Out and about with Ewan King

Visit to Bradford and Wakefield

Hello everyone. I have massively enjoyed my first six months working at Shared Lives Plus. It’s been inspiring visiting both carers and scheme workers. We’re focused on the problems you’re facing and are motivated to support you as much as possible.

Meeting with the Principal Social Workers Network

I visited Bradford to talk to Shared Lives scheme workers, and two people who draw upon the support of Shared Lives; our Ambassador Tom Milnes, and his carer Jo, and Malcolm, who lives with carers Mehnaz and Sajid. Bradford is a large scheme, with about 100 arrangements, but are keen to grow further.

Key issues for them are:

Pay for short breaks.

Training for carers in working with people who have challenging behaviours and mental health.

Support with recruitment.

Meeting with Helen Whately MP

Me and Jayne Wilson, Director of Development for Shared Lives Plus, had a productive meeting with Helen Whately MP, Minister for Social Care, in the House of Commons. We gave her an update on Shared Lives and set out why the Government needed to invest in growing Shared Lives. We hope to report some positive news soon.

We were very happy to be invited to speak at the network by Lyn Romeo, the Chief Social Worker for England. Tom Milnes, Jayne, and I presented about Shared Lives and the value it brings to people’s lives. It was massively positive to see lots of interest.

Visit to Scotland

First up was a visit to Fife Council, who have a long standing and large Shared Lives scheme with about 80 arrangements. Fife are keen to work with us promoting Shared Lives to other parts of Scotland.

The next day I met with Abbi and her Shared Lives carer Louise, who has supported Abbi for over ten years. After meeting Abbi, we met with members of the East Lothian Shared Lives scheme, a small scheme with ambition to grow.

Visit to Northern Ireland

I had a fantastic visit to Northern Ireland. During the visit I met with the service managers of two Shared Lives schemes. Firstly, I met Linda Robinson, the CEO of Age Northern Ireland, who have successfully won the contract to deliver Shared Lives to older people in the nation. Secondly, I met Jane MacMillan, who works for the Department of Health in Northern Ireland and is a Shared Lives Plus Board member. It was great to hear about the appetite across Northern Ireland for growing Shared Lives.

Wes gives Shared Lives his support

It was great to meet Wes Streeting, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. We talked about the benefits of Shared Lives. Wes went on to visit a local carer and I’m told he left inspired, and subsequently mentioned Shared Lives in one of his fringe speeches. He said he would welcome further discussion in the future about the ideas we have on the reform of adult social care.

Supporting innovation in social care

I visited the London School of Economics to speak to a group of academics, including Professor Jill Manthorpe, Professor of Social Work at Kings College London, to discuss the Supporting Innovation in Social Care Project, or SASCI. SASCI has been set up to research innovative approaches to adult social care. We hope that the findings from this work can help raise awareness of Shared Lives and help support local schemes.

National Children and Adults Services Conference

During the three days at NCAS, we spoke to loads of senior leaders from local government and elsewhere about Shared Lives, and are now booking in calls to discuss how we can help them.

Presentation to Cardiff and Vale University Health Board

It was a pleasure to join Kathryn Morgan, Development Manager in Wales, and Tom Milnes, to meet representatives of the Cardiff and Value NHS Board. We discussed how the board can learn from the innovative Southeast Wales mental health crisis service and set up something similar on their patch. The board representatives were very excited about the possibilities of Shared Lives and have asked Shared Lives Plus to prepare a proposal which sets out how we can support them to implement this.

Meeting with NHS Confederation CEO

We recently met with Matthew Taylor, CEO at the NHS Confederation and discussed Growing Shared Lives. Matthew said: “I want to see Shared Lives become a well-recognised feature on the public services landscape –a mainstream option that many thousands more people can benefit from. At the NHS Confederation, we are very keen to see Shared Lives grow.”