Growth and development.pdf

Inverclyde8. The FutureMisuse of drugs and alcohol has a major impact on the range of social work services. Over 600adults receive support, and where those adults are also parents, protection and care have tobe provided for the children themselves. Criminal justice services are equally pressed, with theadvent of Drug Treatment and Testing Orders. The Council should keep under review in theDrug Action Team means of enhancing its own and its partners’ response to the problemspresented by drug and alcohol misuse.In order to sustain community support for older people, the Council needs as a matter of urgencyto complete its best value review of home care services, to assess its recommendations, toprepare a strategic plan for improving services and to identify the resource priorities necessaryto implement it.The Council should build on the success and experience of the rapid response team to developand introduce single shared assessment in respect of older people.To consolidate the progress made in mental health services, the Council should:• require departments and agencies to produce protocols to aid the transition for childrenwith special needs entering adult services, and to assist joint working in child andadolescent mental health services;• prepare a plan for implementing improvements needed in services for mentally disorderedoffenders, in light of the regional forensic unit being planned jointly with four other localauthorities and the health service; and• review with the assistance of the Scottish Development Centre the joint working required inservices for older people with mental health problems.Learning disability services would benefit from a strategic plan for development, fromidentification of resource priorities and greater joint working with health partners.A searching review of procedures for assessing the future needs of people with sensoryimpairments is overdue, in view of the continuing time gap between registration andassessment.The various joint actions which have been taken or are intended to prepare for improvementsto the education of looked after children should be brought together into a comprehensiveimplementation plan dealing with the range of recommendations of Learning with Care.The working group set up to prepare for the new arrangements for care leavers should identifythe range of needs of young people and the different services required to meet them, pendingarrangements for implementing payments.The Council should attend to preparation of a Race Equality Scheme as a guide to future actionand priorities. Meantime the working group appointed to prepare a scheme for social workservices should press ahead, taking account of the experience of the local multi-agency racialincident monitoring group.159