Quality Assurance in Suffolk Children and Young People Service
(Social Care Services)
This page gives information about:
- Quality Assurance and audits of practice and how it is
carried out in Suffolk to contribute to improving outcomes for
vulnerable children, young people and their families
- Advocacy
- Research Governance to ensure that research, audits or
surveys involving service users and vulnerable groups are
ethical and sound
Quality Assurance and audits of practice
The
Suffolk Quality Standards (PDF, 48Kb) define good practice and
make explicit what is expected when providing a service to
vulnerable children, young people and families. They are
based on evidence about the elements of practice which are likely
to lead to quality services and positive outcomes. They are
intended to be used for all aspects of Quality Assurance including
audit, supervision, case reviews and customer care.
Summary
of practice audit activity and impact in Suffolk Children’s Social
Care 2008 – 10 ( PDF 27.5Kb )
The
Case
Management Audit Tool ( PDF 37Kb) is for supervisors
to use with practitioners to ensure cases remain outcomes focused
and are appropriately managed. It is part of the
Supervision
policy, procedures and best practice guidance for Children's Social
Care. Further documents to support the supervision
policy are on the
Managing children's cases page
NB The Case Management Audit Tool replaces the Three
Month Summaries which are no longer required.
Manager's
Checklist: Looked After Children (62Kb) should be used
instead of the Case Management Audit Tool while a child is looked
after.
The
Audit
Cycle Flowchart (PDF, 22Kb) describes the Themed Audit process
in Suffolk Children and Young People Service and the main areas of
practice which are included.
Auditing
in Suffolk - a guide for staff (PDF, 47Kb) gives
information about practice audits and how the Themed Audit
programme works in Suffolk, including roles and responsibilities
and some Frequently Asked Questions.
Best
Practice in Audit (PDF, 51Kb) is an introduction to audit
for new auditors.
Ofsted is the government body responsible for inspecting and
reporting on the standards in social care and for making
recommendations for improvement. Information and
reports, including the report of the most recent Joint
Area Review carried out in Suffolk in 2007, can be found
at www.ofsted.gov.uk
County Overview Audit Reports
These are
anonymised reports of audits undertaken in Suffolk. They contain a
summary of the audit, the key findings and the recommendations
and plans for further action. They are available in the open
access folder Children and Families/Quality Assurance on the
Suffolk County Council intranet.
Advocacy
Advocacy is speaking and/or acting on behalf of people to
secure the services they need and the rights to which they are
entitled. Advocacy aims to ensure that people's opinions, wishes or
needs are expressed and listened to.
The
role of the advocate in Suffolk CYP service complaints procedures
for children and young people
Research Governance in Suffolk
Suffolk Research Governance must approve all research
commissioned by or in conjunction with Suffolk County Council,
which involves children, service users or vulnerable groups to
ensure the methodology is sound and it complies with ethical
standards. "Research" includes long or short term studies
whether internal or external, student projects or dissertations,
service evaluations, audits of practice or other surveys or
questionnaires.
Further details, the application form for RSG approval and the
dates of meetings are available via the above
link.