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The Isle of Wight Mail | Friday 27 th September 2013
WORK UNDERWAY ON NEW STRUCTURE FOR CHILDREN'S SERVICES Children’s services staff at the Isle of Wight Council are taking part in a consultation on the redesign of social care and other related services for the Island. Isle of Wight Council’s strategic partner, Hampshire County Council is working closely with experienced interim managers to design new services that are aimed at ensuring that children are better protected and that professionals have lower case loads with better managerial oversight. The proposals include: * An end to the Island’s experimental ‘reclaiming social work’ model *A 50% increase in front line social workers from 32 posts to 48 *A 28% increase in other related front line positions * A 40% reduction in senior managers * All achieved within existing budgets * New services for children in need, children leaving care or at risk of coming into care * A drive to recruit more foster carers and adopters * A new central point of contact for all professionals and public on the Island * The reforms do not end there as while this consultation focuses on the priority of children’s social care, managers have stated their intention to review and improve other services on the Island such
as youth services, special educational needs services and other services which offer early help to families. Cabinet member for children’s services, councillor Richard Priest said: "I welcome these proposals which are aimed at addressing the problems that have been evident in our child protection system. "It is a full and proper consultation and if there are ways in which we can improve the proposals we will be pleased to listen to those ideas." The consultation will run until 23 October after which final decisions will be made and staff appointed to posts in the new structure.
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Final blood donor session A blood donor session at Freshwater Memorial Hall this week will be the last one run by the Isle of Wight blood collection team, which is being disbanded. NHS Blood and Transplant confirmed that its 13 staff members from the Island have either been redeployed to roles elsewhere within the organisation or accepted voluntary redundancy. For more information or to book an appointment, call 0300 123 23 23
Contact the news team on 01983 898 838 or email
press@iwmail.co.uk