News

We have published a set of cards that have been designed for those who work with or support older people. The cards have been produced as part of Plan P, an Iriss project focusing on preventing social isolation and loneliness amongst older people.

The Board of Trustees and the staff group of Iriss are delighted to announce the appointment of Peter Macleod as the new Chair of the Board. Peter is currently Director of Social Work in Renfrewshire and brings a wealth of experience from both a local and national level. He was President of the Association of Directors of Social Work (now Social Work Scotland) in 2012, has been instrumental in commissioning local research on outcomes for children, and is involved in a number of national strategy groups.

The Discovering Desistance project was placed second in the Outstanding Impact in Public Policy category of the Celebrating Impact Awards, organised by the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) on 5 June 2014.

Creative Quarter is part of an Iriss project to understand and learn from disciplines that specifically recognise creativity as a central feature of their identity, so that we can inspire and stimulate creativity in the sector to promote better outcomes for people who use services. The project combines consideration of how people think about creativity, what stimulates it in social services and what this means in practice for people using services and practitioners.

Our Innovation and Improvement team is leading a 20-month project to redesign the pathway from hospital to home for older people across Scotland. We're working with health and social care practitioners, older people, their families and informal carers to identify issues and improve care pathways from hospital to home and enable a more positive experience for all.

The first outputs of the project, the hopital to home pathway map, is now available online at: Hospital to Home.

Key Community Supports provides support for people with disabilities thoughout Scotland. During 2013 IRISS worked with Key to explore how mobile technologies might provide context-based information and training for care workers.

On Tuesday 18 March, social services organisations from the public, voluntary and independent sectors, as well as individuals that use services in Scotland, came together to celebrate World Social Work Day at the second Social Services Expo 2014, which was held at Edinburgh International Conference Centre. The event highlighted the range of social services and supports available across Scotland and showcased some of the good work that is happening.

Pilotlight is working with teams of people who access and deliver support to design pathways to self-directed support. The co-design team in Moray identified a need for an accessible introduction to self-directed support. They wanted it to be inviting, fun and easy to understand, and so came up with the idea of 'Pick 'n' Mix - helping you pick 'n' mix the care and support services to live the life you choose'.

The Scottish Government has issued guidance: Navigating ethical approval and access in social care research (PDF). This has been developed by a working group involving Scottish Government, ADSW and Iriss, and explores the routes for navigating social care research ethics.

Iriss's new flagship project Plan P: New approaches to prevention with older people will be running over the next 2.5 years and will focus on tackling the key issue of loneliness and isolation in older people.

We will look at the current evidence in this area and what this means for practice in health and social care, as well as produce case studies documenting effective current support and interventions.