
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
2| MAKING SPACE
Staying at the forefront
Helen Sanderson of HSAUK, a leading
national and international champion
for change and transformation in
health and social care, founded
Wellbeing Teams in 2016. Their
purpose is to do whatever it takes to
support people to live well at home
and be part of their community.
Making Space and Wellbeing Teams
partnered in 2017 to deliver a
homecare contract in the North West
Borough of Wigan.
Wellbeing Teams have a system of
value-based recruitment – they only
find employees and volunteers whose
philosophies and values align with the
organisation. As with Making Space,
Wellbeing Teams make sure the service
user is involved in the recruitment
process to ensure the best outcome
for all parties involved. This process has
been recognised in our winning
The
Guardian
’s Public Services Award for
HR and recruitment.
Alongside this, Wellbeing Teams
cross-train employees to take on the
roles and responsibilities of a typical
managerial member of staff. Team
members take on tasks that reflect
their strengths, and weekly “tactical”
team meetings allow us to review
progress in this regard.
Traditional performance management
metrics have been replaced
with reflective techniques called
“confirmation practices” to ensure
that, for everyone at the organisation,
working constantly facilitates individual
growth and development. Finally, as
a technologically-aware organisation
Wellbeing Teams are paperless, well-
connected and constantly able to
support our service users and fellow
team members.
Making Space partnership
with Wellbeing Teams
Our commitment to a two-year
investment in Wellbeing Teams in the
Borough of Wigan is a great example
of collaborative and partnership
working in practice. In 2017, we
agreed to pilot the work of Wellbeing
Teams in an existing homecare service.
This has been achieved through a
contract with Wigan Council’s Ethical
Homecare Framework, where there are
ten local providers all committed to the
Wigan Deal.
The Deal for Adult Social Care and
Wellbeing underpins Wigan Council’s
vision and ambition to transform
resident’s experiences from a
traditional limited menu of services to
infinite opportunities, building self-
reliance and confidence, strengthening
communities and taking an innovative
approach to ensuring better outcomes
for residents.
The sector’s recruitment crisis
It’s no secret that health and
social care is suffering, as a sector,
with a lack of available staff
members. The use of agency staff
is also a contentious point for many
Doing our exercises can
still be fun
Our
commitment to
a two-year
investment in
Wellbeing
Teams in the
Borough of
Wigan is a
great example
of collaborative
and partnership
working in
practice
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