Tag: service design champions

On the final two days of the Service Design Champions programme, we focus on tackling a service design challenge – an opportunity for the Champions to try out service design tools and methods.  Ruth Christie (Policy Adviser from the Children and Families Directorate and our challenge sponsor) introduced the challenge and problem space from her experience of working in this area.

We would like to say huge thanks to the parents and practitioners who gave up their time to participate in interviews, co-design and prototyping sessions. Parents kindly shared their experiences of accessing information and support which was shared with the teams on day one. Practitioners joined the groups on the last day to bring the perspective of those organisations already directly supporting families of disabled children across Scotland.

The teams worked hard over two days to explore and define the problem, develop ideas and begin to test their concepts with prototypes.

Team 1 – Alex, Gary, Charlie, Mark, Florence

How can we raise awareness of social care assessments?

The aim of this concept is to have the right people involved, including a broker who helps fill out the assessment form, and a social worker, creating bespoke guidance and a universal entrance to the social care system. This would provide faster access to the support needed. An online space helps raises awareness about the service.

Team 2 – Robert, Heather, Aimee, Karen

How might we ensure teachers are provided with the right training? 

Teachers sometimes lack the means to offer appropriate support to children who need it. This concept focused on teachers identifying that a child is unhappy, and then arranging a time to discuss this in private with the parents and/or child to make support recommendations. The aim is to be able to provide expertise at the right time.

Team 3 – Katy, Laurna, Lorraine, Alaster

How might we use collaborative tools to bring professionals and parents together and provide better outcomes?

The team focused on respite support services that are available to parents and carers, and how to access them within their local area. Their concept was a tool which had a range of support available to give the ability to choose a holiday for respite that worked with the users budget and needs.

There were a lot of questions left about how this would work in practice but the idea was to show the collaborative tool helping with a practical task.

Team 4 – Richard, Christian, Kjersti, Dawn, Chris

How might we signpost parents to relevant services to prevent crises?

Many parents are reaching crisis point because looking after their child (and putting their child’s needs first) takes its toll on their mental physical and emotional health. Signposting could help with this, but it doesn’t happen as consistently as it should, because service providers aren’t always aware of the other services that are out there. Or there’s professional rivalry and fear of parents sharing negative experiences of about services

Having a single point of contact, or a meeting with a variety of professionals, might make it easier for parents to get the support they need when they need it. This would stop them getting to crisis point. Options discussed included a case conference (which could, potentially, be intimidating) or more like a carer’s assessment.