Published: 09 August 2006
Integrated Child Care Services
Dorset local authorities have joined forces to deliver a ground-breaking Integrated Children System (ICS) in association with Northgate Information Solutions and CareWorks.
The unique pan-Dorset consortium is formed of Bournemouth Borough Council, Borough of Poole and Dorset County Council.
Through shared services, it will ensure constituency of approach across the region, whilst also enabling the local authorities involved to purchase the necessary information technology solution in the most cost-effective manner.
The ICS is to be delivered in line with Government targets for local authorities to standardise & develop the information records of Children and Families Services by January 2007.
The programme is a result of the 2003 Every Child Matters green paper and Children Act 2004, arising from the Victoria Climbié enquiry, which recognised the need for improving & sharing the recording of information by social services to better protect vulnerable children.
There was, in addition, a more local need that helped drive the programme forward, which came from a review undertaken in 2003 by the Audit Commission and Department of Health in Bournemouth Council’s Social Services department.
Among its findings were the following:
· referrals relating to protecting children from harm tended to be allocated to a named social worker quickly, but there were a significant number of unallocated referrals of children in need relating to apparently lower level priorities
· there were significant delays in completing initial and core assessments of some children in need. Some were waiting for several months
· numbers on the Child Protection Register (CPR) had increased by 40% since the last Inspection of Children’s Services in June 2000. In March 2001, Bournemouth had the fifth highest rate in England of children registered as in need of protection
· some looked after children were placed inappropriately due to a lack of progress in securing provision for them
· family support services for children at risk of harm and/or in need were underdeveloped……………….
While the Authority recognised some of the problems it faced, senior managers and councillors have not always been well informed about the extent of pressures at the front line. This is due to a lack of managerial focus on the basics of care management and problems with practice, data quality and inadequate information systems. Weak services supporting the management of finance, information systems and people have also not helped managers to manage effectively or advise well.
These comments / findings provided justification for an extension to this initiative to be developed by Bournemouth Borough Council, which has also established an adult care management system (ACMS) as a central point of information on all adult & social care users in Bournemouth.
Following a stringent tendering process, the £3.8million five-year contract was awarded to CareWorks, a provider of social care management systems and Northgate Information Solutions, a major UK provider of community justice systems, who will also host the secure site.
Due to go live at the end of this year, the new systems will provide care professionals with fully electronic social care records a single point of access for information, enabling them to deliver improved services to vulnerable children & adults in a speedier, more accurate & effective manner.
Allowing appropriate information sharing across the whole of Dorset will also provide citizens with care services that are built upon their individual situations & needs.
Future plans for the new management system include sharing information with education and healthcare services as well as police and young offenders services.
Judith Geddes, Chair of the pan-Dorset Consortium Programme Board said:
“The new integrated Children’s system is set to revolutionise the management of social care in Dorset and is a great example of partnership working across councils for the benefit of our younger generation.
The added value for Bournemouth is through the development of our ACMS as an extension to this initiative which will significantly streamline our systems to work in the most effective way”.
Further information
Northgate Information Solutions
CareWorks RAISE
Every Child Matters - ICS systems
Dorset Childcare information & services
Green paper, Children Act 2004 and other associated documents
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