With Dr Ailsa Cook, Edinburgh University & Dr Emma Miller, University of Strathclyde

Developing outcome focussed practice is at the heart of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Bill.  Bringing academic rigor, researchers Dr Ailsa Cook and Dr Emma Miller have worked with the Scottish Government to develop Talking Points: A Personal Outcomes Approach combining user and carer involvement with an outcomes approach to planning, delivering, evaluating and improving services.

The Talking Points personal outcomes approach has been developed in Scotland over the past five years and has been embraced by service users, carers, practitioners and policy makers as a practical way to support meaningful conversations with service users and carers, that focus on the things that matter  to them.

An important part of the work programme has been the exploration of how to capture and use outcomes information, not only on an individual level, but also in ways that can be aggregated to inform commissioning, quality assurance and service development.  Dr Cook and Dr Miller have been leading this programme in partnership with the Joint Improvement Team and a wide range of local authorities and service provider agencies. This seminar covered key learning on a journey towards outcome focussed practice over the past five years.

For more information click here.

‘We are on a journey here in Scotland too, so not promising to have all the answers,  but are very keen to exchange experiences’.

Wales is at a crucial point with its own National Outcomes Framework – we can usefully learn from Scotland about how they have created a robust outcomes approach that brings people, their families and carers, service providers and service commissioners together.

For Wales:

  • How do we create a usable approach that works for all stakeholders?
  • How do we avoid reverting to performance measures/KPIs and missing personal outcomes?
  • Does the Talking Points Personal Outcomes Approach work with Results Based Accountability (RBA)?
  • What does Wales need to do next?