SCIE media releases 2004

SCIE to develop social care and health improvement

26 October 2004

The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has announced that seven Department of Health (DH) programmes, will become part of SCIE in April 2005.

The programmes work across the social care and health sectors to support policy implementation and service improvement and are being brought together to form the Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP).

It has been agreed by the Minister for Community, Dr Stephen Ladyman, that integrating the CSIP with SCIE will bring substantial benefits to service users through the unification of good practice and service improvement.

The benefits include greater opportunities for dissemination of good practice, a stronger link between the knowledge base for social care and service improvement, a better understanding of social care within health contexts and increased impact and effectiveness in work with local stakeholders.

"With CSIP becoming a part of SCIE, it will enable both organisations to take advantage of the synergies between spreading good practice and promoting service improvement. Both SCIE and the DH share the view that service improvement in social care has not had the same sustained attention as many parts of the NHS and this will go a long way towards remedying this," said Dr Ladyman.

Chair of SCIE, Jane Campbell, said, "SCIE's board is delighted to welcome the CSIP into the organisation. We have considered this proposal very carefully and have concluded that the integration of the CSIP into SCIE will really help to improve services for the people who use them. For SCIE this represents a great opportunity for more active dissemination of our practice guidance, as well as a link into a strong regional network.

"The joint work of the CSIP and SCIE will be conducted with the same rigorous independent, evidence-based and user-led criteria that SCIE has used in all of its work. Maintaining SCIE's independence will be paramount and our focus will remain strongly on social care."

SCIE's board has identified key criteria to be adhered to during the implementation of the partnership, including:

• ensuring SCIE's ability to maintain its independence (already enshrined in SCIE's existing service level agreement with the DH)
• keeping SCIE's emphasis on putting the service user at the centre of its work and promoting user-independence and participation
• maintaining SCIE's distinctive social care focus
• acknowledging SCIE's remit for children's as well as adults' services, and for Wales and Northern Ireland as well as England, and adopting an inclusive approach to learning and improvement across the spectrum

The CSIP will be transferred into SCIE and SCIE will enter into a service level agreement with the DH in relation to the work to be undertaken. This will be a similar arrangement to that which SCIE already has with the DH.

SCIE will also appoint a National Director of Improvement Services who will be accountable to the Chief Executive and the Board of Trustees.

Media contact

Victoria McNeill | Head of Corporate Services | SCIE | T: 020 7089 6840 | M: 07967 552 506

Notes to editors

What is the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE)?

SCIE's aim is to improve the experience of people who use social care services by developing and promoting knowledge about good practice in social care. We pull together knowledge from diverse sources through working with a broad range of people and organisations. We share this knowledge freely, supporting those working in social care and empowering service users.

SCIE is an independent registered charity, funded primarily by the Department of Health (DH). It covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

What is the Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP)?

The Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP) will be made up of seven improvement programmes made up of*:

• the National Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Support Service
• the Integrated Care Network (ICN)
• the Integrating Community Equipment Support Team (ICE)
• the National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE)
• the Health and Social Care Change Agent Team (CAT)
• the Valuing People Support Team (VPST)
• Change for Children.

Currently, the seven programmes are all part of the DH. The programmes work across the social care and health sectors and their priorities are to support policy implementation and service improvement. Each programme has its own management and organisational arrangements, many with a programme director and some with a strong regional base.

* For more information about the CSIP programmes, call Ingrid Steele on 01132 543 811 or on 07753 835 395.

Why is the CSIP integrating with SCIE?

Both SCIE and the DH share the view that service improvement in social care has not had the same sustained attention as many parts of the NHS and wish to find a way to remedy this.

There is potential for the CSIP programmes to make better use of established expertise and networks to improve knowledge sharing and avoid duplication.

With CSIP becoming a part of SCIE it will enable both organisations to exploit the synergies between spreading good practice and promoting service improvement. This will be enhanced by SCIE's independent status.

What are the benefits of the CSIP joining SCIE?

• The CSIP will benefit from established management and governance arrangements with the likelihood of closer engagement and greater credibility through being independent of DH.
• SCIE will benefit from more active dissemination of its work as well as a greater regional presence.
• The social care sector will benefit from a constructive and active link between the knowledge base for social care and service improvement activity.
• SCIE will gain a better understanding of social care within a health context.
• There will be a better use of resources through better co-ordination.
• SCIE will have an enhanced ability to tackle cross-cutting issues such as education, housing, employment and ethnicity that affect people across user/patient groups.
• SCIE will have a greater ability to work with key organisations such as Government Offices of the Regions, the Commission for Social Care Inspection, the Healthcare Commission and Statutory Health Authorities.
• SCIE will have an increased impact and effectiveness in work with local stakeholders.

Under what framework will the CSIP join SCIE?

The CSIP will be transferred directly into SCIE, forming a new division so that SCIE will have three divisions: Knowledge Services, Corporate Services and a new Improvement Services division.

Transferring the CSIP into SCIE as a new division of SCIE has the advantage of giving the SCIE trustees more overall control, therefore maintaining SCIE's independence, as well as fitting within SCIE's existing structure and making best use of available resources.

SCIE will enter into a Service Level Agreement with the DH over the CSIP work programme to ensure any work undertaken is evidence-based and driven, rather than politically motivated. This will be a similar arrangement to that which SCIE already has with the DH.

SCIE will also appoint a National Director of Improvement Services who will be accountable to the Chief Executive and the Board of Trustees.

How will SCIE maintain its independence?

Maintaining SCIE's independence will be paramount. We will continue to make decisions about our work programme based on the same rigorous criteria we have used in the past. We will continue to draw up our own policies and business plan and will not commit to the policies and wishes of the DH unless our own focus is coincidentally in harmony with public policy.