SCA Group Interns Learn More about Social Care
July 26th 2010
Alysha Street
Alysha, 21, from Wimborne, joined SCA Group on a work placement for three weeks in June.
Alysha heard about SCA Group from her aunt, SCA Board member Angela Jeffrey, and wanted to find out more.
It was a real eye opener.
"I did not realise that SCA Group was such a big organisation and that it did so much," she said. "It was also surprising to find out how much organisation goes into something like a carers' cafe. It may only take place for a couple of hours but it means so much to the people who use it. They are so grateful for the chance to be able to get out of the house and interact with other people."
Alysha, who will return to the University of Bath in September to complete the final year of her BSc in Sociology, is still not sure what future career path to follow, and will be doing some other work placements this summer.
But she really enjoyed her placement with SCA. As well as shadowing SCA and Fenwick2 managers, she also carried out interviews with carers and service users attending the Fenwick2 Early Dementia Assessment Project. She is writing up the results into a report that will be used to feed back on how well the project is progressing.
"I enjoyed talking to the carers and finding out more about their views," said Alysha.
"But one of the other things I have enjoyed about this placement is the amount of independence and responsibility I have been given. The area manager sat in with me in the interviews but basically I was free to ask the questions myself and to write up the responses.
"I have done other work placements where the work was not well structured and where I was not given any responsibility. This has been far more useful as well as far more enjoyable."
Craig Barber
Craig Barber, 23, is on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership between the University of Portsmouth Business School and SCA Group.
He is part-way through a two-year internship with SCA Group after joining in November last year. Craig finished his BA in Business Studies at Portsmouth in 2009 and while working for SCA is also studying for an MPhil at Portsmouth Business School. The research he is carrying out for SCA Group will contribute to his Masters degree.
His work for SCA involves both looking at the outcomes and impacts of the work of the organisation and research into how the personalisation agenda will impact on the group.
"My role is to look at all the methodologies and tools that are already out there for measuring the outcomes and impacts of social enterprises and charities such as SCA Group, and to see how they might best be used. It is helping SCA Group to measure the contribution it makes to communities and service users," said Craig.
"The tools that exist are quite complicated and difficult to apply. My role is to help develop some more accessible and easy-to-use measurement methods that SCA can apply to its work."
Craig has already done two presentations to the SCA Board and to the management team and is also interviewing commissioners to see what aspects of measurement they would find useful.
"Helping SCA Group to develop tools to measure the outcomes of its work will help the organisation decide where it has the biggest impact in the long term. It will he
lp SCA to be able to sell its services more effectively to local authorities, PCTs and other commissioners," he said.
Craig has seen some of SCA Group's services in action already and will be visiting more day centres in future. He now plans to run a pilot case study within SCA transport to understand what outcomes are being achieved.
"I have been impressed with the caring nature of all the staff within SCA Group and how committed they are towards services users," he said. "I have been really surprised at how complex the SCA business is. It has to deal with so many different contracts and partners and a health agenda that is often changing. Each service is very different.
"I enjoy working in business but this has given me an insight into a different aspect of business and into the social enterprise sector.
"It's a challenging experience, particularly doing the MPhil as well, but I am really enjoying it. It has allowed me to find out about all aspects of the business and given me a different avenue to explore. I am nine months into the internship and it has been really interesting."
Executive Director of Care Pam Butler said Craig's work has been extremely useful. "Craig's research on personalisation, which empowers our service users to make choices about their care, has helped to inform members of the care directorate about the potential impact of this new culture. He has provided valuable training to our staff at the frontline to help embed this new culture of providing services.
"Craig has also gathered useful information both geographically and across user groups to enable us to learn from other experiences and to take from this what we need.
"We look forward to working with him on social outcomes to evidence the success of our high quality services," she said.