City of Edinburgh Council

City of Edinburgh Council Family and Household Support North East Housing Support Service Business Centre 2.01 East Neighbourhood Centre 101 Niddrie Mains Road Edinburgh EH16 4DS Telephone: 0131 529 3111 Type of inspection: Announced (short notice) Inspection completed on: 4 October 2017 Service provided by: City of Edinburgh Council Service provider number: SP2003002576 Care service number: CS2013323097

About the service City of Edinburgh Council Family and Household Support North East developed from the council's transformation of Safer and Stronger Communities services. The Family and Household Support service began operation in October 2016. It is delivered by an integrated team of housing support, family support and community safety staff working in the north east of Edinburgh. Before integration, the council's visiting housing support services were known as the Neighbourhood Support Services. At the time of our inspection around fifty people were receiving housing support. The service supports people to find a home, move house and keep their home. The amount and type of support is agreed with the person and based on their individual circumstances. The Family and Household Support service's purpose is to promote the well-being of children, families, individuals and communities. The service's objectives are: - To reduce the incidence of homelessness and eviction, antisocial behaviour, exclusions from school and offending. - To focus on prevention to help break the cycle of deprivation and low aspiration. - To help children live in safe and supportive families. - To ensure vulnerable people are protected. - To work closely with individuals and communities to increase their participation, voice and influence. - To maximise limited resources by working collaboratively with all stakeholders. The integration of the housing support service with family support and community safety aims to deliver a quicker and more flexible response for people living in the north east locality. What people told us We received care standard questionnaires from three people who were supported by the service. They all strongly agreed they were happy with the quality of support they got from the service. We met three people with their housing support officer and spoke to eight people by phone. They were all very happy with the support they got from the service and the difference it had made to their quality of life. They spoke highly of their housing support officer. They said they were respectful, very knowledgeable and very helpful. They listened and dealt with things that were important to them at a pace they could manage. We have included people's views and comments in the body of the report. for City of Edinburgh Council Family and Household Support North East page 2 of 8

Self assessment We are not asking services to submit a self-assessment for this inspection year. Instead, we will ask services for their improvement or development plan and discuss any improvements they may have made or intend to make since the last inspection. From this inspection we graded this service as: Quality of care and support Quality of staffing Quality of management and leadership 5 - Very Good 5 - Very Good 4 - Good Quality of care and support Findings from the inspection People told us they were fully involved in decisions about their lives and experienced high quality support. They told us about the difference support was making for them. They said: - "I'm glad I sought support. Best thing I did asking for help. It's helped bring me out of myself. I have mental health issues and wasn't getting out of the house. I was struggling to pay bills and had rent arrears. What a transformation to my life." - "I wouldn't be where I am, house wise and financially." - "I couldn't fault them...i've got self-confidence, taking more care of myself, cooking, everything..." - "I've sorted out problems with rent and council tax arrears. A wonderful service." - "It's absolutely fantastic. She's helped me with the Job Centre and getting a house." The service was very good at supporting people to make positive changes including; - moving to more suitable housing - sorting out their current tenancy - getting benefits and finances sorted out - improving their home by getting white goods, carpets, furniture - accessing health services resulting in better mental and physical health. People were very involved in planning their support. The assessment questions helped people think about things they needed and wanted to change. People's support plans were personal to them. They could feel they were listened to and their choices were respected. The process of establishing the new service had disrupted regular support reviews. Team leaders had plans in place to get back on track with this. The service was reliable. Everyone had a consistent housing support officer who met with them at a regular time. They were flexible if the person needed support at another time, for example to attend an appointment. Team Leaders were very good at matching the HSO based on the information they had about the person and the reasons for referral. They were continuing to improve this as the service developed more integrated housing, family and community safety support. for City of Edinburgh Council Family and Household Support North East page 3 of 8

Staff were very good at giving people information, signposting them to other services and supporting them to use other services. They had established positive working relationships with other council services, the police, health and voluntary sector services in the locality. They were continuing to develop these partnerships to make sure people got the help, care and support they needed. The service was developing ways people could hear about the service and get support as early as possible. They had a well-established "drop in" which was well used. Requirements Number of requirements: 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0 Grade: 5 - very good Quality of staffing Findings from the inspection People felt very confident in the staff supporting them. They summed this up in comments like: - "She's brilliant...has a good knowledge...speaks up on your behalf." - "The man's service has been fabulous. Initially I met him in the house. Now I meet him in the library...helps me get out and about and back into society." - "He's an absolutely brilliant man...very understanding, listens, if he can help he'll help or he'll pass you on to someone who can." - "Without her I'd be lost. She's a very good listener, even when I yap on about things she doesn't need to hear about. She goes out of her way to help. She's very knowledgeable and doing everything she can." - "He's very polite, very patient, listens. He's very, very good." - "I can't sing her praises enough. I couldn't ask for better." We saw very positive, respectful relationships between staff and people they were supporting. People trusted their worker, who took time to listen and tackle issues that were important to them at their pace. People felt they could talk to their worker about anything and they'd get a sensitive response. This included people who services had previously found it difficult to engage with. Housing support officers were knowledgeable, skilled and very motivated to support people well. The service had retained experienced staff who were committed to providing people with the best support possible. The manager and team leaders had focused on making sure staff were supported through the transformational change of housing support services. The service had systems to support staff's practice and professional development, including regular 1:1 and team meetings. They recognised that maintaining regular 1:1 meetings had been a challenge, but had made sure staff could get support when they needed and wanted it. Staff said they felt supported by team leaders and colleagues. They said teams were working well together, sharing their different skills and experience. for City of Edinburgh Council Family and Household Support North East page 4 of 8

Staff had been able to access a variety of training and learning opportunities relevant to their role. The Family and Household Support services had developed a learning plan to support staff to work effectively in the integrated teams and develop into their wider role and responsibilities. It is important that staff now have these learning and development opportunities. City of Edinburgh council had developed a new performance framework using the council's values. The service needs to begin to use of the framework for "annual conversations" to plan staff's professional development. It is important supervisors have the necessary learning opportunities to use the framework effectively and that staff have opportunities for regular 1:1 meetings with their supervisor to support their practice and continuous professional development. Requirements Number of requirements: 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0 Grade: 5 - very good Quality of management and leadership Findings from the inspection People could feel confident in their service's management. Following a number of changes in the first months of Family and Household Support North East being introduced, the service had now established a management team with a good mix of skills and experience. They were working well together to make the integrated service work and were positive about the opportunities this brings. They had established management arrangements including; - geographical areas for each team - weekly team leader referral discussions and allocations - regular team leader meetings with the manager to share practice, experience and information and discuss service developments. Team leaders had worked hard to build their team, making sure communication was consistent. They felt well supported and had confidence in the manager. The service was beginning to develop how people experiencing support could be involved in improving the service. They were beginning to re-establish use of survey and exit questionnaires to hear people's views about the service. They had organised the first "discussion café" to get people involved. Managers were enthusiastic about involving people, providing them opportunities to have a say in service development. We shared that people generally didn't know who the team leader or manager was. We agreed this was something the service could improve so that people would know who to contact and feel comfortable about this if they had any concerns. for City of Edinburgh Council Family and Household Support North East page 5 of 8

The manager and team leaders were very open to hearing staff's ideas for developing the service. Team leaders had been proactive in using team meetings to encourage staff to discuss changes and to get involved in formal consultation about the changes. The manager had made sure he was available to discuss any concerns with staff and to answer their questions where possible. Staff had been involved in workshops with the head of service during the initial change process and more recently had opportunities to get involved in focus groups to review the role of frontline staff in the service. We heard that a counter proposal from staff to the proposed team structures had been accepted by senior following these discussions. Staff could feel their views had been listened to. Leadership was encouraged, with housing support officers coordinating people's support, taking responsibility for organising their time to deliver the service and getting involved in projects to develop the service. Further developing leadership opportunities would be a positive way to continue to improve the service. The manager attended the quality action group with all family and household support services managers. Team leaders met with team leaders from other localities. They had opportunities to share practice, ideas and solutions to challenges, supporting development of services across Edinburgh. The managers agreed they need to develop quality audit and assurance, including; - audit of support records to make sure the support process is being used effectively - developing use of outcomes information to monitor how well the service is supporting people to achieve positive outcomes and how they could improve this - agreeing key performance indicators and systems to monitor and improve performance based on these. With the final phase of the transformational change nearing completion, putting in place a more formal development plan would support the service's continuous improvement. We said the service should take account of the new Health and Social Care Standards; My support, my life when developing this. Requirements Number of requirements: 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0 Grade: 4 - good What the service has done to meet any requirements we made at or since the last inspection Previous requirements There are no outstanding requirements. for City of Edinburgh Council Family and Household Support North East page 6 of 8

What the service has done to meet any recommendations we made at or since the last inspection Previous recommendations There are no outstanding recommendations. Complaints There have been no complaints upheld since the last inspection. Details of any older upheld complaints are published at www.careinspectorate.com. Enforcement No enforcement action has been taken against this care service since the last inspection. Inspection and grading history Date Type Gradings 12 Oct 2015 Unannounced Care and support 4 - Good Environment Not assessed Staffing 4 - Good Management and leadership 4 - Good for City of Edinburgh Council Family and Household Support North East page 7 of 8

To find out more This inspection report is published by the Care Inspectorate. You can download this report and others from our website. Care services in Scotland cannot operate unless they are registered with the Care Inspectorate. We inspect, award grades and help services to improve. We also investigate complaints about care services and can take action when things aren't good enough. Please get in touch with us if you would like more information or have any concerns about a care service. You can also read more about our work online at www.careinspectorate.com Contact us Care Inspectorate Compass House 11 Riverside Drive Dundee DD1 4NY enquiries@careinspectorate.com 0345 600 9527 Find us on Facebook Twitter: @careinspect Other languages and formats This report is available in other languages and formats on request. Tha am foillseachadh seo ri fhaighinn ann an cruthannan is cànain eile ma nithear iarrtas. for City of Edinburgh Council Family and Household Support North East page 8 of 8