Friday, 21 January 2011

Making savings without making cuts - One solution from the Stockport SEN Transport Service

Can we make savings without  making cuts - it sounds counter intuative. The example below from the Systems Thinking Review illustrates how by  reorganisng, Stockport Council not only gave their children and young people a better service, but also reduced the cost!

http://www.thesystemsthinkingreview.co.uk/index.php?pg=18&utwkstoryid=312

There is a bit of management speak, here but the main point is that instead of simply trying to manage cost, and hacking chunks off the budget, Stockport have  redesigned the system against demand,saved money  and improved the quality.

There  seems to be a  lesson here for all services for children and young people with learning difficulites. Whilst  I am sure it is not a panacea,  there must be merit in an approach that takes resources out of providing taxis people don't want or need, an uses  it to support them to become more independent.

We are always talking about breaking down silos and making services more integrated and responsive, perhaps this provides one approach for making it happen.

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