Annual report highlights social care success and challenges
At the full Council meeting on Tuesday, councillors noted the Chief Social Work Officer’s 2022/23 annual report highlighting the “incredible amount of work undertaken by social work and social care staff across the many different sectors over the past year”.
Staff commended
Cabinet Member for Children's Services, Councillor Ellen Scott said: “This report is testament to the professionalism, dedication and compassion of social work and social care staff working with adults and children across Midlothian.
Providing good quality care
“As the Chief Social Work Officer acknowledges, despite the many challenges facing social work and social care services across Midlothian, in conjunction with our third sector providers we continue to evidence a high level of commitment in providing good quality care that empowers, supports and protects people.
Supporting vulnerable people
“Our thanks to everyone working in the social work and social care sector for their ongoing support to those living within our local communities, many of whom are the most vulnerable in society.”
Key achievements
Highlights in the report include:
- The council’s two residential homes for children in care were inspected and rated as ‘very good’ by the Care Inspectorate, which the report states is “reassurance our care- experienced young people living in these houses are safe, loved and well cared for”.
- Despite staffing and recruitment challenges, the adult mental health and social work team reduced waiting lists for welfare guardianship by 73% and those waiting for assessment by the dementia team reduced by 53%.
- In November 2022 the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) held their annual award ceremony in recognition of innovative people and work across the sector. Midlothian Community Justice won the ‘Excellence in Justice Services’ Award at the the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) awards in November 2022.The award recognised the work to make justice services more focussed on survivors of crime.
- A small team has done significant work to support Ukrainian families and their hosts to ensure they feel safe and settled in Midlothian. As well as making sure those arriving had appropriate accommodation, the team also set up a welcome hub in May 2022. With our partner agencies and our Third Sector colleagues we supported families with their wellbeing, finding suitable jobs, registering with GPs, securing a school place and finding local amenities. So far over 200 people have been supported.
Available online