SUBSTANCE USE NETWORK EDINBURGH (SUNE)
MINUTE OF MEETING
Held on 28th May, 2014
1. Present
Bev Hubber – Castle Project
Jill Brookes – Simpson House
Yanni Yannoulis – COMAS
Rhona Hunter – Circle
Laura Plumb – Recovery Essentials
Christina Knibbs – Recovery Essentials
Chris Fitzgerald - Streetwork
In Attendance
Kate Kasprowicz – EVOC
2. Apologies
Meichelle Walker - ELCA
Carmen McShane – Turning Point Scotland
Jenny Nicolson – Rankeillor Initiative
Danny Campbell – NEDAC
Emma Crawshaw - CREW
3. Information Exchange
The low numbers attending the meeting were noted. It was felt that the number of meetings necessitated by the formation of the Commissioning Collaborative had impacted on the attendance at SUNE meetings.
It was agreed that in order to save time at meetings those present would only give an update if there was anything new to report
Yanni Yannoulis, Serenity Cafe – There is a new SMART group starting at Serenity which unfortunately clashes with a group running at Simpson House. Yanni was confident the timing of the group could be adjusted to avoid the clash. Those present suggested a calendar of SMART meetings could be produced so service users could see where SMART groups were running across the city and when. Serenity very busy and is now running a Polish AA group on Sundays at 11.00am.
Beverley Hubber, Castle Project – Nothing new to report from the previous meeting
Rhona Hunter – Circle – Sunflower Garden and Circle successfully submitted a partnership bid to the Early Years Change Fund – Development Fund which funded two 21 hour posts, based in the SE and NE Recovery Hubs. At a meeting on Wednesday 26th March, the bones of bid were used to take a proposal to the EADP Children, Young People and Families Commissioning Group which awarded further funding to make the 21 hour posts full time and to fund a further full time post to Aberlour to work in the SW Recovery Hub. There is now a Children and Families worker in all 4 Hubs.
Jill Brookes, Simpson House Counselling and Recovery Service – SMART groups going well
Chris Fitzgerald, Streetwork – Chris is based at the Crisis Centre in the Cowgate, where Streetwork run a 24 hour service for rough sleepers, offering support to get these people into accommodation. Staff carry out 2 outreaches per day, 365 days per year and provide a needle exchange among other support. Streetwork have a partnership with NEON on Hospital Street and work with 1200 plus rough sleepers per year. Welfare Reform has had a noticeable impact. Chris also highlighted issues around access to Direct Access Hostels, particularly suitable for service users with more complex needs. In the past Streetwork staff could phone these hostels direct; now there is a more complicated referral process via the Council. This was also touched on at the SHAPE meeting feedback from which was provided by Carmen McShane
Laura Plumb, Recovery Essentials – Laura reported that the for first 3 months of the project the focus had been on setting up and recruiting a full complement of staff – this was now complete with the recruitment of two more financial inclusion workers. Workers had been concentrating on the bread and butter issues, benefits, debt, housing etc. but were now looking at running groups looking at the longer term. The groups would focus on issues such as communication skills, fuel poverty, recycling and budgeting
4. Minute of Previous Meeting
This was agreed as an accurate record of the meeting with the deletion of the last sentence in the Information Exchange relating to the Castle Project – Bev was not looking forward to the arrival of a new worker!
5. Matters Arising
5.1 Commissioning Collaborative
This is a new approach to commissioning services which does not rely on competitive tendering and gives the Voluntary Sector more of a voice in the commissioning process. The basis of the collaborative process is the formation of alliances; shared targets and outcomes, maximising use of resources.
The Collaborative has met 3 times and it was felt by those who had attended, that things were starting to make sense. This new way of working is more difficult for the Public Sector, e.g. the need to have the Terms of Reference signed off by Lothian Health Board to enable shared decision making. But on the whole, SUNE members felt that a positive start had been made.
At the last meeting, the second half of the morning had been spent in Alliance groupings, discussing shared outcomes. While challenging and at times chaotic, there was also the potential for access to training and cross fertilisation of ideas – a good start! To make the process work there needs to be a focus on strengths; identifying gaps and solving issues together to make the partnership approach stronger. There did seem to be buy in across the board and more open and honest discussion around what is best for service users. It was also felt that being part of the collaborative commissioning process would lessen competition between organisations in relation to funding.
It was noted that good attendance at Collaborative meetings was vital to ensure the voice of the Sector was heard and ideas taken on board. And that there will need to be a culture shift in the public sector. A good chair for the Collaborative was essential and there was general agreement that someone from the private sector might have the right skills to drive the Collaborative and ensure that meetings were useful, efficient and wasted no time in moving the process forward. Yanni will sit on the recruitment panel for the Chair.
In terms of the Core Group it was recognised that there needed to be clear communication between SUNE members on the Collaborative and Kate Kasprowicz who will represent the Sector on the Core Group. It was also suggested that an elected Member would be a useful addition to the Core Group.
A note of caution was also sounded in relation to competitive tendering which could re-emerge depending on the result of the Referendum and the results of the local and general elections which could produce a new Council administration or a change of government. However there was also a feeling that as the Collaborative Commissioning process became established and produced a new, more co-operative way of working, it would be more difficult to reintroduce competitive tendering.
6. Feedback from Service User Event
The Service User Event was held on 22nd April at the Lowport Centre in Linlithgow. Yanni reported that the event had been highly successful, encouraging service users to look at the bigger picture and not just their own organisations.
There was a team building exercise in the morning and the afternoon session focussed on a map of organisations which each of 4 groups had to decide how to fund from their budget. Interestingly service users were aware of and had used most organisations. They were very positive about the Recovery Hubs but less so in relation to the protected funding for the DTTO feeling it was unfair to that a service was only available if you committed a crime. The groups were also anti the funding for the ADP! An important benefit of the event was the networking and linking up of service users from different organisations.
Looking at the involvement of service users and families more broadly, SUNE moved on to discuss CLASP – Change, Learning, Action and Support Programme, run by the Cyrenians, which Yanni suggested SUNE could bid in to. Yanni agreed to circulate ideas for the basis of the bid, the deadline for which was two weeks after the meeting
7. Reps Reports
Carmen McShane had circulated feedback from the EADP Executive and a meeting of SHAPE prior to the meeting. Carmen had also circulated information on Inclusive Edinburgh and Val Tallon’s presentation to the EADP Exec. Those present thought it would be useful to invite Val to a SUNE meeting – those who had had time to look at her presentation had found it really interesting and stimulating.
8. ISSUES FOR NEXT MEETING
There was brief discussion on the Survey Monkey – only 8 responses so far but it was heartening to see that there was 100% support for SUNE’s role in terms of Influencing Decisions and Collective Action. The survey will be circulated again with a reminder to those who have not yet completed it.
Other issues to be followed up include –
· Clarification of membership of the Hubs ( in response to a query from Rhona Hunter)
· Issue of contracts extension
9. SUNE MEETINGS 2014
Tuesday 8th July -2.00pm – 4.00pm
Tuesday 19th August - 2.00pm – 5.00pm: Extended meeting with input on Fundraising from Ruth
Campbell)
Tuesday 7th October - 2.00pm – 4.00pm
Tuesday 18th November-2.00pm – 4.00pm
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