As with all the CHAT Reviews this review is broken down under the Every Child Matters headings of Staying Safe, Being Healthy, Making a Positive Contribution, Economic Wellbeing and Enjoying & Achieving. Meeting with the young person as part of a monthly review the key worker and young person go through each section reflecting and, using the points scoring system as guidance, score the young person. Once agreed and summarised, the scores are plotted onto the graphs and an improvement or decline overall is there to see. The breakdowns appear in the second graph to see which areas need further input and support. The end result is a fantastic summary for professionals involved in the young person's life and the whole review provides a great introspective forum for the young person to acknowledge any difficulties of that month as well as successes
Notes are gathered during regular supervision and once every three months a CHAT meeting takes place. Prior to this, the staff member fills in his or her own assessment. The review scores the staff for performance in areas under the umbrella of the Every Child Matters Headings and how well they assist in the care of the young people. For example, under Being Healthy staff get 0, 1 or 2 points for Fitness & Exercise, Mental Health, Diet, Medication & Health Appointments and Specialists Service; 0 points would indicate a lack of any note able input, 1 point would be significant effort and 2 points would signify outstanding performance. The Senior assessment takes into account additional senior responsibilities.
I'm afraid the managers don't escape! Ideally used in staff meetings once every three months, project workers will have a chance to discuss how well they feel that they are enabled by their manager to do their work effectively. Are the funds there to keep the unit in good shape? Are the young people getting enough out of life thanks to good management? Once the Manager has been scored it creates an excellent forum to analyse what is going well and what might need attention. Every good manager should seek honest feedback from his or her staff - this is the perfect tool to do it.
This is the chance for the young people to give constructive criticism back, to explain what works and what doesn't work and score the organisation out of ten for each category. There is, after all, little point in doing what you do if the young person feels voiceless in all that is happening surrounding their lives.
