News

Joint reviews have a "great deal of impact at all levels", the newly appointed director of joint reviews told Community Care, writes Katie Leason.

Sue Mead stressed "with absolute confidence" that joint reviews have a significant impact on councillors, chief executives, and social services directors as well as those who receive the services.

"I see that impact every week. If I didn't think they were delivering that impact I wouldn't have applied for the job of leading reviews," she said.

But she added that councils do not always learn from the joint review experience of other councils, and seem to need the "uncomfortable jolt" of their own investigation.

"Maybe councils could take learning from other people so that there is not the need to say the same things," she explained.

Mead has been part of the joint review team since 1997 holding a number of roles including that of assistant director. Before joining the joint review team she was chief inspector of Birmingham social services, having qualified as a social worker in the late 60s and spending time working in mental health and children's services.

She claimed that despite her reputation for being a "tough person" she brings humility to inspections. "Sometimes it is easier to do the analysis and feedback than turning things around," she explained.

The five year programme of joint reviews is due to finish at the end of next year, and Mead is keen to ensure that those remaining will not be treated as second best.

"I will be steering through the last joint reviews in England and Wales. One of my prime objectives is to ensure councils in the latter stages have as challenging and fair reviews as those at the beginning. I want them to have as much impact and be of as much value to councils in the improvement agenda as the first ones."

Mead insisted that the joint review process continues to be robust in terms of the variety of people consulted, but pointed out that the process would be different if it was being set up now.

"I would say that increasingly now social care is being delivered in different ways in different partnerships and the interface with the health service is more and more critical. If we were starting afresh with a joint review process we would put even greater emphasis with checking out those boundaries. As care trusts and children's trusts come online the system will need to be redesigned to look at how the new systems are working," she said.

She added that the system of inspecting social services will change significantly once the Commission for Social Care Inspection is up and running, but emphasised that a type of joint review process should be "used proportionately as part of a toolkit of products for inspection".

Mead's predecessor John Bolton is to take up a new post as director of social services with Coventry council.