On 11 May 2018 we held our latest neighbourhood care learning network event at the Care Inspectorate Offices in Hamilton. The session was well -attended by representatives from the neighbourhood care test sites, national organisations and third sector organisations. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss neighbourhood care and regulation, with a focus on questions raised by the test sites before the meeting. We also took the opportunity to discuss measurement ideas and learn what plans were already in place for local evaluation.

Sharing learning from the test sites

After introductions, staff from each test site provided an update on the neighbourhood care work in their area. There has been a lot of activity across the test sites with positives discussed on this way of working, offers of support and an eagerness from sites to arrange visits to learn from one another. Common challenges faced by the sites include those around culture and shifting perceptions, but the passion for the concept and success stories continue to drive this work forwards and motivate the teams.

Care Inspectorate – from enforcers to enablers

Catherine Agnew from the Care Inspectorate gave an informative presentation about the role of the Care Inspectorate in supporting services as enablers of innovation, rather than the traditional perception of enforcing regulation. There is acknowledgement that services for the public are evolving with the integration of health and social care. In support of this, the Care Inspectorate have developed regulatory sandboxes, where normal regulatory requirements are waived to support innovation which has the potential for public benefit.

Attendees discussed the new health and social care standards in Scotland and were pleased to note that the principles of the Buurtzorg model mirror these standards (Dignity and respect; Compassion; Be included; Responsive care and support; Wellbeing).

Evaluation

We facilitated a group discussion on evaluation and undertook an exercise to look at measures, how important these are and how easy they are to use. Representatives from the test sites rated examples and entered them into a prioritisation tool, which could help the teams to look at work priorities and measurements in their areas. They highlighted difficulties with measuring face-to-face contact time, although this is an important measure to show effectiveness of this model and the test site representatives acknowledged that this is a measure that is important to care givers: ‘more time with the person needing care’.

They are aware that while test sites will have different measures and there will be local variation, there is a need to have some standardisation for comparisons. Evaluation should be meaningful in a local context for individuals, their carers and staff. However, an element of evaluation will be required for national interest to look at areas such as cost saving, avoiding hospital admissions and reducing length of stays, etc.

The King’s Fund has recently published a paper on transformational change in health and care in response to the growing pressures and demands on the health and care system. The paper highlights four case studies that have been recognised as successful transformation initiatives, led by staff that directly provide care and service users. One of these successful initiatives is the Buurtzorg Nederland model.

Next steps

The test site representatives agreed to try a new approach to the learning network, with an option to move to the IHI model of a breakthrough series collaborative alongside action learning sets facilitated by the Scottish Social Services Council in the future. Once logistics have been further discussed, options will be presented to the group to take forward. Members of the group were happy to share their plans for evaluation with the Living Well in Communities (LWiC) team and there are steps to visit each site. Further information will be available soon.