full potential and have the life- skills and opportunities to play an active part in society”

6. 3 rd June 2009 Clear framework of responsibilities and accountability:

7. 3 rd June 2009 High levels of trust: Well-established relationships Open and honest dialogue Remember it’s not personal!

8. 3 rd June 2009 What are the key challenges and barriers to effective joint working? Question:

9. 3 rd June 2009 Key Challenges in Gateshead Resources – the £ discussions are often the worst! Dominant characters Differences: –Infrastructures –Language –Processes –Working arrangements –Organisational cultures

10. 3 rd June 2009 Key Challenges in Gateshead Re-organisation of the PCT –The Provider / Commissioner split Getting partners to agree on priorities and stick to the priorities Information sharing across agencies Keeping partners engaged and involved Preventing “talking shops” from developing

11. 3 rd June 2009 Overcoming the challenges What do you think are potential solutions?

12. 3 rd June 2009 Overcoming the challenges in Gateshead Integration - health lead seen as a key member of the LA team with the development of joint posts Sharing the workload – lead responsibility Clear communication about responsibility Joint review of services – with engagement and involvement at all levels

13. 3 rd June 2009 Overcoming the challenges in Gateshead The use of benchmarking to learn lessons from partnerships elsewhere Looking for opportunities rather than barriers “we can” rather than “we can’t” Spending time together to understand each other’s values and thinking Understanding that disagreements are part of a healthy relationship Joint strategies – commissioning for example

14. 3 rd June 2009 Critical success factors Information sharing protocols Clear outcomes: –time-lines –resource allocation –review processes and responsibilities Performance monitoring

15. 3 rd June 2009 … The “So What?” Factor Multi-agency early support pathway means that families receive joined-up services Joint assessments for holistic packages of care means fewer children in Out of Authority placements Health sign-up to Network of Children with Disabilities means we know who more of our families are

16. 3 rd June 2009 … The “So What?” Factor Joint Commissioning Support Team Pooling funding enables us to commission more Multi-agency service reviews enable us to identify gaps and reduce duplication Evidence of good joint working levers in additional grant funding – Short Breaks Pathfinder, IB pilot, TSP offer 1

17. 3 rd June 2009 Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success. Henry Ford

18. 3 rd June 2009 …over to you. www.dcsf.gov.uk/ecm/ahdc