Myers-JDC Brookdale- ‘Mapping providers according to their risk levels allows for the efficient allocation of resources, channelling more attention into amending areas where the level of risk is higher and the avoidance of over-funding areas which do not need it.’
Tal Lento is a Research Associate in the Quality Assurance Team of The Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute, Israel’s leading centre for applied social research and consulting. She told us about the risk management tool which Myers-JDC Brookdale Institute has developed in partnership with the Inspection Administration of the Israeli Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs, to allow inspectors and service providers to carry out their work using a risk management approach - ultimately aiming to promote safe and quality state-sponsored services and thus improve the experience of service users.
The evidence-based tool judges the level of risk of a service to a user by ranking the provider’s characteristics according to a risk ‘traffic light’. The characteristics of the provider, such as whether it is community based or residential, the characteristics of the user demographic, such as their level of vulnerability, and the quality of care within the framework, like the scope and deficiencies in the service are all factors which are all measured on the scale.
In social service inspectorate systems, the issue of efficiency is of great importance, in order to avoid regulatory overload and unnecessary investment of resources. This is especially true in cases where inspection resources are limited. Thus, mapping providers according to their risk levels allows for the efficient allocation of resources, channelling more attention into amending areas where the level of risk is higher and the avoidance of over-funding areas which do not need it. This in turn ensures that service users, which in social care are often in society’s most vulnerable groups, receive safe and quality care.
We asked Tal how ESN had helped The Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute and she told us that the last conference allowed them to establish connections with inspectorate representatives from across the world with whom they cooperate in many research projects. Furthermore, when developing their risk-based approach they were able to learn the best practices of their peers in the network.
‘Thanks to the networking of ESN, we were able to gain knowledge that, together with our own research methods, enabled us to formulate appropriate recommendations for the Israel Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs.'