SSKS blog

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) are running a series of Engagement Events for people with a strategic, clinical or operational management role in relation to the delivery of services for people with dementia, their carers and families.

The purpose of the events is

• to involve delegates in the work being undertaken to develop a comprehensive education framework for dementia

• to highlight where it integrates with the other workstreams currently underway to address the key challenges and commitments made in ‘Scotland’s National Dementia strategy’

• to share with delegates the progress made thus far including the evidence and underlying philosophy supporting this work

• to facilitate the generation of delegates perspectives, thoughts and ideas to be used to build on the framework structure, content and language;

• to raise awareness of the intention to subsequently develop a targeted workforce development plan

• to discuss the priorities and gaps in current education provision which must be addressed in order to support the implementation of the framework

Dates

• 20 Jan Inverness
• 9 Feb Glasgow
• 10 Feb Edinburgh
• 17 Feb Dundee
• 24 Feb Aberdeen

The events will run from 10am to 3pm and places are limited to 40 at each event. Please apply by downloading this form.

Further clarification or information: Theresa Douglas theresa.douglas@nes.scot.nhs.uk or Ambi Wildman ambi.wildman@nes.scot.nhs.uk

The IRISS Research Advice Service offers advice, guidance and support to social care workers carrying out their own research.

The drive towards evidence-informed practice in social services increasingly demands that practitioners not only use research to inform their work but are also involved in producing research to evaluate their services and to engage with people who use services and carers.

We believe that research is for everyone and need not be difficult. This service is designed to help you get started, providing hints and tips as well as continuing support to create and use research that will inform your practice.

Our team of researchers are happy to help in a number of ways, including:

• Defining your research question
• Research ethics
• Questionnaire/survey design
• General research techniques and methods
• Practical issues in doing fieldwork
• Statistical techniques
• Evaluation techniques
• Report writing

More details http://www.iriss.org.uk/project/research-advice-service

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) are delighted to invite you to two Social Innovation Events, with follow-up support, to co-create practical Action Plans for your organisation Managing Knowledge to Improve Care and Support.

Aims

NES and SSSC have organised this series of social innovation events to help leaders at all levels in health and social services to:
• learn how their organisations can improve use of knowledge to improve health and deliver care in their organisations.
• define creative new solutions that use knowledge to improve quality of health and social care.
• develop a network of these leaders in health and social services, focused on translating knowledge into action.

Who should attend?

Translating knowledge into action is important to everyone who aims to embed and value use of knowledge in the way that they manage and deliver health and social care. We would encourage, for example, leads in learning and organisational development, information and ICT services, communication, staff development, quality/service improvement and the many team leaders and managers committed to helping their teams to find, share and apply knowledge in practice.

To work through the full planning process, we encourage participants to attend both events, 23rd February and 30th March, 10 am – 4 pm in the Stirling Management Centre, University Of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA. You will also have the opportunity for support phonecalls with our knowledge management facilitators before and after these events.

How do I register?

Please go to the “Bringing knowledge together” to complete the registration form for both sessions. You are asked to provide your initial thoughts on aims and impact of your knowledge management plan; our facilitators will contact you to discuss this more fully before the February event. While visiting this knowledge management community website, we would encourage you to have a look at its knowledge management tools and resources.

Many of you may have heard that the official launch of SSKS is taking place on January 25th, 2011 at Pollok Halls in Edinburgh. This half-day event will be a great opportunity for you to learn more about the benefits of SSKS and about embedding knowledge in practice across the social services sector.

Places are limited and are allocated on a first come first served basis, so book your place today at
http://sskslaunch.eventbrite.com/

For more information, please see our agenda here

IRISS is pleased to announce the launch of Leading for outcomes: a guide. This free guide provides support and training materials for leading social services staff, and those in related disciplines, to practice in an outcomes-focused way. It is aimed at team leaders, managers and those in training roles, and will be most relevant to those working in adult social care.

We are keen to hear your feedback so we can make revisions over the next few months, with a view to releasing a hard copy in April 2011.

You can download Leading for outcomes: a guide here: http://www.iriss.org.uk/resources/iriss-leading-outcomes-guide

A big thank you to everyone who came along to our Champions morning on Tuesday 14th December. Thanks also to IRISS for their help in facilitating group discussions and also to David Friel from the Improvement Service for capturing our delegates impressions of the morning on video.

We were pleased to have around 40 delegates from a mixture of local authorities, voluntary and private organisations who were all keen to hear about the benefits of SSKS and how they could help to spread the word.

We kicked off the day with an introduction and demonstration of SSKS, and followed up with some group discussions and exercises to help everyone feel comfotable using the site. The second part of the morning was spent discussing the options for SSKS training in 2011.

All our delegates were given a Champions toolbag with some items to help them get started spreading the word about SSKS, including some promotional items and a USB drive with pre-loaded SSKS Learning Bytes.

If you’d like some information about Championing SSKS in your own organisation, please click here or contact ssks@nes.scot.nhs.uk

The Open University has been developing a new website called PePLE: Professional and Practice Learning Environment, which a number of public and third sector organisations are trialling at the moment. The site is designed for social workers and others working in social care settings and hosts a range of Open University course materials and activities.

Open University is interested in making the site available to practitioners, including practice educators, in Scotland on a wider basis so that they can evaluate it and plan for future development. Access to the site is free and can be arranged through the Open University.

You can view the home page of the site at: http://peple.open.ac.uk/

If you are interested in using this website, or have any further questions, please contact Jean Gordon at the Open University in Scotland on 01381 621566, or email jean.gordon@open.ac.uk.