New post seen as vote of confidence in Adult Social Care

A National Director for Social Care is to be appointed in what senior social services staff say is a major step forward in revolutionising the way adult social care is thought about and talked about. An advertisement for the post specifies that the successful applicant must be a current or recently experienced director of adult social services.

Initially the post will be a one-year secondment but with an option to renew for two more years. The post holder will be line-managed by the Vice-President of ADASS – the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and will be accountable to the Chair of the Social Care Transformation Programme Board, in the Department of Health, to the Local Government Association, and the Improvement and Development Agency for Local Government. Funding for the post has come from the Government.

The new director’s main role will be to lead and drive the delivery of ‘Putting People First’ within Adult Social Care on behalf of the Association in line with the Concordat signed in December to ensure transformation of the system and to deliver greater personalisation in services.

The Concordat commits a number of central and local government bodies, the NHS and third sector organisations to work together to ensure users have greater control over services and to concentrate on early intervention and prevention services as well as improving the quality of information about social care.

The ADASS President, John Dixon, said the new post was a truly significant development. “It really is a massive vote of confidence in adult social care services and a bold step for the Department of Health to make. It is a particularly strong vote of confidence in the partnership between DH and local authorities, and I look forward to working with the successful candidate in carrying out what is going to be a challenging and exciting task,” Mr. Dixon said.

What do you think or this new role? Will this new role make a difference in Social Care? What, if any, improvements need to be made in Social Care in the UK?