Outgoing Care Inspectorate interim Chief Executive Jacquie Roberts on the uniqueness of individuals

Jacquie Roberts’ career in the social work and social care sector has spanned over 40 years during which time she has held positions as the Director of Social Work for Dundee City Council and as Chief Executive of the Care Commission before latterly agreeing to oversee the merger of the Care Commission, the Social Work Inspection Agency and the child protection arm of HMIE to form the new Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS).

Roberts was awarded an OBE for services to social care in 2010. However, she explains that she very nearly took a different path. Having graduated with a degree in Classics,she was offered a job proofreading Latin and Greek manuscripts with the Oxford University Press when she had the epiphany that she’d rather work with people than with manuscripts. She turned down the job to instead start work as a welfare assistant at a geriatric hospital in Oxford where she “loved every minute”.

There is a nice symmetry to her career, Roberts observes, as having begun her professional life working with and for older people, it is now coming to a close amidst a crucial debate about reshaping care for older people. She supports the concept of bringing health and care closer together but admits she is “impatient” about the pace of change, and while she acknowledges that breaking down professional boundaries takes a long time, she adds that as she prepares to observe from the sidelines that is something she would like to see far more of.

“I looked back at an early presentation I did as I’ve been clearing out a few drawers and when I was manager of older people’s services in Dundee we were reshaping services. We were redeveloping some of the local authority homes but closing down others. We were making sure that the private sector and the voluntary sector had an important part to play and we were getting multidisciplinary discharge teams and things like that. So they were there, those ideas.” Nevertheless, as the debate continues, Roberts believes SCSWIS, which now goes by its everyday name the Care Inspectorate, has a significant part to play in improving services for individuals of all ages in Scotland.

“I want the Care Inspectorate’s future inspections to align closely with the delivery arrangements. We are in the middle of planning the new inspections of children’s services that are replacing the child protection inspections.

They will hold onto a core of looking at services for children who need child protection, but they will also look at other vulnerable groups like looked-after children, children who live in substance-misusing families who would not necessarily have been caught up in child protection work. The model that we are going to use is to make it a multi-agency focus and look at community planning partnership areas – how police, social work, local authority and all the other players like the children’s reporter all work together to effect better outcomes for children.” A pilot will begin in April, however, Roberts thinks it is a model that could be adapted for older people’s services, as well as potentially criminal justice social work and for adults with learning disabilities.

The same issues of vulnerability, a need for good family relationships, advocates and imaginative services are applicable for each of these groups, Roberts says, adding: “If you hold onto human rights, individuals’ rights and the uniqueness of each individual it applies whether you are nought or 100.” Roberts reflects that having worked across both children’s services and with older people during her career she has been struck by how transferable the experience and skills are. She recalls her “very special” time working at the children’s hospital in Oxford where she says she learned “a hell of a lot” because of its multidisciplinary ethos and I ask what other lessons learned during those early practical experiences remained with her throughout her career.

“One is the uniqueness of every individual and that every individual has potential and that it is our job to help people realise that potential,” she replies without hesitation.

“And the second is that services need to work together and we need to break down boundaries. I used to share a desk with a paediatrician, for example.

I really haven’t ever been in a job where I haven’t been working very closely in partnership with other disciplines and that applies in the Care Inspectorate as well because we’ve got nurses, teachers, police officers, people from all disciplines who work on the inspection work.” She also has an unquenchable thirst to learn new things.

“I love the learning environment,” she says. “I love thinking and trying to work out if there is a new, better way of tackling the same problems, which is where we are actually with reshaping older people’s services because we’ve got the same problem but it is growing so we’ve really got to try radical new solutions together.” Roberts is unequivocal about the Care Inspectorate’s imperative to be innovative and strive to improve services.

“There is no point in having an inspectorate if all it does is say when things are wrong,” she says. “That has always been my philosophy, if you have an inspectorate it should help services improve.” While still early days, Roberts believes the organisation has already had some “major” achievements. A recent inquiry by the Scottish Parliament’s Health and Sport Committee that was launched in the wake of a series of highprofile events in the care sector, including the collapse of Southern Cross Healthcare Group and closure of the Elsie Inglis Nursing Home following the death of a resident, concluded that the inspection system for care of older people is “sufficiently rigorous”, which Roberts says is a “credit” to the staff working for the new body that only became operational in April last year.

Another “significant success” this year has been the creation of the national registration and national complaints teams, she says, and the promotion of the complaints system to make sure the public, and also health and care staff, know they have the right to complain about a quality of service if they don’t think it is good enough.

“Ideally, complaints and feedback should go to the service provider and that should change things – and that happens a lot of the time so they should have a good complaints and feedback system, but it is not always there and people don’t always listen and people do definitely need an independent investigator. I’m afraid there are many people, particularly older people and their relatives, who are fearful of complaining because of the consequences so that is why there needs to be this added protection.” The Care Inspectorate is currently preparing its Inspection Plan for 2012-13, which will reflect Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon’s recent announcement about an increased inspection frequency for certain older people’s services.

However, the Care Inspectorate also recently urged the public to help it drive up standards by coming to them with their concerns.

This intelligence-led approach uses the latest information about services to decide which services to inspect and how closely to scrutinise their work, which it says can be “enhanced” from contributions from the public.

All information received from the public is “vital”, Roberts says.

“I don’t think people realise how significant what they have to tell us is and that we do actually take note of that. People sometimes think all we do is go around and check policies and procedures and tick boxes. That is not what we do at all. We really do listen to what people have to say.” Taking over from Roberts as Chief Executive will be Annette Bruton, who until recently was Aberdeen City Council’s Director of Education, Culture and Sport. Bruton is due to take the helm next month so I ask Roberts what advice she would offer her successor.

“That is a very good question because I’m actually going to see her tomorrow,” laughs Roberts.

She thinks for a moment then reels off her list.

“Always ask why – particularly if someone is telling you it can’t be done, ask why not.

“Never expect the Care Inspectorate to be only an inspectorate. Always focus on the point of having an inspectorate is to create improvements and innovation, otherwise you might as well go home.

“And if you know something is right, stick to your guns. Keep coming back to it.” It will be good for the organisation to have someone new coming in with “fresh ideas”, says Roberts. While she feels “really lucky and rewarded” to have had the opportunity to work in public service in Scotland since 1986, she says she is now looking forward to doing something “completely different” and going back to being “the other me”.

“My profession has been such an important part of my identity. I know that I will end up wanting to do something meaningful because that has been part of my life, but I’m not quite sure what yet.” In addition to planning to devote more time to a charity she established in Dundee, she says she is also toying with the idea of applying for a Masters in film studies.

“I’m a film fanatic and I love films. I love the Italian neorealist films – Rome, Open City and The Bicycle Thieves and all those black and white films that were done after the Second World War in Italy. There are certain films that I think capture humanity and social problems so beautifully that I think they could be used more.” Another favourite is the US television drama, The Wire, which she declares “as effective as a social work degree.” “My favourite season was the schools because that captured for me about where I’ve always been, which is every child has got something unique about them and they just need an adult to identify that and understand it and that helps that child through.” Roberts recognises that each person, young or old, has their own story and while she admits to getting “so distressed by the hostility and poor experiences that some children have had”, she also clearly cherishes that she has had the chance to play a part in making some of their lives better and indeed it is these individuals that first spring to mind when asked what moment in her career she is most proud of.

“I’ve actually met people I’ve helped, adults and children, on the train or in the station, so it is knowing that my philosophy about sticking with people and getting people to bring out the best in themselves has worked.”