Trish Hafford-Letchfield,Social care management,strategy and business planning

Reviewed by: Peter Gilbert, Staffordshire University, England

Books on leadership, and on management in organizations by Trish Hafford-Letchfield are required reading in social work and social care, and this text is set to become required reading also. Some writers create a false dichotomy between leadership and management, but as we know, creating ethically based services and moving them forward in these challenging times requires both aspects. The current crisis of liberal capitalism has been compared with the depression of the 1930s, and reading both the health and the social care journals on a weekly basis, one is struck by the diktats on the NHS and Social Care services to provide better and better services but with fewer resources. Specific professions are under an intense spotlight: social work following the Baby ‘P’ tragedy; and now nursing in the wake of the neglect of frail, elderly people in acute hospitals. Finances are tight but there is also a shortage of people with the necessary skills. Trish Hafford-Letchfield commences her book with an overview of the legislative and policy environment, and the author links her work with the final report of the Social Work Task Force, and quotes that body as saying that professional supervision is sadly often inadequate at a time when it is very much required.

The author follows this with an overview of strategic planning, and very quickly demonstrates an ability to provide a detailed and comprehensive text, but also one which is useful and accessible. As an example of a community approach to developing vision, she uses a case study of Croydon Council, running a series of workshops which enabled partner agencies and staff from the Council to consider future connections; and she uses a very clear and helpful diagram to illustrate the process for assessing needs in the community.

Trish Hafford-Letchfield doesn’t ignore or downplay the considerable challenges in partnership working, for example, ‘the significance of bringing together organizational cultures which have evolved separately over long periods’. This has been a particular challenge in mental health services recently where some local authorities are now disaggregating their social work and social care services from NHS Mental Health Trusts. The author follows this with chapters on: the business planning process; managing resources in your business plan; project management; the commissioning and contracting process; managing performance; the process of decision-making; risk assessment and risk management; and evaluation.

Staff in social care and social work sometimes see ‘management’ as a value-free zone, but the author is careful to root her work in the needs of service users, carers and communities, drawing on, for example, the work of Sarah Carr (SCIE) on personalization and service user participation. In her chapter on ‘the commissioning and contracting process’ the author sets out the principles and processes involved in an admirably clear fashion, but also in her case examples and references underpins the rationale of the activity with a clear humanistic value-base. At the end of the chapter there is a comment from a manager running a social enterprise, providing services for adults with learning disabilities, who considers the need to move to a more person-centred approach, and how:

the demystification of the commissioning and contract process, as contained in this chapter, is essential for the involvement of social enterprises in the personalization process. People who have started up social enterprises are not always entrepreneurs imbued with an innate sense of purpose; and it can be a huge challenge negotiating the complexities of ‘business speak’, local authorities regularly employ. (p. 144)

As the late Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, was quoted recently: ‘Successful service design reflects how users think, act and work.’

In conclusion, Trish Hafford-Letchfield’s book combines leadership and management, business approaches and processes with a value-based core, and is essential reading for managers at all levels in social care.