CareKnowledge Community Stockport Case Study

The Putting People First agenda is the biggest change in adult social care for 60 years. Councils are encountering several issues in rolling it out:

  • staff, providers and service users are often not engaged in the change process
  • stakeholders are often widely dispersed and do not meet up often
  • information can remain in silos
  • sharing best practice is difficult.

Using technology to get the message across

Stockport was concerned that a number of key messages about the transformation of adult social care were not getting across to staff. Here Terry Dafter gives an insight into the start of the CareKnowledge Community project:

Terry – When This All Starte from careknowledge on Vimeo.

Stockport conducted a number of ‘road shows’ with staff groups; this highlighted:

  • low level of awareness of both the national agenda and local government initiatives
  • traditional methods of communication with staff were no longer effective.

With over 2,000 staff dispersed across an array of locations, Stockport was finding it increasingly difficult to keep communication channels functioning effectively.

Communication often featured a ‘top-down telling’ rather than a department-wide engagement. A number of media were utilised including:

  • newsletters
  • monthly staff briefings
  • monthly magazine called ‘In touch’.

Stockport wanted to be more creative in their approach.

Pavilion Interactive develops innovative platform for communication

Stockport partnered with Pavilion Interactive to develop CareKnowledge Communiyt, an innovative communication and engagement programme.

This programme consisted of editorial support and a secure technology platform, to enable two-way communication to develop through the use ofblogs, podcasts, videos and audio.

The Pavilion editorial team:

  • mapped out the framework and channels
  • reviewed the scope of the network
  • defined the external partners and other stakeholders.

Stockport then selected several key channels, including:

  • learning disability
  • mental health
  • workforce development
  • self directed support.

The first stage of the CareKnowledge Community web-based platform was delivered in March 2009.

A weekly email delivered to staff, partners and other stakeholders highlighted key content and started to build engagement in the site.

Stockport improves their ability to communicate

The stakeholders within Stockport are now able to understand complex issues such as personalisation in an informal manner rather than staff having to read lengthy strategy and policy documents.

Staff are empowered, through digital media, to offer their thoughts and debate with their colleagues.

Terry Dafter, service director adult social care at Stockport, provides a bi-weekly ‘What we’re up to’ blog and this has been a real attraction with the workforce. Terry gives his feedback on the project:

Terry – I’ve been amazed from careknowledge on Vimeo.

89% of staff members now use the site regularly to communicate and interact, as well as using it to simply keep up to date on the latest initiatives.

Since the start of the CareKnowledge Community programme, Stockport has decided to stop printing its internal newsletter – a current saving of £8,000. In addition, there are plans to run fewer internal meetings and workshops.

The future of stakeholder engagement

Stockport’s key goal is to promote inclusion amongst all employees. They want to involve more users and carers on a day-to-day basis. Terry Dafter discusses how he’d like this to become a way of life:

Terry – I’d Like this site to be a way of life from careknowledge on Vimeo

Phase two of the CareKnowledge Community project will allow networking to take place, through the introduction of Linked-In professional-style groups and individual profiles, so stakeholders can share expertise and experiences personally.

Stockport is continuing to work closely with Pavilion as they build up expertise of their in-house programme, so that ultimately staff can take on the running of the communication and engagement programme themselves.

Contact us to find out how CareKnowledge Community could transform your communications. Call us on 0845 644 1702 or email info@careknowledge.com.