ROAR - Reaching Older Adults in Renfrewshire
Name of key contact: Janis McDonald
Address: Renfrewshire Centre for Voluntary Service (RCVS), The Wynd Centre, 6 School Wynd, Paisley
Telephone: 0141 587 2487
Email: morag.o’donnell@rcvsweb.co.uk or janis.mcdonald@rcvs.co.uk
Web address: www.rcvsweb.co.uk
In a nutshell
At RCVS we support voluntary organisations in Renfrewshire. We were the lead partner of ROAR, a Public Social Partnership (PSP). PSPs are a new way of designing and delivering public services. The PSP approach was used to provide a befriending service for older adults and make the most effective use of resources. We brought together a range of organisations that had expertise in different aspects of care for older people, to work in partnerships with representatives from the Local Authority.
We hoped to learn more about PSPs by actually forming one, and to increase opportunities for voluntary organisations to win contracts from the local authority. It was also important that we design a high quality befriending service which really made older people feel good about themselves.
This work was part of the Social Economy Scotland (SES) programme. SES was a Development Partnership funded by the European Community’s EQUAL initiative.
What were the issues?
• Voluntary organisations are often short of resources.
• They may also duplicate each other’s work.
• Officers who procure services may not understand the benefits of working with the voluntary sector.
• Voluntary organisations do not always feel in a strong position to compete for contracts.
• Older people are often isolated in their homes, this effects their self-confidence,
• health and well-being.
What we did
We took the lead role in developing the PSP and providing staff to support this. A Development Officer was appointed. They were responsible for co-ordinating and supporting the organisations involved in the PSP. An away-day was held to raise awareness of the aim of the project. We looked at what involvement in the PSP would mean for the organisations.
It has taken just over 18 months to get the service up and running. This time has been used to agree principles, identify the services needed, draft the service specification and design different services to meet these needs. We supported two separate groups who directed the work – a Steering Group and a Service Design Group
The organisations in the PSP were:
• Renfrewshire CVS (lead partner)
• Volunteer Centre Renfrewshire
• WRVS
• Alzheimers Scotland, and
• Contact the Elderly
The services the PSP designed were:
• Sunday Hosting Group – a network of volunteers who invite older people to have Sunday lunch with them in their homes once a month.
• Friendship Group – an informal meeting place where volunteers provide tea and cakes, friendship, and company.
• Transport Service - volunteers provide a transport service for older people to and from medical appointments.
• Face to Face Befriending - volunteers visit older people in their own homes for an hour a few times a week.
Our outcomes
• The PSP successfully launched itself as ROAR – Reaching Older Adults in Renfrewshire.
• The voluntary organisations involved in ROAR are working together to provide a pilot befriending services. If this works well they hope to be able to win public service contracts in the future.
• They also worked together on a volunteer recruitment day which recruited volunteers for the various befriending services.
• Organisations involved in ROAR said that the experience was valuable and that they would recommend this model of service delivery to other voluntary organisations.
• They felt more confident and experienced in delivering public services.
• Voluntary organisations now have a better relationship with the local authority and the local authority has a more positive view of voluntary organisations and their ability to deliver public services.
• A service user told us “this is the first time I have been shopping in three years” “if it wasn’t for my friend from WRVS I would not have been able to get out to the cinema”
One great thing – stronger together
The best thing about this pilot was that the organisations really worked and learned together. They helped each other to play a part in the design of a service in which they all believed. The joint planning meant we were not duplicating effort. And that services fit together well which means people are unlikely to fall inbetween services and go unnoticed.
Social economy organisations are more powerful working together than working against one another – this is a positive way forward for smaller organisations hoping to generate income
Lessons learnt
• It takes a long-time to build an effective PSP – we feel a minimum of two years is needed.
• Some organisations will decide to drop out of the PSP – there may well be fewer organisations at the end than there were at the beginning. Through time others might join.
• At the beginning it is essential to spend time on building the PSP, understanding the organisations involved, agreeing shared values and respecting their differences. This builds a solid foundation for the hard work ahead.
• It is important, from the beginning, to be clear about the kind of the service to be delivered and the finances needed to deliver it. It is also critical to have potential service users involved.
• A good development officer is essential and plays an important neutral role as facilitator, negotiator and co-ordinator of all PSP activities.
• The size and capacity of organisations involved in PSPs are likely to vary. Some organisations may need additional support to be able to participate as fully as other organisations.
• The PSP model can work and does provide voluntary organisations with the opportunity to be involved in larger contracts.
• Voluntary organisations who want to get involved in a PSP should be clear about the additional burden this is likely to place on them. They should weigh up the potential benefits against the perceived cost.
What next?
We are continuing to develop the PSP. We have also been working on an agreement or COMPACT between the local Council and the social economy sector. That agreement has now been finalised. It provides the overarching principle for the PSP. We also have a Joint Voluntary Sector Working Group to look at ways to work better together. We have been asked to look at developing service for younger people on the same model as ROAR. That work commences in February 08.
From the Renfrewshire Council there is a strong political and officer commitment to continue development of the PSPs via the COMPACT and ongoing joint working. This is likely to extend to health and other public service through the local community planning partnership. The new Director of Social Work has agreed to become the PSP champion for Scotland.
