Dragons invest in social care
It marked the
climax of a six month England-wide search for innovative social care solutions.
Brought to the RSA as a new project by the Social Care Leaders Learning Set and
in partnership with Society Guardian, the initiative attracted 142 entries.
Bidding was for a share of an investment fund of £52,000 and more than £100,000
of consultancy services, raised by the Learning Set from development agencies
and private sponsors. With government policy giving people
money to buy their own services, the purpose was to share these changes with
Fellows and to showcase innovation in the social care market.
The Dragons were David Behan, director general of Social Care; RSA chief executive Matthew Taylor; ?WhatIf! innovation guru and star of the BBC’s Honey We’re Killing the Kids Kris Murrin; and Baroness Jill Pitkeathley, founder of Carers UK.
Dosh,
represented by Karen Boyce-Dawson and Simon Conway, were given £5,000 and 20
days' consultancy by
In Control to develop financial advocacy for people with learning disabilities.
In Control, a coalition of families, individuals, government and many other
organisations led by Fellow Simon Duffy, has pioneered the use of individual
budgets in the UK.
Village Agents' Rosie Callinan was given £10,000 and support from a team of five innovators for one week from the ?WhatIf! Social Innovation Foundation, worth approximately £40,000. In an age of remote call-centre support services, it will provide face-to-face support for elderly people in rural communities.
Two separate Crossroads initiatives from the North East and East Cheshire got investment to develop their ideas – looking at recruiting personal assistants for carers through third-party contracts and helping employers support carers at work, respectively. Crossroads North East received 20 days' consultancy from In Control and £5,000 cash, as well as five days' consultancy from Learning Set member Lucianne Sawyer, a consultant who focuses on outcomes for care homes, home care and respite care. East Cheshire Crossroads received £10,000 in cash, five ?WhatIf! innovation consultants for one week, marketing and PR products and services from Pavilion Publishing up to the value of £5,000, and two days' consultancy from public services IT experts Staffplan.
Presenting high-quality art for sale on the web and by exhibition, the Other Side Gallery in London were given £22,000 from the Innovation fund and up to £10,000 in consultancy support from Tribal Consulting. This was to pilot a career development scheme for disabled or disadvantaged artists. To get to the final, these successful bidders had to make it through a tough selection process to a longlist of 16.
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