“Focus on the Opportunities that face us”
Inaugural Address of Glen Garrod, President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services
Remarks delivered 10.00 AM, Thursday 12 April, 2018
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A few months ago, a colleague encouraged me to have “a bit of swagger” about what we do, and how we help people in social care. So, despite the challenging and uncertain world in which we live, allow me to begin my presidency with a statement of pride and hope.
To the people who currently work in social care, those who have worked in it and those who will follow us: you know the difference you can make,what you have achieved and what you can and will achieve in the future. Not just for individual people - but for a societywhich is so badly in need of our values, our ability to help bind society together.
So, colleagues: when you leave this room, let's have a bit of swagger about you.
When I sat down to write this speech, I began to worry. I worried I did not have enough time to write anything meaningful or profound. As I sat trying to put pen to paper, I realised that I have actually been writing this – my first Presidential speech - for over 40 years.
In many ways,today represents a point of reflection. In remembering what brought me here, I see the influences that will guide my presidency, and the opportunities I hope to set out for ADASS in the year ahead.
My first experience of caring for others goes back to when I was very young indeed. As a child, I was the chief “splinter puller-outer” for the Garrod household.
My father, who worked in a factory, would often come home with brass filings embedded deep into his hands. He would arrive through the door, soak his hands in warm water and sit patiently as I worked on removing the filings. He died nearly 40 years ago and it is his hands I can still see most clearly - calloused and badly scarred.
When my grandfather, who spent his working life “down the pit”, came home, he used to sit in a tin bath in front of the fire, covered in coal-dust and coughing. When I saw the dedication to their families that both my father and grandfather demonstrated, I began to think that the term “hero” could apply to a lot of different kinds of people. It certainly applied to them, as it did to so many of their generation – men and women - who sacrificed to provide for their families.
Later, when I was a teenager, I read “heroes” by John Pilger. In these pages, I would find the description I was looking for: “It is in ordinary people’s lives where heroism is to be found.”
We saw that so vividly just a few weeks ago when the extraordinary weather conditions brought out the very best in people who work in our sector. Not least on my home patch in Lincolnshire, where at one point all the county’s major roads were blocked, people – “ordinary people’’, 'social care workers’ went to astonishing lengths to ensure that the most vulnerable in our communities received a visit and care and support services were maintained. Truly they were heroes.
And we see this heroism, too, day in day out, in the essential contribution made to our society by unpaid, informal carers. In the time, care and attention they pour into helping others live independent lives in the community, in the daily sacrifices they make, representing the very best of all of us. Let us acknowledge that today, and pledge to find as many opportunities as possible in the coming year to support carers live the lives they wish for, and have the recognition they deserve.
But caring effectively has to involve looking at the whole person – and that means that their background and life circumstances, hopes and dreams cannot be ignored. After University, I worked as a Community Service Volunteer with young people and poor families in Manchester. It was here that I witnessed the impact that being locked out of society can have on a life. I witnessed first-hand the riots in Moss Side, which laid bare the dangers of leaving an area to disaffection and dissonance.
In an area where so many people had been left to fend for themselves, it seemed to me the most important thing to do was get close to people, to listen and understand. This has been a guiding influence on my professional life and will be in my presidency.
I have had the privilege of “getting close to” lots of incredible people throughout my career – most often people overcoming extremely difficult circumstances and choosing nonetheless to enjoy life. Most people confronted with poverty, disability, or illness– regardless of age, are still determined to live as fulfilling and meaningful a life as possible. Let us remember that as we move forward into the next year, and use that to keep us motivated.
As I continue to outline the influences on me, I am especially mindful of my experiences working in what was then Bombay, in India, immediately after I qualified(CQSW for those who can remember what that means). I practised “social work” helping people in a slum clearance area that housed over 100,000 people on a plot about the size of two football pitches.
The homes were about 4 square metres, and were made out of plastic sheets and whatever other materials could be found. This time profoundly shaped my views:despite the extreme poverty and challenges they faced, the people who lived there were proud and passionate and lived life as fully as possible. That spirit humbled me at the time, continues to inspire me now, and will help motivate me to be as effective a servant of social work and social care in this country as I canbe.
And now for the radical part – where I outline my priorities for the coming year.
There are none.
It is not my intention to focus on any particular priorities.
Instead I want to present you with a series of opportunities, and this is a year that should provide plenty of them. The calendar for the coming year is filled with sector-defining agendas; the forthcoming Green Paper, any moves the Government may or may not make to support Carers; and the Fair Funding Review, will all rightly concern us.
Making sure we get what we want out of these developments will be a challenge, but I am an incorrigible optimist, as my family will tell you. I always look for a silver lining, and I am determined to focus on the opportunities that face us.
Supported Housing is one of those opportunities. We can achieve much more in this area.
Housing is the place where one begins to provide a chance for a more independent, dare I say 'ordinary', life for people with profound disabilities, irrespective of whether they are young people transitioning to adulthood or part of the Transforming Care Programme. It is my view that upper-tier councils must take the lead inconstructing strategic plans that encompasses all the supported housing needsin an area. With our District Council, housing providers and health colleagues we can achieve much more but only if we work more closely together. ADASS will continue to support authorities in putting suchplans together, and encourage the very best practice in this area.
The next opportunity stems from how digital technology can enable care and support to be more heavily influenced and shaped by those who need it and, to be truly personalised. We need a transformative digital offer, which affords people the information and advice to self-assess and commission online.
We need to make it easier for people buying their own services, or who wish to connect with others seeking to do the same irrespective of whether they need state funding or have their own meansusing their own creativity and entrepreneurial instincts.
Shifting society from thinking about social care when people are in need of it to a situation where they can pre-empt their care needs ahead of time is essential. Digital platforms that enable people to plan are essential. This is a huge, potentially transformative opportunity for social care, and ADASS will play its part in encouraginglocal councils and the wider sector to harness digital technologies to support people to find their own solutions and, for those who do not or cannot do this then to manage their needs as effectively as possible.
My third opportunity lies in telling our story. Those of you who were here last year will remember what Sir David Behan told us – that social care can notafford to be seen through the prism of the NHS, and that a greater understanding of social care by the wider public is essential. All too often Social Care is lost in the language of DTOCs, Critical Pathways, and Commissioning, when what it is actually concerned with is the aspirations and wishes of people who need our help, advice and support to achieve. Whether it’s the young adult with a profound disability or the grandparent with dementia, social care is there for us when we are at our most vulnerable. Helping the public to understand our contribution is perhaps our single most important task over the next year. They are the force for change to be reckoned with, the power to be harnessed.
This means encouraging the people who benefit from our services to talk, about the impact – at times in a truly transformative way thatsocial care has had on their lives. This is a major opportunity for the next year – campaigning for the change social care needsthrough engaging the wider public.
My fourth and final opportunity surrounds what I suppose I must call integration. Only when we provide care, in combination with our colleagues in housing, health and care, that sees people in the round,can we truly ensure we are honouring the things that bring us into social care: a better chance for people who would not otherwise have one, care for the most vulnerable and, a society that understands the importance of what we do.
We’ve heard recently about the level of ambition that there is for personal budgets within the National Health Service. Personalisation is our space, we cannot stagnate and watch other areas pass us by. There can be no excuses. This explosion of opportunities to expand personalisation is within our gift to reinforce and rejuvinate and it is essential that we deliver.
The potential for people with their own budget, whether solely or in groups, to have a positive and disruptive impact on the market for social care has not yet happened at any sort of scale as it must. We desperately need to see 'creative disruption' in social care, and in order to do that, we must encourage many more people to manage their care according to their own needs and desires.
Accordingly, it’s essential that over the coming year we figure out what we are going to do about integration. It is now part of the familiar language we all use though I do not like the word.
It’s too easy to say, and it says too little about why it is important. Progress is possible however, even between the two “leaky buckets” of health and social care. It seems to me the best way to approach this issue is to look at it from the point of view of the person who needs us. After all, isn’t that what we are all trying to achieve?
We must look through the telescope from the other end to succeed. I myself have taken the message of integration between health and social care to heart, literally, by marrying a GP!
However, any relationship, personal or professional, depends on differences being respected, working alongside one another, and recognising that sometimes disagreement is helpful. This “critical friend” relationship is one that ADASS will develop with the NHS over the course of my presidency.
I hope that sets out some of the opportunities that I see for ADASS over the coming year.
It has been a privilege to work in the social care sector for over 30 years. It has given so much to me, from my first steps as a community service volunteer to my role as a director of social services, and I hope now to repay that debt through my service to you as your president.
I stand before you today honoured to be an ambassador for the sector and as a determined campaigner, hoping to influence those with the power to make decisions towards wiser, longer term, and more sustainable solutions for the very many people in our country that truly need social care to be the best it can possibly be. I am immensely grateful and humbled by the privilege of this responsibility, and I will work hard every day over the next year to ensure that your trust is well-placed.
And now a message for those of you who will go back to face serious resource and funding challenges and do the best you can to square the circle in meeting needs within limited resources. This role is challenging. But local government in general and social care in particular have the advantage of being close to communities, being of those communities andable to take decisions where the consequences are clear to us because of our perspective and our roots.
We have the ability to 'shape place', to coordinate and lead in our communities to deliver bespoke solutions that best reflect local needs.
These are outcomes that national government and national bodies are less well placed to deliver – or even imagine. Let us seize our advantage with both hands: celebrate our successes – yes, let’s see a bit of swagger – and campaign positively and confidently for the changes and the resources we so desperately need.
As I come into this office, I am humbled by the work of those who have previously occupied it. It has been an honour and a pleasure to support the President during this last year. Margaret has been an exceptional role model. From moving social care into the media limelight to progressing the areas she cared deeply about, her impact cannot be overstated. As a person, she has also been an incredibly useful guide to me, and the joy I have found in her company has made what can be challenging work so much more enjoyable.
However, this organisation is about so much more than its President. Cathie, you really are the glue that holds ADASS together. We Presidents are here but one year, but you and the team you lead, from Andriana to Julie to Hilary to all of you who support the organisation, keep it running and campaigning over time. Thank you for your service, support and wisdom.
I would also like to thank the Leader, Executive Councillors and all my colleagues at Lincolnshire County Council for supporting me so that I can take up this Presidency, and perhaps most of all my PA, Katrin, who over six years has managed to make me look far more organised and capable than I actually am!
Finally, I’d like to thank you. If you’re in this room, whatever your role - be you consultant, correspondent or campaigner, you are making a choice to make a difference to the development of social care in our country. As we move into the next year and look at the opportunities we face as a sector, let us remember the impact effective social care can have on the people we serve and our communities. By focusing on the opportunities we have, we can increase that impact, and build a future for social care we can truly be proud of.
ENDS
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