The last few weeks have been a blur of information, meetings and events. Not least the recent Scottish Social Services Awards at the end of November. I was asked to present an Award this year, which was a total honour – but very nerve-racking! I kept thinking about Terry Wogan, when he announced the wrong winner at the Eurovision Song Contest. That was not his fault, as he was given the wrong information – that was going to be my defence too, I had decided, if it all went pear shaped. On a cold November night, 180 guests attended the Glasgow Science Centre to celebrate the finalists and cheer the eventual winners. It was a heart warming night and all of the finalists deserved an award. It was so good to be reminded of some of the great work that is going on, around the country.
The National ASP Implementation Group has four Subgroups – one of these is the ‘Advocacy, voice of the service user/carer, trauma informed approach Subgoup’. This Group are busy working on a: Good Practice Guide re involving Advocacy, Good Practice Guide for ASP Case Conferences and a Good Practice Guide to seeing service user/carer feedback. They are seeking more people to get involved in their work to ensure it reflects the broad range of knowledge and experience across the sector. If you have experience of ASP, or of Advocacy or working with those with lived experience etc. The Group would love to hear from you. They know how busy you all are but we hope you might be able to give us some of your time to help develop and shape these important resources that will benefit all of the ASP Community. If you are able to help – contact myself in the first instance and I will arrange for the Chair of the Group to make contact with you: brenda.walker@iriss.org.uk
Today I attended a really interesting meeting of the National ASP Learning and Development Network and the National ASP Implementation Group (of which the afformentioned group is one of the Subgroups) – their were opportunities for each of the Groups to provide updates on their Work Plans and consider opportunities to ensure each Group supports the work of the others. The meeting was rounded off by a presentation in relation to the NHS Public Protection Accountability and Assurance Framework: https://www.gov.scot/publications/nhs-public-protection-accountability-assurance-framework/ – a subject which was of interest to the Members of both Groups. The Framework came into being just over a year ago and it was helpful to hear about recent developments.
My last blog wish of 2023 is that everyone, everywhere has a peaceful festive season. See you in 2024.