Leeds council to use Calderdale council's social care system

Council chiefs at Leeds council are to consider plans to use Calderdale council's social care case management system for adult services as part of a shared services partnership. Leeds said the system, which was developed and is owned by Calderdale, would provide staff in its adult social care services department with an efficient tool to collect, store and manage information about people who use social care services in the city. Leeds also believes that the shared services partnership could lead to significant opportunities for both councils to work together in other areas, as well as the potential generation of revenue in the future. Under the plans, the system would be implemented as a separate entity at Leeds council and would not be hosted by Calderdale. "Leeds will have an equal say in system developments and the roadmap," a spokeswoman for Leeds told Government Computing. She also said that the agreement would not mean the sharing of adult social care information, but that the system would allow sharing for processes, policies and supporting procedures. "The two authorities will work together to share information on a number of areas including how we manage customer contact and plans to integrate with health, which will be crucial in shaping how we develop the system moving forwards as well as offering opportunities for sharing best practice," she said. The local authority said that adopting Calderdale's system would be a cost-effective move "in the short-term", and explained that while it didn't have any other long-term plans for an adult social care system at present, it was important for councils to be able to "respond to the evolving health and social care agenda". Both councils hope that entering into a shared services agreement would put them in a stronger position to respond to the new national health and social care legislation. Leeds said it undertook several stages of assessing and evaluating the Calderdale system, which included a number of visits to Calderdale to look at the technology and speak to practitioners to understand how the system supports their work in the delivery of adult social care services. "A number of Leeds staff and managers were involved in this process and the subsequent work to assess and evaluate the Calderdale system against Leeds adult social care business requirements," said the spokeswoman. "A gap analysis was then completed to determine the level of business fit. The business fit and a number of other criteria including: technical fit; short-term fit; and strategic fit were evaluated before a decision was taken." Commenting on the decision to work with Calderdale, Lucinda Yeadon, executive board member responsible for adult social care at Leeds, said: "Calderdale has a proven track record in system development, and by embracing the principles of civic enterprise and entering into a partnership agreement with them, we will be able to work together to develop the system further at a reduced cost to both parties." In a joint statement, Bob Metcalfe, cabinet member for adults, health and social care, and Bryan Smith, cabinet member for performance and resources at Calderdale council said that the council's system had helped to enhance its ability to provide an efficient service. "It is a valuable tool and one that we are pleased to share with our Leeds colleagues," they added. The plans are being considered at Leeds council's executive board meeting on 18 July, and the project is expected to go live soon after, with 1 August named as a possible date. This article is published by Guardian Professional . Join the Guardian Government Computing Network free to receive regular emails on the issues at the top of the professional agenda.