Advocacy has dominated today's Council meeting. We have had a review ongoing for two years now and finally we reached the stage of sending it out to tender.
This Joint Review with NHS Partners has involved extensive consultations with service users and other stakeholders.
We eventually plumped to have three contracts covering different group s . We currently have seven providers and as these are new contracts we need to tender them. This has caused existing providers to campaign against the proposals as it threatens their economic interests. They have opposed the move to three contracts and said if we were to move to three they want to have the new contracts gifted to them.
We can't do that. For one thing it would breach EU Procurement legislation which states that we have to procure in an open and transparent manner . Even if we didn't have to do that I would still want to. When we tendered Homelessness Services a couple of years ago we got far better quality of services for better value and as a result were able to increase the number of people able to receive the service.*(Note this part of the post was missed by accident and explains the following paragraphs! Apologies for any confusion)
This was a win for the service user - they got better services - a win for the Council - we got better value and made savings - and, critically, a win for those who in the past we couldn't afford to provide a service for in the past.
These are the people who get lost under the shouts of the vested interests. The silent voices of those for whom we are unable to provide a service for. The decision we took today means that these people will now find their voices.
Dear Paul - I live in Fife, am a carer, and work in mental health, voluntarily, promoting the peer support model, user carer involvement and peer advocacy (www.peersupportfife.org.uk).
ReplyDeleteHere in Fife we have had tendering of advocacy, resulting in Circles Network 'winning' the bid, the user led groups 'lost out'. In my opinion, and others, this has not been a winning result for service users, carers or for some of the staff of the original groups who were 'Tupe'd' over to the new Fife Circles Advocacy organisation.
We now have our local advocacy governed by an organisation that is based in Warwickshire, Englend, not the most effective way to manage, from a distance. Of course Fife Council may be happier with the situation as they might appear to have more 'control' over what is happening in the advocacy arena but the whole point about an advocacy service is that it needs to be independent. Not aligned with any service, statutory or otherwise. In this way it can be a voice and help others to have a voice, so that there is fairness and justice in the treatment of people with mental health problems.
I hope you find this comment helpful,
Regards, Chrys Muirhead
That would be the Circles Network who, while they have a Head Office down South, have been active in Glasgow for some time and indeed are managing their Fife based services from Glenrothes in Fife. I think they would take umbridge at being described as anything but independant.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.circlesnetwork.org.uk/about_circles_network.htm
As readers of this blog will appreciate I am no Nationalist and I am sure that they are providing a high quality service.
Thanks for your response Paul
ReplyDeleteCircles Network provide services in other areas of the UK therefore are not purely an advocacy service and cannot be deemed 'independent'.
SIAA (scottish independent advocacy alliance) give this definition "'Independent' refers to an Advocacy organisation that is structurally, financially and psychologically separate from service providers and other services.
Regarding their base being in Warwickshire, this is not a 'nationalist' comment but is about the efficiency of long-distance management. Their regional manager is based in Ireland, covering Ireland and Scotland.
Regarding Circles work in Glasgow I believe this is limited to one service in a forensic setting and that most of the advocacy in the Glasgow area is delivered by independent advocacy organisations.
Regards, Chrys