Home Local News Invitation to ground-breaking initiative to help families

Invitation to ground-breaking initiative to help families

0
lancashire
Illustration 124713163 / Lancashire © Friziofriziofrizio | Dreamstime.com

Children’s services and partner organisations in Lancashire have been invited to participate in a ground-breaking initiative designed to help families get the best possible outcomes.

The Family Hubs – Growing up well programme aims to ensure children, young people and their families are safe, healthy and achieve their full potential.

Too often those working with families tell us time is taken up trying to find out information from both digital and paper-based records and systems.

Lancashire County Council has been chosen by the Department for Education collaborate in a programme with its Digital team. The project aims to understand and facilitate improvements which will aid our neighbourhood centres make a real difference in providing the correct support at the right time.

The scheme will look at digital and data products which can be used by all organisations that work with families and the end result will mean better use can be made of the information families have shared with partners.

Cllr Cosima Towneley, cabinet member for children and families, said: “A wide range of public services work together to support families using our neighbourhood centres and family hubs, but information is not always easily shared.

“This means that families can find themselves retelling their stories. This is obviously a waste of both theirs and the professionals who are helping them, time and is increasingly frustrating.

“It also means possible delays in updating information to all partners as the data has to be shared manually, rather than stored in one central place to which the relevant parties. Everyone has to have access.

“This initiative will look at developing digital ways where everyone involved in helping a family can be updated at the click of a button.

“It also means all the information about families will be readily available to those working with them, helping professionals to make quick decisions in their best interests.

“In Lancashire we want to do the very best we can to support our families and young people, and this scheme is a great way to ensure that happens.

“Our families deserve the best support we can provide and our digital systems across the partnership of organisations need to be the best, to help families achieve better outcomes.

Lancashire County Council and Bristol City Council have both been selected to take part in the national initiative and each area will share the results of their experiences with each other to improve how families experience services and to maximise the use of neighbourhood centres in supporting families.

A further three councils are now being recruited, with all five local authorities set to share around £1.7million investment over the next three years.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here