Academy Review of 2018

Our Health and Social Care Academy team review activities over 2018 for our annual report.

The Academy has been involved in a wide range of interesting and impactful projects this year. Our work is led by people who access health and social care services, who co-productively shape activity from the design phase through to implementation.

The Academy is driven by the Five Provocations; focusing transformation on key areas where radical change can make a real difference to people.

Courageous leadership

The Academy’s theme for 2018 is young people, and we have been honoured to sit on the co-design champions group for the Scottish Government’s Year of Young People. The Academy’ work-plan was co-produced with young people, who said that decision making spaces are not made available to young people and were particularly difficult to access for young people with disabilities, long-term conditions and caring responsibilities. This engagement led to a series of events examining what it means to be a courageous leader and how this can impact transformational change.

Nurturing transformation

Open Dialogue is a model of mental health care, researched and pioneered in Finland. It emphasises the inclusion of the person’s family or social network in decision making alongside a consistent team of staff who are trained in family therapy, mindfulness and related psychological skills. We published an Insight Paper bringing together existing evidence on Open Dialogue and considering the key ingredients required to make this a transformational approach. A cross-sectoral event was held considering how Open Dialogue might be applied in Scotland and stimulating interest in piloting this approach here.

Emphasising humanity

The Academy, Samaritans Scotland (this link will take you away from our website) and NHS Health Scotland (this link will take you away from our website), supported by the Scottish Government, worked jointly to host a series of engagement events aimed at supporting the development of a new national action plan on suicide prevention. This work and the subsequent report enabled the Scottish Government action plan (this link will take you away from our website) to be led by the voice of lived experience and had a direct impact on priorities. ‘The work you have been doing and continue to do is invaluable.  Gathering the thoughts of people who have lost a loved one to suicide is such a practical approach.  The way in which you did that with sensitivity and compassion is admirable.’ Fiona Drouet

Target culture

During 2017, the Academy’s ‘Unfold the Future Toolkit’ was developed to support IJB’s to reflect upon and evaluate their current situation and future trajectory. It helps them understand what obstacles and opportunities they face, as well as what practical actions and bold steps they can take to radically improve things. Next steps include discussions around partnership working and exploring opportunities for a pilot project.

Ceding power

The Academy partnered with Take One Action Film Festivals to show the documentary ‘Free Lunch Society’ at Glasgow’s CCA. This was followed by a panel discussion exploring the impact the introduction of CBI could have in Scotland, particularly in relation to health and social care. We also screened the documentary ‘Resilience’ with a panel discussion, to increase awareness of trauma and its impact on wellbeing and how ACEs can radically change services in the future.

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