Case Study
Clockwise from left:
1/ Nicola Burleigh
2/ T
here are 14,897 looked-after children in Scotland
(July 2017). Photo from stock photography
3/ Community meals evaluation tasting
4/ Young people’s views are considered in the development
of care contracts. Photo from stock photography
Nicola Burleigh is a Category Manager in Scotland Excel’s social care
procurement team. In this case study, she explains how she engaged with
care-experienced young people to take their views on board when developing
our children’s residential care contract.
Local authorities provide essential social care
services to those who need them at different
stages of their lives. Since 2011, Scotland Excel has
developed a portfolio of procurement frameworks
to help councils source care providers for a range of
adult and children’s services.
When we design our social care frameworks, our
key priority is to support councils to realise the best
possible outcomes for people who use care services
in line with national policy. To achieve this, it is vital
to involve those who are best placed to provide
their views – people who have direct experience
of care.
At Scotland Excel, we have an established track
record of engaging with people who use care
services. Our care home services for adults with
learning disabilities framework involved people
with experience of these services during contract
development. Our community meals contract was
evaluated with the help of elderly service users who
tested and scored the various meal options.
Recently, we involved young people with experience
of living in care when developing a new generation
contract for children’s residential care services.
This contract is designed to meet the requirements
of local authorities purchasing these services
but it was important to us to engage with and
represent the views of young people with first-hand
experience.
We thought it may be a challenge to reach out to
these young people. However, our search led us to
Gemma Watson, Involvement Advisor of the Care
Inspectorate. Gemma works closely with Young
Inspection Volunteers, a team of specially trained
people aged 18–26 who themselves have experience
of care.
Gemma arranged an informal focus group with
some of the Young Inspection Volunteers. This
gave them an opportunity to review the contract
documentation, including the specifications for care
services, and provided a channel for them to feed
back where they felt improvements could be made.
44 | Shared Vision, Shared Success. Our Corporate Strategy 2018–2023
Many of the suggestions from the Young Inspection
Volunteers were incorporated into the contract.
Some were easy to implement but will make a huge
difference to care experienced by young people. For
example, being supported to cook their own meals
at an appropriate age will help them prepare for life
when they leave residential care.
Other suggestions around health, education and
support mechanisms for young people were also
reflected in the final specifications.
The Young Inspection Volunteers were involved
throughout the evaluation of the framework,
spending many hours of their own time reading and
assessing documents and providing the feedback
that has helped reshape the services offered.
Our volunteers were highly engaged in the
process – they were keen to take the opportunity
to contribute their experiences for the benefit of
all young people using care services. They also
understood why the procurement process is so
important in providing the service they receive.
Gemma says: “This was a challenging piece of
work for our volunteers but their enthusiasm,
coupled with support from me and guidance from
Scotland Excel, provided some excellent feedback
that will further improve the services that young
people receive.”
The Young Volunteers were a truly inspirational
group who really validated our belief that we can
provide better service outcomes by involving those
who use the services throughout the procurement
process.
The feedback of the volunteers formed part of
a wider consultation of stakeholders, including
care providers, whose opinions of the existing
specifications and terms and conditions were
also considered. It is through this 360° approach
to engagement that we are able to develop
frameworks that deliver the best outcomes for all
those involved.
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