Transcript Procurement Phase: 1

OUTSOURCING CHILDREN’S SOCIAL
WORK – THE DEVON EXPERIENCE
AN UPDATE ON THE 2013 EXTERNALISATION OF AN
INTEGRATED HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE SERVICE
Brenda Bartlett
Virgin Care
Jon Richards
Devon County Council
The background
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Transforming Community Services set out a national
requirement for Primary Care trusts to separate their
provision from their commissioning function by 1st April
2011
As a result of this arrangements were put in place with
Devon County Council to manage Integrated Children’s
Services on behalf of NHS Devon for up to 2 years, to
allow time to determine long term arrangements
The outcome of the process would be the out-sourcing of
health and social care services
Integrated Children’s Services
Mental health and
wellbeing
Primary Mental
Health Service
Child & Adolescent
Mental Health
specialist service
Joint Agency Child
Abuse Team
Service around the
Child (Children in
care)
Physical, Sensory &
Learning Disability
Joint agency multidisciplinary teams for
children with disabilities,
including children’s
community nursing
Specialist Child Assessment
Centres
Community Equipment
Service
Speech & Language
Therapy Service
Family support services,
including short breaks units
Public Health
Nursing
Health Visiting
School Nursing
Immunisation
Service
Newborn hearing
screening service
Health service for
children in care
Programme objectives
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To develop and implement a sustainable solution for
the long term provision of Integrated Children’s
Services from 31st March 2013
To explore opportunities for extending the scope of
the services to be re-commissioned
To optimise the opportunities for transformation
To improve outcomes for children and young people
Apr 11
CoCoMapping
••Mapping
produce
produce ••Gather
Gather
the
the
views
views
model ••Market
Market
model
Sep 11
Procure
Procure
the
the
service
service
Jul 12
Dialogue
••Dialogue
Tenders
••Tenders
Evaluation
••Evaluation
Dodue
due
Do
diligence
diligence
and
and
mobilise
mobilise
new
new
contractor
contractor
Ongoing engagement
Mar 13
Staff
••Staff
Contracts
••Contracts
Finance
••Finance
Hiccough No.1 – Judicial Review

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Not part of the plan!
Brought on Public Sector Equality Duty grounds but
seemingly politically driven
Defended robustly but at considerable cost and
effort
Caused capacity challenges in next phases
The result? We lost… but also won!
Hiccough No.2 – Social Work transfer
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December 2011 – January 2013: assessment of
duties and functions that could be transferred
October 2012 – January 2013: ‘Border protocols’
were in preparation to govern interface between
ICS and mainstream children’s Social Work teams
January 2013: DfE consultation re Social Work
Practice pilots begged questions about our
proposals
January 2013: Leading Counsel’s opinion – no go!
February 2013: Re-negotiate with Virgin Care
So what happened on transfer day?
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All NHS staff transferred to Virgin Care
More than half the Social Care staff transferred to
Virgin Care – the Family Support, Enabling, and
Respite Unit staff
Remaining Social Care staff remained in DCC with
dual management arrangements within Virgin Care
However, only small proportion of Social Care
budget transferred
Phase 2 transfer for remaining staff was planned
for April 2014
Preparing for Phase 2 transfer
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‘Border protocols’ had to be completed, promoted
and tested
Interim management arrangements had to be
implemented and supported
Responses to DfE consultation had to be agreed
Consideration and interpretation of legislative
change and guidance had to be undertaken
Ofsted’s involvement

Safeguarding inspection
 April
2013 – DCC found ‘Inadequate’ across the board
 Limited scrutiny of ICS but positive feedback
 Improvement Plan agreed in September 2013
 Single Assessment Framework launched November
2013
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Registration process
 Virgin
Care prepared Ofsted application
 Were Ofsted ready for new Social Care providers?
Ofsted’s impact
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Decision made to postpone Social Work transfer
until April 2015 – ie until Improvement Plan had
been completed
Registration therefore also postponed
Further period of interim management required,
with a different format
Dip in Social Care staff morale
Could we have gone ahead?
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Yes we could
 legislation
would have enabled the original plan to go
ahead (though detailed guidance was limited)
 ‘Border protocols’ had been thoroughly tested
 Staff were ready to move
 Placement purchasing responsibilities were agreed
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No we couldn’t
 Ofsted
impact
Reflections on the wider service one
year on
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Positives –
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Challenges 
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Legacy issues can be resolved – Accom, HR, ICT, etc
Much greater flexibility – finance/practice/structures
Much less bureaucracy, and increased development opportunities
within a major national organisation
Productivity, consistency and integration within ICS all progressing
External pressures are always with us – CAMHS etc
External scrutiny is much greater!
Contractual relationship – mature approach is required where
contractual changes become necessary
Rome wasn’t (re-)built in a day!
Should you be doing this kind of
transfer?
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Why do you want to do it, what are the issues you
want to solve?
What support are you going to give it, now and
throughout the contract?
How stable are your organisations and leads?
How stable is the external context?
ANY QUESTIONS?